Poland – Argentina

Poland and Argentina will not take any chances based on their tournament position

Poland will take on Argentina on Wednesday 30 November. The group standings are very tricky. Poland still leads the group. It is very likely that even a narrow defeat will be enough to get them through to the play-offs. The Poles have a good goal difference, giving them a one-point lead over Saudi Arabia and Mexico. Argentina need only win, otherwise Lionel Scaloni's side could lose out in second place. Plus first place in the group will avoid falling to France in the first round of the playoffs. The Polish national team has yet to show quality football. The tournament is becoming a drama for Robert Lewandowski. The team leader scored a goal and an assist in the game against Saudi Arabia but has blown away a number of goalscoring opportunities. In the encounter with Mexico, Lewandowski missed the spot-kick. The forward clearly lacked confidence in World Cup games. Wojciech Szczęsny was the hero. The Polish goalkeeper had an outstanding game against Saudi Arabia. The goalkeeper not only repelled the penalty-kick, but also made several superb saves. The lack of conceded goals is more the goalkeeper's work than the evidence of a well-functioning defence. Argentina have so far been held together largely by the talent of Lionel Messi. After their defeat against Saudi Arabia, the team's performance against Mexico was similarly underwhelming. The opponents' low level and Messi's genius helped. Leo has been involved in all the scoring activities of his team so far. The Argentine has two goals and a goal-kick. Messi has created goals in not the most obvious situations. Curiously, Argentina did not even deserve one goal against Mexico according to advanced statistics. The first half went with just one shot on goal. Importantly, the team also lacked a defined starting line-up. Head coach Lionel Scaloni replaced half of the players in the second game. Argentina have a very problematic match against Poland. We should not expect a lot of goals. Poland will be happy to close in and secure a draw and then possibly a minimum defeat. A 1-0 win for Argentina will in all likelihood give the two teams a ticket to the playoffs. The odds are that a defeat to Poland, even 0-2 or 1-3, would be enough. In other words, the opponents may well agree tacitly and not take any chances based on the score in the parallel match between Mexico and Saudi Arabia. A cautious game is in sight. The Poles have all the prerequisites to continue the series on the " total under".