France – Poland

One can hardly expect many goals in the match between France and Poland

The third round of the World Cup group stage brought so many sensations that the line between outsiders and favourites is blurred. Spain, Brazil, Portugal, Denmark and France suffered from teams from the Asian and African confederations. The latter lost to the Carthage Eagles when the issue of first place in the group was already decided, but will a brief loss of concentration cost the French in such a short-lived tournament? Next up for them is reigning World Champions Poland, who had a poor showing in the group stage, but are making the playoffs based on only a few extra points. France are fairly favoured to win the group stage, with the odds pegged at around 1.30 to win in regulation time. The French team were fairly confident in the group stage, but did not roll over their opponents. In the opening round, Deschamps' side were the first to concede a goal from Australia, but they subsequently scored four goals in a row. For three quarters of the second game the French were almost evenly matched by the Danes, breaking their opposition at the expense of a higher class of performers. France lost to Tunisia in a game with a roughly even statistical showing. In the closing stages of the game, Griezmann scored the game-winning goal, but it was rightly disallowed by the referee. Poland played worse than Mexico in the first leg of the group stage, but it had no impact on the final score, 0-0. Subsequently, the fact that the North American representative failed to beat the Red-Whites was reflected in the outcome of their personal struggle to qualify for the 1/8 finals. In the next two meetings, the Poles lost to eventual favourites Argentina, while they beat group underdog Saudi Arabia, who were in a tizzy after their sensational win over Messi and company. On the whole, Poland left a mediocre impression, with nothing to show against more or less serious opponents. Such, of course, is France, who have ambitions of winning the Mundial again. The Polish team's tactics will be similar to those used against Argentina and Mexico, namely a strictly defensive game. There is no doubt that the French will beat Poland's defence, but you can bet that they will not score too many goals.