IN A 2-0 WIN OVER SAUDI ARABIA, POLAND’S ROBERT LEWANDOWSKI SCORES HIS FIRST WORLD CUP GOAL
In Poland's 2-0 victory over Saudi Arabia on Saturday, Robert Lewandowski scored the first goal of his World Cup career, snapping Saudi Arabia's bubble following their giant-killing performance against Argentina. For years, he has been awaiting the opportunity to make his mark on the largest stage of them all. In the opening match against Mexico in Qatar, he missed a crucial penalty, but in the closing stages, he capitalised on a defensive mistake to seal all three points. As a result, Poland has gained four points and has taken over the top spot in Group C ahead of Argentina's match against Mexico. But the result was one that they had to work very hard to achieve.
The ball was played wide by Szczesny to Matty Cash, and after a one-two, Cash did a brilliant job feeding Robert Lewandowski in the box. While he failed to convert, the Barcelona player kept the move alive by pulling the ball back for Piotr Zielinkski, who fired it into the roof of the net. Currently, he has been involved in 14 goals this season, with seven goals and seven assists, but this was his largest contribution. Having dominated the first half, Saudi Arabia scored against the run of play, as Poland had difficulty maintaining its pressing pressure. But then they executed an impressive move that stunned the vocal supporters, but Saudi Arabia was able to regain control of the game. It was a clumsy contact between Krystian Bielik and Saleh Al Shehri which led to a VAR review and the crowd erupted as the referee pointed to the spot. Szczesny saved the first effort made by Salem Al Dawsari before tipping Mohammed Al Burayk's follow-up attempt over the bar.
It Poland managed to make it through ten minutes of stoppage time and into the dressing room unscathed due to the best save of the tournament so far. There were five yellow cards in the first half, the most since the 2010 World Cup final. In the second half, Szczesny made another low save before Feras Al Brikan was played in on the left but fired over before Mohammed Kano wasted another good opportunity. Exactly the same Saudi Arabia that hurried and hastened Argentina once again, demonstrating their might. Poland could have doubled its lead, however. Arkadiusz Milik headed a cross from the left onto the crossbar, before Lewandowski missed with his right foot and diverted the ball onto the post with his left knee. There is no doubt that he should have scored that shot, but Poland's greatest player would make his mark on the biggest stage in the world. The ball was miscontrolled by Al Malki on the edge of his own box, and Lewandowski pounced to slide the ball past the oncoming keeper. After missing a crucial penalty against Mexico two days earlier, tears filled his eyes as he celebrated his very first World Cup goal. Despite missing a big one-on-one opportunity, he was nonetheless delighted with the win of 2-0.
