Appearances: 7
Best finish: Third place – 1974, 1982
Manager: Adam Nawalka
Star player: Robert Lewandowski
It is heartening to see Poland make it to the 2018 Fifa World Cup, given the depth of their talent. As expected, Bayern Munich hitman, Robert Lewandowski scored a record-breaking 16 goals as Poland won eight of their ten matches to go through the qualifying rounds from Group E ahead of Denmark and make it to the global football stage after a gap of 12 years.
A glimpse of the current team gives one a walk down memory lane when the nation could boats of one of the best teams in the world during the mid-1970s. Poland held England to a draw in a dramatic match at Wembley Stadium to qualify for the 1974 Fifa World Cup. They went on to reach the semi-finals, where the deciding game against eventual champions Germany resulted in a 0-1 loss.
After missing out on a first-ever final, Poland ended the tournament with a third place after defeating the mighty Brazil 1-0 in the play-off. Striker Grzegorz Latowon went on to claim the Golden Boot for his seven goals signaling their arrival on the international stage. In 1982, Poland once again finished in third place after defeating France 3-2 in the play-off.
Now ranked sixth in the world, Poland has been displaying the same sort of form in recent times. During Euro 2016, Poland had the second best defence in the tournament till the quarter-final stages. But during qualifying, Poland had conceded 14 goals – the most of all groups’ winners – and coach Adam Nawalka now knows that he has to try and stop the inflow of goals somehow by using a formation of three central defenders.
Wojciech Szczesny has shown a pretty decent pair of hands on goal, while players like Kamil Glik, Grzegorz Krychowiak, Kamil Grosicki and a youngster like Piotr Zielinski have shown they are capable of matching the play level of their captain and leader Lewandowski to put Poland among the best nations in European and international football.
They commence their campaign against African qualifiers Senegal on June 19, and then take on Colombia in their second encounter on June 24 before their final group match against Japan on June 28.
Squad
Goalkeepers: Bartosz Bialkowski, Lukasz Fabianski, Wojciech Szczesny
Defenders: Jan Bednarek, Bartosz Bereszynski, Thiago Cionek, Kamil Glik, Artur Jedrzejczyk, Michal Pazdan, Lukasz Piszczek
Midfielders: Jakub Blaszczykowski, Jacek Goralski, Kamil Grosicki, Grzegorz Krychowiak, Rafal Kurzawa, Karol Linetty, Slawomir Peszko, Maciej Rybus, Piotr Zielinski
Forwards: Dawid Kownacki, Robert Lewandowski, Arkadiusz Milik, Lukasz Teodorczyk
