DECRYPTAGE – Robert Lewandowski and his teammates will stand on the road to France on Sunday (4 p.m.), in the 8th round, at the Al-Thumama stadium.
Special Envoy to Doha
Which opponent for the Blues? “No matter. The most important thing is to be in 8th“, swore Antoine Griezmann after the defeat against Tunisia (0-1). And to add:We will be attentive, we will watch the matches (Wednesday)“. “Grizou” was able to see that Argentina dominated Poland (2-0) while Mexico beat Saudi Arabia (2-1). Results ? Leo Messi and company win Pool C (ranking here) and have an appointment with Australia on Saturday (8 p.m.) while the Blues will challenge Poland on Sunday (4 p.m.).
An opponent that the France team has not met since… 2011. Victory 1-0 for the Blues on an own goal from Jodlowiec. A time when Éric Abidal, Patrice Evra, and Mathieu Valbuena still wore the tricolor jersey. Guillaume Hoarau, Charles N’Zogbia and Marvin Martin too. Results of these confrontations? Eight wins for France, five draws and three successes for Poland, including that of 1982 for third place in the 1982 World Cup. The only match at the World Cup between the two nations.
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Robert Lewandowski was already there on the Polish side. 11 years younger and not the same status. It is a cador that the players of Didier Deschamps will have to contain. A player deprived of a Ballon d’Or by the Covid in 2020 and… Lionel Messi, in 2021. Goal machine. Good news ? Dayot Upamecano, Benjamin Pavard and Kingsley Coman know him well for having worked with him for a long time at Bayern Munich. Ousmane Dembélé and Jules Koundé saw him arrive at FC Barcelona last summer. One thing is certain: at 34, the Pole is at the top of his game, like his 18 goals in 19 matches with the Blaugrana since the start of the season, after having shaken the net 344 times in 375 matches with Bayern. Duel of exceptional scorers in sight against Kylian Mbappé, clash of generations. Two giants who have not met on a field since 2020 and the C1 final won by Bayern against Paris. In 2021, the Polish captain was forced to forfeit the two matches against the Reds and Blues in the quarter-finals.
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Many well-known heads in L1
Poland, however, is not just Lewandowski, of course. We can cite the goalkeeper of Juventus Wojciech Szczesny or the excellent playmaker of Naples Piotr Zielinski. Appointed a handful of months before the World Cup and therefore after the departure of Paulo Sousa, Czeslaw Michniewicz also has several well-known players in the French championship, Arkadiusz Milik (on loan to Juve from OM), Kamil Grosicki (ex- Rennes), Kamil Glik (ex-Monaco) or even Grzegorz Krychowiak (ex-PSG). Przemyslaw Frankowski is currently playing for RC Lens.
With this workforce, the question is above all whether Robert Lewandowski, scorer against Saudi Arabia, will be sufficiently well fed to shake Hugo Lloris. “We didn’t help himpleads his coach after the match of Argentina. If our team had possession and Messi, Lewandowski would have scored five times… He needs to be helped. But Messi didn’t score either.Despite a restrictive game, little speed on the wings, Poland in any case finished second in their group in qualifying for the World Cup, before taking advantage of Russia’s package and dismissing Sweden (2-0) in dams. Despite criticism of the level of play, “it’s the result that counts», as Michniewicz reminds us, demanding that we leave him «to profit from» of this qualification for the round of 16 with his players. Especially since at the last World Cup, Poland finished fourth in a group made up of Colombia, Japan and Senegal. Not exactly glorious…
All opponents of France will have problems. I would like to see a France-Brazil final but they would already have to beat Poland.
Czeslaw Michniewicz, Poland coach
Czeslaw Michniewicz, he followed the course of the Blues carefully at the 98 World Cup and confided, after Argentina on Wednesday, his emotion at having been able to meet Aimé Jacquet in 2006, during the C1 final at the Stade de France between FC Barcelona and Arsenal. He did not fail to point out that Jacquet had also been much criticized at the time… “France is very strong. They can be champions again, they have a fantastic generation of players. They have a dynamic, fast, physical game. All opponents of France will have problems. We will have it too! I would like to see a France-Brazil final but they would already have to beat Polandsmiled the Polish coach. See you Sunday, 4 p.m., at the Al-Thumama stadium.