Lewandowski helps Poland defeat Saudi Arabia

Poland edged past a spirited Saudi Arabia with goals from Piotr Zielinski and Robert Lewandowski to go top of Group C.

Action: Saudi Arabia picked up where they left off after their momentous win over Argentina. With just 13 minutes gone Wojciech Szczesny was needed to make a good save to deny Mohamed Kanno.

Poland looked rattled early on, suffering a series of yellow cards and struggling to deal with the energy of Saudi Arabia.

However, it was Poland who opened the scoring in the 39th minute. Matty Cash found space in behind on the right. His low cross wasn’t controlled well by Robert Lewandowski but the Barcelona man was able to keep the ball in play and pull it back for Piotr Zielinski to fire it into the rough of the net against the run of play.

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Salem Al Dawsari took the resulting penalty but his effort was well-saved by Szczesny. The Poland goalkeeper then did brilliantly to immediately get in the way of the rebound shot by Moha Al Burayk.

Hervé Renard will not have been happy with how wasteful his team were in the first 45 minutes but that finishing didn’t improve in the second. As his side spurned more opportunities. 

Poland had plenty of efforts to punish Saudi Arabia’s wastefulness. In the space of three minutes, they hit the woodwork twice: first Arkadiusz Milik’s header that bounced off the bar and then a rare miscued effort by Lewandowski that struck the post. 

Lewandowski did eventually get the goal he’d been searching for. Abdulellah Al-Malki miscontrolled the ball on the edge of his own area allowing the Barcelona player to pinch it and finish past Moha Al Owais.

It was a harsh result for Saudi Arabia who did enough to win the game but despite 16 shots weren’t able to find the back of the net.

Magic Moment: The relief on the face of Robert Lewandowski after finally getting his first goal at a World Cup. The forward didn't get too much service from his team but he proved to be deadly when given the chance.

Man of the Match: Szczesny helped keep Saudi Arabia at bay when for a while Poland were under the cosh. His penalty save just before half-time was a huge moment in the game.

xG: Poland (2.04) 2-0 (1.87) Saudi Arabia

Stat of the Day: The five yellow cards shown in the first 45 minutes was the most in a World Cup first half since the 2010 final between Spain and the Netherlands.

It's a win for Poland! 🇵🇱@adidasfootball | #FIFAWorldCup

— FIFA World Cup (@FIFAWorldCup) November 26, 2022