- Kylian Mbappe leads the Golden Boot race with fou goals.
- Mbappe, in the same match, equalled the World Cup goal tallies of Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi. Currently, his World Cup is nine goals, equal to that of Messi.
- Mbappe grabbed his second brace of this World Cup.
- Olivier Giroud went past Thierry Henry and became France’s all-time top scorer with 52 goals.
Welcome to Sportstar’s highlights of the France vs Poland FIFA World Cup Round of 16 match at the Al Thumama Stadium.
France beats Poland 3-1 to qualify for the quarterfinals. It will face the winner of the England vs Senegal match.
GOOALLLL!! THIS TIME LEWANDOWSKI CONVERTS HIS PENALTY!! NOT THE WORST WAY TO SIGN OFF!! He takes a stutter and finds the bottom-left corner, sending Lloris the wrong way.
Lloris saves Lewandowski’s penalty but it will be retaken as Lloris was off his line as the penalty was taken by Lewandowski.
VAR has a lengthy check and gives a penalty to Poland for a Upamecano handball inside the area.
France sub: IN- Disasi OUT- Kounde
STAT!!
GOOOALLLLL!!! MBAPPE SCORES HIS SECOND GOAL!! FRANCE HAS THREE!! Another brilliant finish by Mbappe. This time, he cuts in and finds the top-right corner with a curling shot. Szczesny got his hand to it but could not keep it out.
Five added minutes at the end of the second-half!!
Poland sub: IN- Grosicki, Bednarek OUT- Frankowski, Kiwior
The tempo of the match has visibly gone down. France looks comfortable and Poland looks defeated. However, things might have been different if Poland took its chances in th first-half.
Mbappe does well to find Hernandez inside the area. Hernandez takes the shot but his effort sails above Szczesny’s goal.
France sub: IN- Thuram, Coman OUT- Giroud, Dembele
STAT!!
GOOALLLLL!!! MBAPPE SCORES FOR FRANCE’S SECOND!! Demble passes the ball to Mbappe and the latter makes his way inside the box. At first, the box seemed too crowded for a direct shot but Mbappe took his time and lashed the ball at the near-post past a diving Szczesny.
Poland sub: IN- Bielik, Zalewski OUT- Krychowiak, Kaminski
Mbappe looks to break clear of the Poland defence and make a darting run but Matty Cash does really well to stop the Frenchman. He has handled Mbappe well on the left side.
France sub: IN- Youssouf Fofana OUT- Tchouameni
Kounde finds Giroud with a low cross from the right flank. Giroud tries to slip the ball past Szczesny at the near-post with a first-time shot but hits the side-netting.
Poland sub: IN- Milik OUT- Symanski
Mbappe plays a one-two with Dembele and goes for a first-time shot from a tight angle but his effort blazes over the bar.
Mbappe gets the ball after Dembele finds him with a cutback from the right. But the ball is slightly behind Mbappe and he could not get the ball under control.
Giroud find the net with an acrobatic finish but it won’t count because the referee had already blown his whistle for a foul on Szczesny.
Mbappe cuts in and aims for the near-post with a right-footed shot. The shot takes a deflection and completely changes direction. For a second, it seemed like it would creep inside the goal at the far-post but the ball goes out of play. Lloris was a spectator as the ball went out of play.
Mbappe plays Rabiot on the right and the latter tries to find Giroud in the middle. But the ball is cleared by the Polish defence.
France tries to open up Poland with a counter-attack. Mbappe looked to make another trademark sprint but could not keep the ball under his control this time.
Griezmann shoots at goal from his freekick. He connects well with the shot and it is on target but Szczesny punches the ball away to safety.
Booking: Bereszyński sees yellow early in the second-half after fouling Dembele near the Poland box. France with a freekick in an inviting are.
The second-half kicks-off with France leading the match 1-0.
Olivier Giroud’s goal keeps France ahead at the break with a 1-0 lead against Poland.
Poland looks for an immediate response as Kaminski’s shot is deflected into the side-netting. The resulting corner could have led to danger as Looris spills a simple catch but recovers well and catches it in his second attempt.
Two added minutes at the end of the first-half!!
