Poland 2 – 0 Saudi Arabia

Robert Lewandowski’s first World Cup objective and Wojciech Szczesny’s very good double save from a penalty gave Poland a 2-0 victory over Saudi Arabia to ship them high of Group C.

The Green Falcons did not observe up their shock opening victory towards Argentina as they spurned a number of probabilities on the Education City Stadium to endure defeat of their second recreation.

Piotr Zielinski gave Poland the lead within the thirty ninth minute earlier than Szczesny’s penalty heroics in first-half stoppage time, as he first denied Salem Al-Dawsari from the spot after which saved Mohammed Al-Burayk’s rebound.

In a frenetic second half, Poland hit the woodwork twice whereas Szczesny denied Al-Dawsari once more from shut vary.

But Poland’s victory was sealed within the 82nd minute as Lewandowski capitalised on Abdulellah Al-Malki’s mistake to attain for the primary time within the competitors in his fifth World Cup recreation.

Poland want only a draw of their closing recreation towards Argentina on Wednesday to qualify for the final 16, whereas Saudi Arabia can nonetheless progress to the knockout levels of their closing match towards Mexico.

How Poland burst Saudi Arabia’s bubble

After finishing one of many World Cup’s biggest ever shocks over Argentina, it was no shock to see Saudi Arabia begin the sport stuffed with confidence as Szczesny tipped over Mohamed Kanno’s thirteenth-minute shot from contained in the field.

But Poland took the lead as Matty Cash’s low cross discovered Lewandowski who lifted it over the goalkeeper and pulled it again for Zielinski to fireside dwelling (39).

Four minutes later, Saudi Arabia got a penalty after a VAR overview adjudged Krystian Bielik to have fouled Saleh Al-Shehri.

However, Saudi skipper Al-Dawsari, who scored the winner towards Argentina, noticed his low spot kick saved by Szczesny, who then sensationally stored out Al-Burayk’s observe-up.

Poland got here near doubling their lead within the second half as Arkadiusz Milik rattled the crossbar with a header, whereas Lewandowski hit the publish.

But the Barcelona striker, who had missed a penalty within the goalless draw towards Mexico on Tuesday, lastly obtained his first World Cup objective as he pounced on Al-Malki’s mistake to coolly slide dwelling previous Mohamed Al-Owais, with the striker emotional in his celebrations.

What does the end result imply?

Poland want only a level from their closing group recreation towards Argentina to achieve the final 16, whereas Saudi Arabia nonetheless have an opportunity to qualify for the knockout levels of their closing Group C match towards Mexico.