After disappointing FIFA World Cup and EURO campaigns in Poland's recent appearances in major international tournaments, they will be hoping to rekindle the spirit of the side of the summer of 2016.

In Qatar, Czesław Michniewicz will be aiming for progression from a competitive Group C. It seems as if Poland's opening game against Mexico may end up being the crucial battle for qualification to the knockout rounds.

They will also be joined in their group by Lionel Messi's Argentina and the outsiders, Saudi Arabia.

Qualification Path

Poland's strenuous path to Qatar began just over a year and a half ago. Their entertaining draw in Budapest set the tone for a very competitive three-way battle for second place between them, Hungary and Albania.

A crucial win in Albania all but assured Poland of second place in Group I, behind England. This meant a spot in the reworked playoffs, where two opponents had to be negotiated, rather than just the one, as was the case in UEFA World Cup qualification play-offs of years gone by.

However, Poland's semi-final opponents, Russia, were excluded from the qualifiers, due to the state's invasion of Ukraine, exactly a month before their scheduled fixture.

The Polish FA were one of the first to stand up for their neighbours and former EURO 2012 co-hosts, Ukraine, by refusing to play against the aggressor.

"I can’t imagine playing a match with the Russian National Team in a situation when armed aggression in Ukraine continues. We can’t pretend that nothing is happening." stated Poland's star man, Robert Lewandowski, in response to Cezary Kulesza (President of Polish FA) confirming that the Polish team had no intention of entertaining a match with Russia. 

Poland were rewarded for their stance, with Russia's suspension by UEFA and a walk over for themselves, straight through to the final. 

A difficult first half against Sweden ensured that the winner-takes-all match was not going to be an easy one for the hosts. However, shortly after the restart, a Lewandowski penalty relieved some of the building tension amongst much of the 54,000 crowd in Chorzow. Piotr Zielinski scored a second, later on, to seal a 2-0 win for Poland and their place at the World Cup.

Historical Performances

Recent World Cup appearances have provided identical records of one win and two losses in the group stages and the inability to reach the knockout rounds.

Poland's last knockout round appearance was in Mexico '86. That tournament rounded off an impressive spell in Polish football history - three runs through to the knockout rounds, in the four World Cups between 1974-1986.

Making that stat more impressive is the fact that Poland were able to finish third in both the 1974 and 1982 editions of the tournament. 

However, a combined goal difference of 7-16 in the nine matches that Poland have played in their three most recent World Cups indicates that this is a generation failing to live up to the global stage performance of its' past time. 

Barring an impressive trip to France in 2016, Poland's success in the European championships have also been fairly limited. 

They have qualified for the championships in each of their last three attempts (in addition to co-hosting the 2012 edition), but have also failed to navigate through the group stage, on all but one occasion.

In 2016, Poland picked up an impressive seven points in their group. They beat Northern Ireland and Ukraine, alongside a draw against Germany. In the knockout rounds, they encountered back-to-back penalty shootouts - after beating Switzerland on spot-kicks, they fell to the eventual champions, Portugal.

EURO 2016 was Poland's best ever European Championship showing; they had failed to qualify for any of the previous finals, prior to their 2008 debut.

Player to watch - Robert Lewandowski

Photo by Mikolaj Barbanell/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images
Photo by Mikolaj Barbanell/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images

Since the end of the last World Cup, Lewandowski has amassed 145 league goals from 139 appearances, during his time in the Bundesliga and La Liga.

This will be the 34-year-old's second and, most likely, final World Cup. With Poland's two goals in 2018 coming from Grzergorz Krychowiak and Jan Bednarek, the country's all-time record goalscorer is still waiting for his first World Cup goal.

Should Poland be able to achieve their aim of qualification into the knockout rounds, then Lewandowski getting that first goal, along with a few more, would be crucial for their success. 

The forward was Poland's top scorer in qualification for Qatar - he netted nine times, including that important penalty to open the score in the play-off final.

Expected Lineup

(3-4-2-1) Szczesny; Bednarek, Glik, Kiwior; Cash, Krychowiak, Zurkowski, Zalewski; Szymanski, Zielinski; Lewandowski.

Biggest talking point

Inevitably, the long wait for a knockout round appearance at a FIFA World Cup will mean that supporters will be hoping that their team can finally break their group stage duck.

On paper, it is a team which seems more than able to achieve this. Eight of Poland's expected 11 represent clubs from within Europe's top five leagues, including those of huge stature stature such as: Barcelona (Lewandowski), Juventus (Wojciech Szczesny), Napoli (Zielinski) and Roma (Nicola Zalewski), with the Polish contingent being important members of those sides.

The star names are complimented by the youth of Jakub Kiwior and Sebastian Szymanski - both enjoying impressive domestic campaigns and arriving in Qatar in great form.

It will not be easy to get the better of one of Argentina or Mexico, in order to achieve qualification. However, the feeling within Poland should be one of hope and belief in a capable team, which is capped off by one of football's all-time greats, leading the line.

Prediction

Photo by Rafal Oleksiewicz/PressFocus/MB Media/Getty Images
Photo by Rafal Oleksiewicz/PressFocus/MB Media/Getty Images

The outcome of Poland's campaign rests firmly in their opening match, against Mexico. Argentina will be the group's favourites and Saudi Arabia - the group's outsiders.

Therefore, a win for either Poland or Mexico on the 22 November will put the victor in a very strong position in the group. 

Potential qualification into the Round of 16 would reward Poland with a meeting with opposition from Group D - very likely to be either Denmark, or the current world champions, France

VAVEL predicts that Poland will, crucially, be able to overcome Mexico, in a tightly contested affair. Michniewicz's team go on to defeat Saudi Arabia and clinch their first World Cup Round of 16 appearance, in 36 years.

A defeat to Argentina would set up a meeting with Denmark, who managed to oust France to top spot in Group D by defeating them for the third time in 2022. 

Poland would fail to make it past the Danes and would exit the tournament at the Round of 16 stage, rounding off a respectable campaign.

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