Poland will be participating in their first World cup for 8 years when they step out for their opening game against Senegal in Moscow on the 19th June.
You must go back to 2006 to find the last time Poland played in the World Cup and they were eliminated at the group stage. The same thing happened four years earlier and the last time Poland progressed to the knockout stages was in 1986, when they were defeated 4-0 by Brazil.
The Poles had an improved showing at the 2016 European Championship, reaching the quarter-final and they will be hoping to match that performance on the biggest stage of all in Russia this summer.
Poland qualified for the 2018 World Cup in impressing fashion, topping their group by 5 points from second place Denmark. The Eagles started the qualifying process with what seemed like a disappointing 2-2 draw in Kazakhstan but soon put that result behind them to open a lead at the top of the group.
Wins over Denmark, Armenia, Montenegro and Romania saw Poland move to the top of the group and they never looked back. In the second half of the campaign they suffered a heavy defeat against Denmark but recovered to win all three of their remaining matches to qualify.
There was not one standout aspect of Poland’s play during qualification. They were not close to being top scorers and had the worst defensive record of all the European teams to qualify for the World Cup.
However, the was one department in which they did excel and that was top goal scorer. Robert Lewandowski ended the campaign with 16 goals to his name, leaving him one ahead of Cristiano Ronaldo and 5 ahead of Romelu Lukaku and Christian Eriksen.
The Bayern Munich striker could be on the move in the summer and who wouldn’t want a man with such great goal scoring talent? There was only one match in qualifying where Lewandowski failed to find the back of the net and if Poland can create chances, they know they have a player who is capable of scoring goals.
The main issue comes at the back and Poland were poor defensively in qualifying. Kamil Glik is their most experienced defender and the Monaco central defender has 58 caps to his name. There is plenty of experience elsewhere in the polish back line with Michal Pazdan, Artur Jedrzejczyk, Maciej Rybus and Lukasz Piszczek each having over 30 caps to their name but also approaching the latter stages of their career.
Poland have had a favourable draw for the 2018 World Cup and joining them in Group H will be Senegal, Colombia and Japan. The Colombian team are favourites to top the group but Poland will feel confident of at least finishing second and reaching the Round of 16.
This could be the last chance for this group of players to make a big impact on the world stage and Poland are sure to be exciting to watch, with plenty of goals being scored. The Round of 16 is a definite possibility but anything after that will be a bonus.