Group C - R2 - Poland 2-0 Saudi Arabia - Saturday 26th November, 2022

[Stan]

Kick-off 13.00 (GMT)

        VS      

 

Venue - Education City Stadium, Al Rayyan

 

Standings:

[Michael]

This next game should be an interesting one. Lewandowski will be eager to score his 1st goal at this World Cup, especially as he missed a penalty against Mexico in Poland's opening game. Saudi Arabia on the other hand, proved that they are a tough side who can score some stirring goals. It should be an intriguing encounter.

[Stan]

Matty Cash is lucky to avoid being sent off there.

[6666]

Abdulhamid is a machine.

[Stan]

Poland take the lead! Saudi Arabia been the better side so the goal is against the run of play.

[6666]

Poland 1-0. Unlucky for Saudi Arabia, been the better side but that's football.

[Stan]

Don't agree if that is a penalty. I don't think there's enough of a foul, very theatrical fall.

[Stan]

Szczesny saves!!!!!

And he saves the rebound!

[Stan]

The save from the rebound is probably better than the penalty save, at point blank range and diving the opposite way to his body weight.

[Machado]

The reflexes required to make that second save are crazy.

[Michael]

Well an entertaining first half. Saudi have had more of the ball, and they had the first real dangerous chance of the match through Kanno as he ran up the field and had a rasping shot that was excellently saved by Szczesny who tipped the ball over the bar.  Both sides got into dangerous positions in that half, but both defences stood firm. The Saudis though were controlling most of that half, before a moment of brilliance by Lewandowski as he cleverly pulled the ball back for Zielinski who made no mistake with a shot into the roof of the net to give Poland the lead. Saudi Arabia then went on the offensive and were awarded a penalty. The Polish defender did slightly catch the Saudi player who fell to the ground theatrically. A nervous looking Al-Dawsari stood up to take the penalty, but Szczesny did excellently to save the penalty and he did even better to block the rebound shot from Al-Burayk.

So it's 1-0 to Poland at half-time and still so much to play for. But my god don't these matches go on for ages, it's like 10 minutes are added after each half on average.

[Stan]

First ever World Cup goal for Lewandowski! 

[6666]

Poland will finish the day on top of the group but there's still a chance they could miss out. Everything to play for in the last matchday.

[Stan]

Think Poland will have managed the game well since taking the lead. Other than the penalty and rebound save, Szczcesny not needed to do much. 

[Michael]

Well, that was an eventful 2nd half. The Saudis created a huge chance early in the 2nd half when they worked the ball in the penalty area, then there was a huge scramble which ended up with the ball falling to Al-Dawsari whose point blank shot was excellently saved by Szczesny. Al-Dawsari then turned provider moments later, putting through Al-Brikan who found himself free in the area, but his powerful shot went wide of the near post, when he really should have done better, as it was a big chance to score. Very soon after that Al-Shehri dribbled down towards goal from the right flank, only to lose his footing, but the ball fell to Kanno who whacked the ball over the bar with a first time shot. 

Poland then responded on the break, a cross came in from the left flank and Milik's diving header crashed off of the crossbar, a big chance for Poland. A couple of minutes later, Poland again had another big chance, as Lewandowski met a cross from the left fland with deft shot that hit the near post. The Saudis then started to dictate the play again in search of the equaliser and Al-Dawsari had long range curling effort on target, saved by Szczesny who was behind it all the way.

The Saudis then had a big chance as one of their forwards dribbled into the area from the left flank the ball broke to Al-Malki, but his side footed shot went inches wide of the far post. That was another scoring opportunity that the Saudis should have done better with. That miss by Al-Malki was to prove fatal, as moments later, Al-Malki made a huge blunder in defence as he lost control of the ball right in front of his own goal, Lewandowski pounced and made no mistake with his finish, tucking the ball home to make it 2-0 to Poland in the 82nd minute. That goal seemed to kick the stuffing out of the Saudis, but to their credit they kept probing. A deep cross was headed onto the top of the netting by the Saudi sub Al-Aboud.

At the end of regular time though, Lewandowski could have scored his 2nd goal on the break, as he dribbled down the right flank, eventually finding himself one on one with the keeper, but his attempted dink over the keeper was saved and the ball was then cleared away by the Saudi defender. Deep into injury time, Saudi Arabia had one final effort as Kanno's curling shot flew inches past the far post. It wasn't to be their day, as Poland secured a precious 2-0 win. Lewandowski was excellent and Al-Dawsari was the pick of the Saudi players once again, despite his penalty miss.

[Michael]

41 minutes ago, Stan said:

Think Poland will have managed the game well since taking the lead. Other than the penalty and rebound save, Szczcesny not needed to do much. 

I agree that Poland were very well organised and dangerous on the break. But Szczesny did have that close range save from Al-Dawsari to make near the start of the 2nd half. But yeah, despite dictating the play, most of the other meaningful Saudi efforts in that 2nd half, were either narrowly wide of the target or straight at Sczesny. Poland may not have had as many chances as the Saudis did, but the 3 chances that they did have were all very dangerous on the break. Lewandowski was superb and I'm really happy that he has finally scored at a World Cup. Every team in this group still has a chance of qualifying, so it will be interesting to see how the Argentina v Mexico game develops later today.

[Stan]

4 minutes ago, Michael said:

Lewandowski was superb and I'm really happy that he has finally scored at a World Cup

Same. Very happy for him too. Of all the goals he's scored, you can tell how much of a relief it was and how much it meant to him to score at a World Cup.