- Lewandowski registers his first Qatar World Cup Goal
- Poland defeat Saudi Arabia in a crucial Group Match
- Argentina given a chance to go level on points with the rest
On Saturday, Poland defeated a solid Saudi Arabian team to earn Robert Lewandowski his first World Cup goal.
Piotr Zielinski scored the other goal, and the Polish team’s night was everything from easy.
It was expected that Saudi Arabia would enter the match with a lot of confidence after pulling off one of the greatest World Cup upsets in history by defeating Argentina, as Szczesny deflected Mohamed Kanno’s close-range shot in the 13th minute.
Poland was confined to their own box as Saudi Arabia took a commanding lead in the game. The Green Falcons earned their first corner of the game in the seventh minute, but nothing significant resulted from it.
However, Saudi Arabia forced Wojciech Szczesny to take quick action five minutes later as he pushed Mohammed Kanno’s shot over the bar.
At that point, the Polish team was really struggling, and the referee quickly issued Matty Cash and Jakub Kiwior two yellow cards. Shortly later, Milik made it three yellows.
Slowly regaining control of the game, Poland scored a goal against the flow of play in the 39th minute when Robert Lewandowski entered the box and passed to Zielinski, who put the ball in the back of the net.
Five minutes later, Bilik fouled Al-Shehri inside the box, and after consulting with VAR, a penalty was given to Saudi Arabia.
Super Szczesny
Szczesny made a pair of saves to keep the score at 1-0 going into halftime, stopping the penalty and then the follow-up shot.
Similar to the first half, the second saw Saudi Arabia take the initiative and force Szczesny into another moment of action in the 55th minute of play as he stopped Al-Dawsari from close range.
Wojciech Szczęsny super saves.|PHOTO: Sky Sports|
The next ten minutes saw Poland score twice on the post. Arkadiusz Milik did it in the 63rd minute, and Lewandowski did it three minutes later.
The Green Falcons persisted in their pursuit of an equalizer, and in the 77th minute, Al-attempt Malki’s almost missed the target.
Lewandowski, though, broke his World Cup duck in the 82nd minute, breaking the hearts of the Saudis. The Barcelona forward, who had missed a penalty in Tuesday’s scoreless draw with Mexico, finally scored his first World Cup goal as he capitalized on Al-Malki’s oversight to calmly slide home past Mohamed Al-Owais, with the forward visibly emotional in his celebrations.
The Polish star was denied by a brilliant stop from Alowais, keeping the score at 2-0, despite the Barca striker believing he had scored his second goal of the game.
Poland, who ultimately earned all three points and finished first in Group C, was unaffected by their error.
Lewandowski celebrates his first goal.|PHOTO: Sky Sports|
What do the results mean?
Poland will advance to the round of 16 on Wednesday with merely a draw against Argentina.
While Saudi Arabia still has a chance to advance to the knockout rounds in their final Group C match against Mexico, Poland only needs a point from their final group match against Argentina to do so.
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