MM News

DOHA: Poland beat Saudi Arabia 2-0 in Group C of World Cup 2022 this afternoon, improving on their goalless draw against Mexico which saw Robert Lewandowski mess up an opportunity to earn the European side three points when he missed a penalty in the second half.

Piotr Zielinski opened the scoring for Poland in the first half with a smart finish against the run of play. Salem Aldawsari had the chance to bring Saudi Arabia back on level terms towards the end of the half but his penalty was superbly saved by Wojciech Szczęsny. The Polish keeper, who was arguably Poland’s best player in the game, superbly saved the follow-up, too.

A late Robert Lewandowski goal in the 82nd minute, his first in a World Cup, added gloss to a hard-fought Poland win.

Riding on the confidence of their win over Argentina and cheered on by a sellout Education City Stadium crowd, predominantly in green, Saudi Arabia dominated the game for large periods of the game. But, a resolute Poland back line and an inspired goalkeeping performance kept them at bay.

In the first half Salem Al-Dawsari’s penalty was saved by Wojcech Szczesny, who then was smart to deny the rebound from Mohammed Al-Breik.

Although Saudi Arabia were attacking for much of the second half it was Poland who came closest to scoring as Arkadiusz Milik saw a header come back off the crossbar and Lewandowski also saw an effort strike the post.

Saudi Arabia earlier produced the shock result of the tournament so far when they came from behind to defeat Argentina 2-1 in their opening game. Such was the surprise of the result that a public holiday was called in their country to celebrate. However, Saudis couldn’t reach the last 16 after being defeated by Poland today.