GOOOALL!!! FRANCE SCORES!! ITS OLIVIER GIROUD!! HE BECOMES THE ALL-TIME TOP SCORER FOR FRANCE!! Mbappe does well to slip a pass to Giroud who makes a good run inside the box. Once he gets the ball, he finds the bottom-right corner with a well-taken shot. He becomes the all-time France top scorer with 52 goals, overtaking Thierry Henry.
The referee just notices that Kounde is wearing a gold chain around his neck. Kounde removes it after being ordered to do so by the referee.
It just won’t go in - Poland players cannot believe that they are not leading the match. Zielinski’s shot is saved by Lloris and the France keeper makes another save of the rebound. The danger was still not over as another shot came in from Kaminski at the France goal but Varane cleared it off the line.
Save- Mbappe uses his quick feet to make a good angle for himself inside a crowded Poland box. He shoots at Szczesny’s near-post and the Polish keeper does well to make the save.
Zielinski lays the ball off for Cash who takes a first-time shot from the left flank. The effort is not on target.
Lewandowski’s freekick is poor as he hits the France wall with his shot.
Booking: Tchouameni sees the first yellow card of the match for bringing down Frankowski. Poland has a freekick in a dangerous area.
What a chance- Dembele makes a pact run down the right flank. Once inside the box, he finds Giroud at the far post with a measured pass. Giroud connects with the ball but cannot keep it on target. It would have been a bad miss if not for the assistant referee’s offside flag.
Mbappe makes a bursting run down the left flank. He gets past his marker with relative ease but holds on to the ball too long. He is ultimately pressured into losing the ball. He did not have much support to work with in that instance.
STAT: Poland only has one player averaging in the opposition half. France has six.
Poland comes forward for the first time and Lewandowski picks the ball in space. He sends a left-footed shot but it misses the target.
Poland is under pressure from France’s incessant attacking. Mbappe’s cross inside the box is not cleared Giroud tries to poke the ball past Szczesny. The Polish keeper does well to get his hand to the ball and make the save.
Dembele makes a run from the left, cuts in and shoots low and hard in the hope of finding the bottom-corner. But Szczesny is alert enough to get down quickly and keep hold of the ball.
Giroud is played a good pass and he would have had a clear chance at goal if not for Szczesny’s timely anticipation where he came off his line and collected the ball.
Tchouameni’s shot from distance is hard and low but Szczesny gets down well to make the save and parry the ball to his right.
Mbappe uses his pace to get past his marker on the left flank. He crosses inside the box aiming for Giroud but Poland’s Bartosz Bereszyński gets the ball away with a diving header.
Lloris plays a risky pass to Upamecano but the centre-back does well to not the ball despite being under pressure.
France doing all the attacking on the opening minutes of the first-half. Poland resorting to its usual defensive approach.
Griezmann’s delivery inside the box is overhit and is a wasted chance for the Les Blues.
Early freekick for France as Griezmann is brought down. France has a good chance to deliver a cross inside the box.
AND WE ARE UNDERWAY!!France and Poland kick-off their Round of 16 clash at the Al Thumama Stadium.
The veteran!!
Less than 10 minutes to kick-off!
STAT-ATTACK!!
- This will be the second meeting between France and Poland at the World Cup, with its previous meeting coming in the third-place playoff match of the 1982 World Cup. Poland clinched a 3-2 win in that match.
- France is unbeaten against Poland in its last seven meetings across all competitions (W3 D4), with its last defeat against it in a friendly match in August, 1982 (0-4).
- France has become the first reigning World Champion to reach the knockout stages since Brazil in 2006. The last reiging champion to go out from the Round of 16 was Italy in 1986, after losing 2-0 to France.
FRANCE VS POLAND STARTING LINEUPS
Match Preview
The curse of the champion is no longer there. France, the previous World Cup winner, is there in the knockouts. The ominous streak had started with the French themselves in 2002 when they had finished last, with no wins in a group that had Denmark, Senegal and Uruguay.
Brazil was the aberration in 2006, but its run too was cut short in the quarterfinals by Les Bleus. Since then, Italy, Spain and Germany have faltered in the first hurdle. But Didier Deschamps’s team, brimming with attacking riches, topped its group in Qatar 2022 despite the last-game loss to the Tunisians.
