Robert Lewandowski lost the most important game of his career with the selection of Poland last night. Poland faced Argentina and Leo Messi as the group leaders. But the great objective of the ‘white eagles’ was always to reach the round of 16.
Happy despite the loss
Robert Lewandowski was a happy guy despite the defeat. After the match he confessed: “It was a sweet defeat” while smiling.
Lewa then continued: “We were playing against Argentina and knew it would be a difficult game for us. We had to fight hard since the start and compete against them. We lost”.
“In the end we can be happy because we will be in the next round.”
About the game, Lewa admited that he knew about his job last night. “I was the first defender today. If you play with the national team, Poland, you know you’re not going to have as many chances to score.”
The Barça player is aware that “we have to work as a team. For me it is a challenge to work in defense. We can be happy. Despite the fact that Argentina won the game. They are still favorites to win the World Cup.”
Regarding Poland’s next rival, France, Lewandowski said it’s “a great challenge for us. “We know the players they have. We have to enjoy ourselves, try to do our best and fight. We know that as a team they won the previous World Cup. And they intend do the same with this one,”
Lewandowski stressed that in order to pass “we have to play better than today”.
Poland didn’t reach the round of 16 of a World Cup since Mexico 1986. 36 years later, Lewandowski was able to bring joy to his country after several disappointments in international tournaments.
Historic achievement
After making it to the round of 16 in Mexico 1986, Poland did not qualify for Italy 1990, United States 1994 and France 1998. They had to wait for the 2002 World Cup in Korea and Japan to return to the World Cup.
The Poles lost in the group stage matches against hosts South Korea, the United States and Portugal.
The European side were again eliminated in the group stage in Germany 2006. They lost to Germany and Ecuador.
Poland did not participate in South Africa 2010 nor Brazil 2014. Meanwhile in Russia 2018 they were knocked out again in the group stage, in the group against Colombia, Japan and Senegal.
Now in Qatar 2022, Poland finally broke the curse and teached to the round of 16.
