Poland
The Polish national team could hardly be considered a clear contender for a ticket to the playoffs in the company of Argentina and Mexico. However, in the first round, the team of Cheslav Mikhnevich showed quite high-quality football in the duel with Mexico, having managed to take points from the opponent. A pragmatic, cautious approach could fully justify itself, but a missed penalty by Robert Lewandowski forced them to settle for a goalless draw. Such a result left no room for error for the Poles in the second round. In the duel with Saudi Arabia, the White Eagles managed to take the lead in the first half, but Saudi Arabia pressed the whole match and failed to score a penalty. As a result, in the second half the Poles sought their fortune on counterattacks and managed to score the second goal, demoralizing the Falcons, who did not get off Wojciech Szczesny’s goal for the entire match.
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Argentina
Before the start of the tournament, the Argentina national team was considered the main contender for victory in the group, but already in the first round it failed loudly. Having won the first half against Saudi Arabia, Lionel Scaloni’s team allowed the Falcons to score twice in the second half of the meeting. Despite numerous attempts to recoup, the Argentines failed to take even one point in this meeting. The match of the second round with Mexico was a kind of group stage final for Albiceleste. A defeat would knock them out of the tournament. The duel turned out to be not the most spectacular, but in a difficult struggle, Lionel Messi found his moment and realized it, after which the Mexicans were finished off with an accurate shot by Enzo Fernandez. A 2:0 victory leaves Albiceleste with excellent chances to advance from the group.
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