Qatar 2022 FIFA World Cup Day 7 Live Blog – Poland vs Saudi Arabia

France and Denmark by 5pm, and Argentina and Mexico by 8pm will be the other two games for the day, but for me, it’s a wrap for now. I’d be back another day. Do enjoy the rest of the day!

For the Saudi Arabians, you must give them kudos for their performance and keeping Poland on their toes, but the at missed first half penalty really did prove costly. They move on from this one with their 3 points form their first a game, sitting behind leader Poland (4 points).

It’s a memorable game for Robert Lewandowski who scored his first ever World Cup goal, and as well, recorded his 77th international goal – equaling Pele on the men’s football chart.

There will be 7 added minutes in the game

Poland almost gets number 3 but Robert Lewandowski’s lobs is intercepted by both goalkeeper Mohamed Al Owais and defender Sultan Al Ghannam

Its a double change by Herve Renard:

Abdulrahman Al Oboud COMES ON FOR Abdulelah Al Malki (who committed the blunder)

Nasser Al Dawsari COMES ON FOR Saleh Al Shehri

Its another Poland substitution

This man is the reason Saudi Arabia still trail in this game

POLAND HIT THE POST AGAIN! Robert Lewandowski connects to a pass sends a shot goal, but only hits the right post. What a game this is!

Saudi Arabia makes a substitution:

Its Sultan Al Ghannam WHO COMES ON FOR Mohammed Al Breik

HITS THE WOODWORK! Arkadiusz Milik almost scores Poland’s second with a header but his header comes off the crossbar

Poland makes a substitution

60′ Its been a hour in this game and Saudi Arabia dominate in possession: 37% – 63%, while Poland lead the game, 1-0

STATS SO FAR

Goal Attempts: 2-11

On Target: 1-4

Blocked Shots: 1-2

Freekicks: 9-12

Corner kicks: 2-5

Offsides: 0-0

Yellow Cards: 3-2

Saudi Arabia came close again but Feras Al Buraikan sends his attempt well over the bar

Saudi Arabia come close to scoring again, but both Nawaf Al Abed and Salem Al Dawsari are denied an opportunity by the Polish defence and their goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny

46′ We’re back with the second half. Are Poland 45 minutes away from securing a 1-0 win over Saudi Arabia?

HALF-TIME!

Poland 1-0 Saudi Arabia

Meanwhile, there’s been 5 YELLOW CARDS in the first half of this game, alone. 3 to Poland and the other 2 to Saudi Arabia

45+1′ There will be 10 additional minutes in this first half

ITS MISSED! Wojciech Szczesny picks the right the direction of the penalty, and denies Salem Al Dawsari, a quick rebound by Mohamed Al-Burayak is also prevented from going in by the Poland goalkeeper

ITS A PENALTY FOR SAUDI ARABIA!

Saleh Al Shehri is brought down in Poland’s box by Kyrstian Bielik, and the referee will review this foul for a possible penalty

There’s a pause in play right now as Ali Al Boleahiis being attended to by the medical team following a collision with Robert Lewandowski

30′ We’ve gotten to the half hour mark now, and its really been an end-to-end stuff at the Education City Stadium

STATS SO FAR

Goal Attempts: 1-2

On Target: 0-1

Blocked Shots: 1-1

Freekicks: 5-5

Corner kicks: 2-2

Offsides: 0-0

Yellow Cards: 3-1

WHAT A BLOCK! Krystian Bielik gets himself onto the end of a Poland corner, but his header is superbly blocked by Saleh Al Shehri

Its back-to-back YELLOW CARDS to Poland for rough challenges on Saudi’s players. Matty Cash and  Jakub Kiwior are the Polish men penalized

OH MY! Mohamed Kanno comes close to scoring from the edge of the box after recieving a great pass, but his shot sent towards the top corner is immediately pushed over the crossbar by Wojciech Szczesny. Saudi Arabia with the best chance of the game so far.

1′ And we’re underway at the Education City Stadium in Al Rayyan. Brazilian official Wilton Sampaio is the referee for this one

1′ KICK-OFF!

Poland 0-0 Saudi Arabia

LAST THREE MATCHES

Mexico 0-0 Poland (2022 WC)

Poland 1-0 Chile

Wales 0-1 Poland

—–

Argentina 1-2 Saudi Arabia (2022 WC)

Saudi Arabia 0-1 Croatia

Panama 1-1 Saudi Arabia

Ever got to see this leaked dress room speech from the tactical genius himself, Herve Renard?

HEAD-TO-HEAD

Poland and Saudi Arabia have met once, something in March 2006 in a friendly game. It ended 2-1 in favour of the Europeans.

Robert Lewandowski leads the attack and captains the Poland team this afternoon

This is how the Saudi Arabians line up today. Herve Renard maintains an ALMOST similar squad against Poland

Now, the lineups for both teams…

This is what that win meant for Saudi Arabia. Also Guillermo Ochoa prevented Robert Lewandowski’s penalty from going in, with the game between Poland and Mexico finishing without any goals.

Perhaps you missed watching Saudi Arabia pull off one of the greatest FIFA World Cup upsets in their win against Argentina, well, let me get up to speed with the highlights of that one.

The first game in Group C today is the one between Poland and Saudi Arabia. The other between Argentina and Mexico comes up by 8pm tonight.

In case you missed the first game between Tunisia and Australia, you can click here for a recap of how it went down: TUNISIA 0-1 AUSTRALIA