France players take part in a training session at the Al Sadd SC ahead of their World Cup Round of 16 match against Poland. AFP
Title-holders France will be up against a confident Polish side for a place in the quarter-finals for the eighth time in their World Cup history as the two European teams face-off at Al Thumama Stadium today.
France, eventual winners in 1998 and 2018 editions, are in their third successive knockout round and will be hot favourites against Poland, who reached the knockout stage for the first time since 1986.
Les Bleus - the first defending champions to make it out of the group stage since Brazil in 2006 - lost their final group match to Tunisia.
Poland also lost their last group match against Argentina.
Didier Deschamps’ side topped Group D while Czeslaw Michniewicz’s men were placed second in Group C.
The reigning champions, who rested several players for their match against Tunisia, will be back in full strength and all eyes will be on their game changing striker Kylian Mbappe, who played a key role in their World Cup victory four years ago.
The PSG star has already scored three goals at Qatar 2022, including a match-winning brace against Denmark that sealed their berth in the last 16.
“Kylian is not the same player or person as in 2018,” said Antoine Griezmann.
“He is much more a part of the squad now. He speaks a lot and has fun. He knows that the media, fans and even his teammates will be watching everything that he does but he is beyond reproach,” Griezmann added.
“Kylian has no ego. He is a decisive player for us and his performances put him in the spotlight. He is not 18 anymore. He has experience now,” coach Didier Deschamps said.
Apart from Mbappe, coach Deschamps will have a whole bunch of arsenal at his disposal, including Ousmane Dembele and 36-year-old Olivier Giroud.
The AC Milan striker is aiming to become France’s all-time top scorer and he can succeed if he scores one more, his 52nd.
The French defence is led by Raphale Varane as their keeper Hugo Lloris is set to earn his 142nd cap to go level with French record holder Lilian Thuram.
Poland’s players attend a training session. AFP
Poland’s hopes of pulling off an upset will heavily rely on Barcelona star Robert Lewandowski and Deschamps is aware of the challenge.
“They have experienced players. Obviously Lewandowski is the stand-out player, one of the best strikers in the world. We should not underestimate them,” Deschamps said.
Deschamps will also have to be aware of Poland’s custodian Wojciech Szczesny, who has saved 26 of 87 penalties during his international career.
“They’ve had to defend a lot in the group stage and they defended very well. Actually they love it, but they’re not just a defensive team - just look at who they have up front,” Deschamps said.
“But there’s more. They have a backbone of players with great international experience, with Kamil Glik, Piotr Zielinski, Grzegorz Krychowiak and some youngsters who have shown they were up to the task. They deserve to be here,” the Frenchman told a press conference yesterday.
While a win against the No.4 ranked France seems like a daunting task for the 25th ranked Poland, coach Czeslaw Michniewicz is optimistic of pulling off more than just a win.
Michniewicz yesterday said his is certain that Poland team can win the World Cup this time if they can clear the French hurdle today.
“We were not ready to go home,” Michniewicz said.
“If we win against France we could become the next world champions. We’re very happy to play the world champions. France are not already guaranteed to advance. Everything’s to play for, you win or go home and the stakes are high,” Michniewicz who became the Poland coach earlier this year, said.
“We believe we will play a good game but we know it’s a huge challenge ahead of us,” he said. “We want to show the world we can play football.”
However, the Pole said his main man Lewandowski needs more support from his teammates.
“We did not create enough opportunities for Robert. They (strikers) need to be near the penalty box,” he said. The winner of today’s match will face either England or Senegal in the quarter-finals.
When: Today at 6:00pm
Where: Al Thumama Stadium (Capacity: 44,400)
Key stats:
* France have become the first reigning World Cup champions to reach the knockout stages since Brazil in 2006.
* France are unbeaten in their last seven meetings with Poland across all competitions (W3 D4), with their last defeat against the Poles coming in a friendly in 1982 (0-4).
* Poland have progressed from a World Cup group stage for the first time since 1986, when they lost 0-4 to Brazil in the round of 16.
* Wojciech Szczesny has become just the third goalkeeper to save two penalties (excluding shootouts) in a World Cup after American Brad Friedel (2002) and his own compatriot Jan Tomaszewski (1974).
* Against Argentina (2-0) on matchday three, Poland conceded for the first time at the 2022 World Cup.
Previous meetings:
* Poland won the only previous World Cup clash between the sides, the third-place play-off match in the 1982 tournament (3-2). Their two last games which had anything at stake — both Euro 1996 qualifiers — ended in draws.
