When you think about Poland football, you think of Robert Lewandowski. When you think about Senegal football, you think of Sadio Mane. Each team has its own star. Which one will shine brightest at 17:00 o’clock in Moscow’s Spartak Stadium?
On Tuesday afternoon, the last two World Cup teams will square off for the first time in history. That comes as no surprise considering Senegal has participated only once, back in 2002. To say that they were the surprise of that tournament will be an understatement. After shocking defending champions, France in the opener, The Lions of Teranga went on to become the second African team to reach a World Cup quarter-final. The captain during that amazing run was Aliou Cisse and he’s now the coach of the national team.
His team made light work of an easy qualification group, topping it with four wins and two draws. In preparation for Russia, Senegal played three fixtures, drawing with Luxembourg (0-0), losing to Croatia (2-1) and winning against South Korea (2-0). Sadio Mane is Senegal’s pride and perhaps their best ever player. Here’s what coach Cisse had to say about the Liverpool forward:
“Sadio Mane is a unique player and he cannot be compared to any other Senegal player, even the major ones we’ve had in the past.”
“And despite everything that has happened for him over the last two years, he hasn’t changed – he’s just as humble as he was when I first met him at the 2012 Olympics.”
“Senegal isn’t only Sadio Mane, though, he has a good team built around him and I think it should be a little plus for him that we’re all behind him.”
Some of those players behind him are Napoli’s Kalidou Koulibaly (one of the best center backs in the tournament), West Ham’s Cheikhou Kouyate, Monaco’s Balde Keita and Stoke’s Mame Biram Diouf. They will try to help Mane make Senegal’s second World Cup appearance a memorable one.
Poland got here by winning eight, drawing one and losing one match in their qualifying group. The last two times The White and Reds participated in World Cups were in 2002 and 2006 and both ended up with the team failing to progress past the group stage. Their Euro 2016 experience was a much more decent one, although it finished on a painful note (a penalty shootout loss to Portugal in the quarter-finals). Adam Nawalka’s squad is an offensive one and led by one of the most prolific strikers in Europe in recent years. Robert Lewandowski was the top scorer in European qualifying with 16 goals, more than half of team’s overall 28. He was also Bundesliga’s highest goalscorer with 29 goals for Bayern Munich.
Even though “Lewa” is the main striking force, not everything in the Polish national team revolves around him. Players like Maciej Rybus, Piotr Zielinski and Kamil Grosicki are excellent midfield contributors, while Jakub “Kuba” Blaszczykowski, Lukasz Piszczek and Kamil Glik bring some much needed experience at the back. Glik is a doubt to feature in the first match, as he suffered a shoulder injury during training two weeks ago. Poland will be sweating his fitness, since his presence in the middle of the defence that was the worst out of all European group winners is crucial.
The game between these two should finally be one that focuses on the offensive side of football. Poland plays with a lot of energy, which can be problematic for Aliou Cisse’s squad that comes into this game carrying the burden of the 2002 success. The African side will likely rely on counter attacks, where their forwards’ speed can be fully taken advantage of. They might score a goal, but the Senegalese will not be able to resist Poland’s onslaught for the entire length of the contest. I’m also pretty convinced Robert Lewandowski will score.
Prediction
Poland 3-1 Senegal
