Before the match against Poland, the whole football world was eager to see if Saudi Arabia are just a one game wonder or a ‘real deal’. The Saudis made one of the biggest upsets in the history of the World Cup when they defeated Argentina 2-1, but if you look at their previous records they were never a factor at any tournament. Saudi Arabia have lost nine of their 10 FIFA World Cup games against European nations, with the exception being a 1-0 win over Belgium in 1994. They’ve lost each of their last eight such games, while failing to score a single goal in any of the last seven. And today, the same thing happened, they lost to a pale European team: Poland – Saudi Arabia 2-0.Robert Lewandowski scores his first ever goal at a World Cup, in his 5th appearance in the competition. He now has 77 goals for Poland.Ice-cool finish. 🧊 pic.twitter.com/TzK9L9S3kU— Statman Dave (@StatmanDave) November 26, 2022 But whoever saw the game will not appreciate this statistics, since it was the Saudis who were a better team and created much better chances, but the Poles had Wojciech Szczesny. The Juventus keeper looked like an octopus today, and saved everything throw his way, including the penalty in the 45th minute, when his team was leading 1-0. And unlike the unlucky Saudis, Poland played pale, scored from their first shot on target and used Arabia’s need to equalize and secured a win with the first Lewadowski’s goal at the World Cup.The Saudis started the game strong, took over the possession and in the 13th minute, Szczesny was forced into action after a great Kanno’s shot which was tipped away in the last second. Arabia continued to attack but the Poles basically used their first chance of the game to score. Napoli’s Zielinski used an opportunity after a long attack from Poland and scored the first (and only) goal of the match in the 39th minute. But the Herve Renard’s men didn’t give up and just at the very end of the half, VAR reacted to Bielik’s challenge on Al-Shehri and the referee awarded a penalty. But the man of the match Szczesny saved not one, but two shots and saved his team. He stopped Al-Dawsari’s penalty and got up from the ground just in time stop Al-Burayk’s shot.The Juve keeper continued to save his teammates in the second half too. The Poles were on the ropes a few times during the second 45 minutes and when everybody expected a goal, Szczesny was there to rescue the situation. Saudi Arabia lacked composure and attacked but were not precise in the critical moments, and it doomed them in the end. Their attacks left enough room for Poland forwards to attack, but Lewandwski and Milik both hit the bar within three minutes of each other. But the punishment for so many wasted chances came in the 82nd minute when Al-Malki made a mistake as the last man in defense, and allowed Lewandowski to dispossess him and after being one on one with the Saudi keeper, Barcelona forward finally scored his first goal at the World Cups to secured the win. Poland now has a chance to qualify for the knockout stage in the last round against Argentina.Saturday, Nov 26thTunisia – Australia 0-1 (0-1)/Duke 23/Poland – Saudi Arabia 2-0 (1-0)/Zielinski 39, Lewandowski 82/19:00: (2.00) France (3.40) Denmark (3.90) 22:00: (1.62) Argentina (3.70) Mexico (6.00)
