World Cup Fantasy 2022 Poland team preview | OneFootball

In this World Cup Fantasy 2022 article, we preview Poland and their Qatar World Cup 2022 hopes - from their route to qualification, form since and best fantasy players.

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Poland World Cup 2022 team preview: The history

Manager: Czesław Michniewicz

World ranking: 26th

World Cup 2018 performance: Group stage

Best World Cup performance: Third place (1974, 82)

Who will Poland play in the World Cup 2022 group stages?

World Cup group C: Argentina, Saudi Arabia, Mexico, Poland. Graphic source: Google

When do Poland play in the World Cup 2022? Group-stage fixtures

Poland's group-stage fixtures are as follows - all times in GMT:

Poland's route to the World Cup 2022: Qualifying performances

Top scorer: Robert Lewandowski - 9

Most assists: Lewandowski - 4

Poland were in pot two for the draw for European World Cup qualifying, meaning they would face one of the Europe's top nations in their group.

With just one automatic place in Qatar per group available, this already put Poland on the back foot. They drew England, the third-highest ranked UEFA side.

England comfortably topped the group, finishing on 26 points from 10 games.

Poland meanwhile managed to grab a spot in the playoffs with their 20 points - enough for second place.

Poland's World Cup 2022 qualifying group

A challenging away match against Hungary kicked-off Polands qualifying campaign - and it was a lively one.

Robert Lewandowski scored an 83rd-minute equaliser to earn Poland a point in the 3-3 draw, with forward Krzysztof Piątek and winger Kamil Jozwiak also netting.

Lewandowski, who finished third in the UEFA top scorers' list for qualifying, grabbed a brace in a 3-0 win over Andorra in matchday 2.

Brighton's Jakub Moder scored an equaliser against England at Wembley in Poland's next match - but a late Harry Maguire goal saw the home side edge a 2-1 win.

Four separate scorers - including Lewandowski - were on target in Poland's 4-1 defeat of Albania.

And three days later, Poland demolished San Marino by seven goals to one. Lewandowski grabbed a brace, while Adam Buksa took home the match ball after scoring a hat-trick.

The reverse fixture against England was next and after narrowly missing out on a point away from home, a stoppage-time goal from Damian Szymański earned the Poles a 1-1 draw.

Another five goals were scored at home to San Marino but talisman Lewandowski was a rare absentee from the scoresheet and was substituted after 66 minutes.

Karol Swiderski scored the only goal of the game as Poland defeated Albania, while the next match saw normal service resumed by Lewandowski. He scored twice in the 4-1 away win.

With second place in the bag, Poland's second defeat of the group in their final game - a 2-1 loss to Hungary - was immaterial.

Playoffs

Poland now needed to win two games in a row to make it to Qatar.

Their playoff semi-final was due to be played against Russia, until the war in Ukraine saw the Russians excluded.

Poland received a bye into the final, where they defeated Sweden 2-0 to qualify.

A Lewandowski penalty and a goal from Piotr Zieliński was enough to book Poland's place in Qatar.

Poland form since qualifying for the World Cup 2022

Poland's playoff final took place on March 29.

Their semi-final against Russia was due to take place five days earlier, however an international friendly against Scotland was held instead. The match finished 1-1.

June saw Poland compete in four UEFA Nations League games, with mixed results.

They defeated Wales 2-1, with Jakub Kaminski and Karol Swiderski the goalscorers.

Lewandowski was on target against Belgium but unfortunately for Poland, they were soundly beaten 6-1 away from home.

A 2-2 draw away to Netherlands followed, Aston Villa's Matty Cash and Zielinski the scorers.

Poland were again defeated by Belgium, however the match was a closer affair, finishing 1-0.

September saw Poland face the Netherlands and Wales. See our World Cup form guide for details.

Matty Cash in action for Aston Villa. Picture by Getty Images

Do Poland have any World Cup warm-up matches?

Poland play Chile on November 16 in their final game before the World Cup. Our form guide (see above) will be updated with the result.

Who is in the Poland World Cup 2022 squad?

Countries are expected to announce their squads as late as November 14, narrowing down their preliminary lists of up to 55 players to 26 players.

Poland confirmed their final squad on November 10. It was as follows:

GK: Bartlomiej Dragowski, Lukasz Skorupski, Wojciech Szczesny

DEF:  Jan Bednarek, Bartosz Bereszynski, Matty Cash, Kamil Glik, Robert Gumny, Artur Jedrzejczyk, Jakub Kiwior, Mateusz Wieteska, Nicola Zalewski

MID: Krystian Bielik, Przemyslaw Frankowski, Kamil Grosicki, Jakub Kaminski, Grzegorz Krychowiak, Michal Skoras, Damian Szymanski, Sebastian Szymanski, Piotr Zielinski, Szymon Zurkowski

Who will start for Poland in the World Cup 2022?