Poland scrape past Saudi Arabia

After a tight first half, Saudi Arabia were unable to profit off of their few chances. Renard's side definitely started the best out of the two sides, dominating early swathes of possession. They put a few chances goal-bound, but nothing which Szczesny was not capable of answering. This momentum was slowly changred by the Polish side, who gradually warmed up to the occasion.

The breakthrough came when Zielinski fired home after a move stemming from the Polish goalkeeper, as his long punt was met by Lewandowski in the Saudi box, who just kept it in, before squaring it to a waiting Zielinski. The Pole made no mistake and emphatically fired it in to the roof of the net. The Saudi Arabian's did their best to muster a response, which came in the form of a penalty, only given after a VAR check. However, Al-Brikan could not manage to score after the Polish keeper dived well to his right to save it.

The second half brought more Saudi Arabia pressure, but they were unable to capitalise. Renard's side were keen to press the Polish box, but they were not strong enough to break down the European defence. Following this, it was a similar story in the second half with Poland slowly warming up. Milik went the closest without scoring, as his header got crashed onto the bar. Later on in the half, the Europeans were lucky to get their second, after Lewandowski made the most of some shocking defending, dispossessing the defender and firing home easily.

This results means that Poland are top in the group with one game left, and Saudi Arabia are now second, ahead of their last game against Mexico.

 

November 26, 2022