Poland Believes It Can Win the 2018 World Cup

TOWSON, Maryland, Tuesday, July 18, 2017 - Only one outcome prevents Poland from taking a perfect record into the finals of the 2018 World Cup in Russia.  Only one.  And it came against the most unlikely of opponents.  On September 4, 2016 the Kazakhstan National Soccer Team, which failed to win even one match in Group Play, managed to draw with Poland in front of over 19,000 fans at the ultra-modern  Astana Arena in Astana, Kazakhstan. In the match, Poland exploded to the lead in the ninth minute and increased the lead to 2-0 at the half.  The lead held in the opening minutes of the second half before Kazakhstan's Sergei Khizhnichenko scored twice in a seven minute span to earn the home team a draw. As it was, Kazakhstan had only this and one other draw to go with four defeats in group play.  Poland had only this match to blemish a perfect record.  Of course, the Poles still have three matches left to play.

The magical White Eagles have almost already qualified for the World Cup Finals in Russia. There are three matches remaining for each of the European Teams (UEFA Teams) in this first round of World Cup Qualifying.  Barring a complete collapse by the Poles - something nobody predicts - Poland will march into Moscow as one of the pre-tournament favorites.  Poland's remaining matches include a game at Denmark on September 1, a home match - to be played at Warsaw - with  Kazakhstan on September 4, and another home match, also at Warsaw, with Montenegro on October 8.

Poland (5 wins, 0 defeats, 1 draw) leads its Division with 16 points, followed by two teams, Denmark (3 wins, 2 defeats, 1 draw) and Montenegro (3 wins, 2 defeats, 1 draw), each with 10 points.  Poland will win the division if they can win two of their remaining matches, or win one match and tie one match.  They will also win their division, no matter how well or poorly they play, if Denmark and Montenegro fail to win at least two of their remaining matches. 

They have played that well. The second place team in the Group will play a home and home with another UEFA Division's Runner-Up to determine if it, too, can qualify to travel and compete in the Russia-based 2018 World Cup.  Robert Lewandowski, who scored the second goal in the match at Kazakhstan, on a penalty shot, leads all scorers in Group Play.  Lewandowski has scored an incredible 11 goals in six qualifying matches.  His closest runner-up has but 6.  In all of Europe, the best any other player could do was score barely over half of the number of goals scored by the incredible Lewandowski.

The way the World Cup works the qualifying in the UEFA Divisions is to send all nine division winners on to the finals.  Four other UEFA teams will also qualify.  Eight of the nine runner-ups in their respective divisions will play

Poland has never won a World Cup.  It has earned a berth in the final round, however, on several occasions. Twice, Poland finished third: in 1974 and again in 1982.  This is Poland's best side since those years.  FIFA ranks them No. 6 in the World.

Poland's magical run actually began in the first game they played after the end of the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.  West Germany won that World Cup, and almost the exact same team that won the Cup took the pitch in Warsaw for a friendly against Poland in September.  Poland won.  

The Poles carried that momentum into EURO 2016.  But after easily qualifying for the final round, they lost to Portugal in the quarter-finals - on penalty kicks.  The magical team in that tournament was Wales, which, ironically, is in deep trouble in their division in the World Cup Qualifying Round.  The Welsh stand in third place in Group D, four points behind Ireland (3 wins, 0 defeats, 3 draws) and Serbia (3 wins, 0 defeats, 3 draws).   Austria (2 wins, 2 defeats, 2 draws) also has 8 points in Group D, but Wales (1 win, 0 defeats, 5 draws) is the 'actual' third place team at the moment, based on Goal Differential (4 to 1).  All four of those nations have three matches left to play.  A match of tremendous importance takes place on September 2 at Cardiff, Wales, where the Welsh host Austria.

Also on September 2, Ireland visits Georgia (0 wins, 3 defeats, 3 draws) and Moldova (0 wins, 2 draws, 4 defeats) visits Serbia.  With the gutty and determined Welsh trailing the two division leaders by four points, they are almost in a win or else situation.  The good news about their situation is that they only need to beat out one of the two to qualify for Moscow (providing that they do not finish with the ninth best record among runner-ups).  Another bit of good news - or is it bad news - is that the Welsh no longer have Ireland or Serbia on their schedule.  Since they need a better overall result than at least one of the two teams ahead of it.  Serbia does have to play Ireland.  If Wales wins its remaining three matches and picks up 9 points, it will still need either Serbia or Ireland to lose or draw two of its remaining three matches.  One of those 'non-wins' will happen for one of the two teams ahead of Wales when Ireland plays Serbia.  But Wales will need at least a tie for that loser in one of the two remaining matches.  It is complicated.

Before losing that heartbreaker to Portugal, Poland had recorded a win over Germany (and a loss and a tie), The win and the loss were in Group Play, the tie was in Group Play in the final round, where Poland was grouped with Germany, Ukraine and Ireland.  Having nearly qualified for the finals, Poland drew powerful Switzerland in the first round of the 16-team final round.  The match ended in a draw and Poland and the Swiss advanced to a shootout.  Poland won.  In the quarter finals (the round of 8), the Poles took eventual Tournament Champ Portugal to the bitter end.  The match, including overtime, ended in a draw and both teams then advanced to a shootout.  Portugal has some of the most dynamic offensive players in the world and it provided the difference in a one goal shootout win.

The Poles do not believe they can lose again.