Deschamps had introduced multiple changes in that final league match, benching Kylian Mbappe, Ousmane Dembele and Antonie Griezmann, among others. It, however, was made to pay the price for the leisurely stroll as Wahbi Khazri scored the all-important goal.
But against a shot-shy Poland at the Al Thumma Stadium, France will need the speed of Mbappe to load the left channel, while Griezmann will bring in an additional goal threat with his runs from deep. The scorer of 42 international goals has been the heart of this French side in his right-sided midfield role and had set up Mbappe to score the winning goal against Denmark. Griezmann has ventured forward whenever needed and only a late VAR call (against Tunisia) stopped him from scoring his first goal of this tournament.
Robert Lewandowski mostly wandered alone in the Argentina game as Poland was busy defending, pulling men back to close the gaps that Argentina created. Against France, too, it will look to park the bus and hit the opponents on the counter.
“Poland had to defend a lot in the three games. And they defend very well; I would even say that they like it, that they love to suffer. But we must not limit ourselves to that. We know their attacking players. They are a competitive team, they have a hard core of players with a lot of international experience, who have already participated in various competitions, with almost a hundred caps,” Deschamps said in the pre-match press conference.
Despite Lewandowski leading its line, Czeslaw Michniewicz’s team managed just four shots on target and scored twice.
The focus for Michniewicz will again be on the defensive shape but striker Arkadiusz Milik was relaxed enough to have a laugh. “We need to buy scooters for our defenders,” he said about the team’s plan to stop the explosive Mbappe.
Michniewicz is aware of the quality France packs in every department. “I searched and searched [for a weakness in France]. I didn’t find it. But I’m sure every team has phases in the game where they make mistakes. We must draw out these mistakes from the French and put pressure on them all the time,” the coach said. “France is on a similar level to Argentina. Maybe it has even more individuality in the squad, more faster players on the wings. If we beat the defending champions, we can call ourselves world champions for a moment. We dream about it.”
Poland, though, has history on its side. The only World Cup meeting between the two ended in a 3-2 Polish victory in the 1982 third-place play-off.
-Ayon Sengupta
Head-to-head record
Played: 16
France wins: 8
Poland wins: 3
Draws: 5
France goals: 27
Poland goals: 16
France vs Poland Predicted XI
France possible XI: Lloris(GK); Kounde, Varane, Upamecano, T. Hernandez; Tchouameni, Rabiot; Dembele, Griezmann, Mbappe; Giroud
Poland XI: Szczesny(GK); Cash, Glik, Kiwior, Bereszynski; Frankowski, Bielik, Krychowiak, Zielinski; Lewandowski, Milik
When and where to watch
When will the France vs Poland Round of 16 match kick-off?
The France vs Poland Round of 16 will kick-off at 08:30PM IST, December 4.
Where will the France vs Poland Round of 16 match kick-off?
The France vs Poland Round of 16 match will kick-off at the Al Thumama Stadium.
Where can you watch the France vs Poland Round of 16 match in India?
The France vs Poland Round of 16 match will be telecasted live on Sports18 and Sports18 HD. On Android and well as iOS, the 2022 FIFA World Cup will be live streamed on JioCinema.
Where can you watch the France vs Poland Round of 16 match outside India?
Argentina – Live Stream: Telemundo
United States – TV: FOX, Telemundo; Live Stream: fuboTV, Fox Sports app, Telemundo Deportes En Vivo
Canada – TV: CTV, TSN; Live Stream: fuboTV, TSN app
United Kingdom – TV: BBC One; Live Stream: BBC iPlayer, BBC Sport Website
Australia – TV: SBS; Live Stream: SBS On Demand
New Zealand – TV: Sky Sports; Live Stream: Sky Sport
Malaysia – TV: RTM, Astro; Live Stream: Astro Go
Singapore – TV: Mediacorp Channel 5; Live Stream: StarHub TV+, IPTV, Singtel TV
Hong Kong – TV: BeIN Sports, ITV; Live Stream: Now TV, ViuTV
Nigeria – SuperSport and Showmax Pro.
Get all the results for the FIFA World Cup 2022 here: Full list of all matches, scores, results, goalscorers
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- Football fans, put your skills to the test with FIFA World Cup Quiz
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- Here are some of the most frequently asked questions
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