Poland are finalising their preparations for the World Cup in Qatar and the World Cup betting offers have the White Eagles at 125/1 but that will not deter the optimism flowing around the country of having a great World Cup.
Poland will be looking to get out of their tough group which contains Saudi Arabia, Mexico and Argentina. Poland will also have to be on top of their game straight away with Mexico likely to be challenging for that second-place position in Group C.
In recent history, Poland have not been great at a World Cup and in Russia 2018 they failed to get out of the group. Before that, the last time they qualified for the World Cup was in 2006 in Germany. However, in that time they have also struggled at the European Championships apart from 2016 where they were knocked out by eventual winners Portugal in the Quarter Finals.
During that time Robert Lewandowski has been a key member of the squad but his time in the national team is coming to an end and at 34 this is more than likely the last time he will play at a World Cup for his beloved Poland.
The big question on everybody’s lips is can Lewandowski actually produce on the international stage.
Is Lewandowksi still key?
The captain, the most capped player and the all-time goalscorer for his country, Robert Lewandowski is certainly a Polish icon and there is no disputing he has been the best player in a Polish generation.
However, Lewandowksi has never scored at the World Cup but that cannot be taken too seriously considering he has only played three games at a tournament.
Yet during the qualification, Lewandowksi scored 8 goals in a group featuring England (where Harry Kane was the top goalscorer with 12) and Poland were undefeated in the whole qualification period.
The same cannot be said for the glorified friendlies that are the nations league where Poland were blown away in games in a group featuring Belgium and Netherlands. Lewandowski only picked up one goal in the group.
Lewandowski’s club form
Having recently joined Barcelona, he has not stopped scoring goals. After scoring 312 goals in the Bundesliga and finishing 2nd behind Gerd Muller, he decided to have a new challenge by joining the Catalan giants in the summer.
He has featured 11 times in La Liga and scored 12 goals, 5 times in the Champions League and scored 5 times there as well. This form will certainly excite Poland who will be hoping they can give Lewandowski the service he deserves and he can find the back of the net with ease at the World Cup in Qatar; starting with Mexico!
Will the pressure get to Lewandowski?
With Lewandowski the main man and captain all the pressure will be on him to deliver on his end. He is a calm and collected character who can provide on the highest occasion. He is key for Poland and will be putting the 2018 World Cup to the back of his mind.