Poland 23-man squad:
Goalkeepers: Bartosz Bialkowski (Ipswich), Lukasz Fabianski (Swansea City), Wojciech Szczesny (Juventus)
Defenders: Jan Bednarek (Southampton), Bartosz Bereszynski (Sampdoria), Thiago Cionek (SPAL), Kamil Glik (AS Monaco), Artur Jedrzejczyk (Legia Warszawa), Michal Pazdan (Legia Warszawa), Lukasz Piszczek (Borussia Dortmund)
Midfielders: Jakub Blaszczykowski (VfL Wolfsburg), Jacek Goralski (Ludogorets Razgrad), Kamil Grosicki (Hull City), Grzegorz Krychowiak (West Bromwich Albion), Rafal Kurzawa (Gornik Zabrze), Karol Linetty (Sampdoria), Slawomir Peszko (Lechia Gdansk), Maciej Rybus (Lokomotiv Moscow), Piotr Zielinski (Napoli)
Forwards: Dawid Kownacki (Sampdoria), Robert Lewandowski (Bayern Munich), Arkadiusz Milik (Napoli), Lukasz Teodorczyk (Anderlecht)
Poland World Cup 2018 Fixtures:
Poland – Senegal (19 June), Moscow
Poland – Colombia (24 June), Kazan
Japan – Poland (28 June), Volgograd
Poland qualified for the upcoming World Cup by topping Group E in the European qualification zone that included Denmark, Montenegro, Romania, Armenia and Kazakhstan. It recorded 8 wins, 1 draw (at Kazakhstan) and 1 loss (at Denmark) for a total of 25 points and a 28:14 goal difference. Since 2013, the national team coach is Adam Nawalka. Under his guidance, Poland failed to qualify for the 2014 FIFA World Cup, but qualified and reached the quarter-finals of the 2016 European Championship. After finishing one point behind Germany during the qualifiers, Poland was drawn against Germany in the group stage of the final competition as well. They finished tied at 7 points, yet Germany was first again, this time on goal difference. Poland then defeated Switzerland on penalty kicks before losing to eventual champions Portugal in the same manner it previously won, in a penalty roulette.
Source: www.worldsoccer.com
Poland’s best World Cup finish is third place. It happened twice, in 1974 and in 1982. The Eagles haven’t had much success since. Drawn in a relatively even group with Senegal, Colombia and Japan, they’ll be looking to reach the second stage of the tournament for the first time since 1986. The star of the team is, of course, Robert Lewandowski. One of Europe’s most prolific strikers had a quiet season for Bayern Munich, which doesn’t mean that “The Gunslinger” is not capable of demolishing an opponent on any given day. With experienced players such as: Wojciech Szczesny, Jakub “Kuba” Blaszczykowski, Lukasz Piszczek, Kamil Glik, Kamil Grosicki and Grzegorz Krychowiak, with a striking force composed of Lewa, Milik and Teodorczyk and young, up-and-coming Jan Bednarek, Piotr Zielinski and Dawid Kownacki, Poland is the odds-on favorite to win the group and a dark horse to reach the later stages of the competition.
The tense political relations between Poland and Russia will contribute to further motivation for this Polish team, which will be hard-pressed not the let its nation down. The White and Red have the ideal group to progress, so anything but Round of 16 qualifications will be seen as a failure.
