Bisnis.com, JAKARTA – The Mexican national team will meet Poland in the Group C continuation of the 2022 World Cup at the 974 stadium on Tuesday (22/11/2022) evening.

Mexico’s match against Poland will be a decisive game as both will face tough opponents Argentina in the next game.

After this match, they will be very realistic to get full points against the Saudis. The draw between them in today’s game gave them some relief, but the loss made it harder for them.

Poland have reason to be worried about Mexico as they have almost never failed to pass the group stage. This is on top of Mexico’s terrible stats, which are unbeaten in each of their opening World Cup matches, winning five and drawing each.

The last time Mexico failed to make it past the group stage was in 1978, when they got zero points in a group dominated by Poland who ironically fired a group after 44 year.

One of the regrets of Gerardo Martino’s Mexican team is the absence of Mexico’s all-time top scorer, Javier Hernandez, from their squad, although this performance remains as good as previous seasons.

Poland’s mood was also helped somewhat by Mexico’s recent trip. They qualified for the final after finishing runners-up under Canada, who even started World Cup qualification from the preliminary stage against Mexico, who immediately entered the second round.

Not only that, Mexico also lost their last World Cup warm-up game against Sweden, even though Sweden were the last team Poland beat before advancing to the World Cup finals when it won 2-0 in the playoffs last March.

If Poland survives the group stage, it will be the first time since 1986 that they will not qualify for the finals of the editions of the World Cup they have participated in after that year.

Poland have something Mexico don’t have, namely world-class striker Robert Lewandowski who is the guarantee that the Mexican defense will be nervous throughout the game.

However, this is Poland’s first game for new coach Czeslaw Michniewicz. He may be pressured to deal with it so that he miscalculates.

He brushed it off saying, “Yeah, it’s something new for me, but I don’t feel any pressure.”

“I’m happy that all the players are healthy,” the former Poland Under-21 coach said, as quoted by Reuters.

Mexico vs Poland Prediction

Mexico (4-3-3): Guillermo Ochoa; Jorge Sanchez, Nestor Araujo, Cesar Montes, Jesus Gallardo; Charly Rodriguez, Edson Alvarez, Andreas Guardaro; Hirving Lozano, Henri Martin, Alexis Vega

Poland (3-5-2): Wojciech Szczesny; Jan Bednarek, Kamil Glik, Jakub Kiwior; Matty Cash, Krystian Bielik, Piotr Zielinski, Nicola Zalewski; Robert Lewandowski, Karol Swiderski

Scenario of the match Mexico vs Poland:

Gerardo Martino can deploy an attacking formation in order to maintain his philosophy. But he may not be tempted to play Raul Jimenez because since the end of August this player has lacked playing time.

The most realistic thing for Jimenez is to come on as a substitute. For this Henry Martin who will lead the front line of Mexico.

This is not the case with Guillermo Ochoa. The fearsome keeper is irreplaceable and for the umpteenth time he will be protected by Jorge Sanchez, Nestor Araujo, Cesar Montes and Jesus Gallardo in a standard four-man defence.

In the middle, defensive-minded midfielder Edson Alvarez will be flanked by Carlos Rodriguez and Andres Guardado in the three-midfield scheme, two of whom actively spit Mexican attacking energy, while Alvarez is tasked with mitigating opponents and cover the defense. .

Striker Hirving Lozano, who defends Napoli every day in the Italian League, will lead the trident with Alexis Vega and Martin. They are ready to constantly hammer the Polish defense.

New Poland coach Czeslaw Michniewicz is expected to take a pragmatic approach, using three centre-backs to protect goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny from the terror of the Mexican frontline.

Jan Bedranek, Kamil Glik and Jakub Kiwior are likely to form a defensive triangle flanked by two full-backs Matty Cash on the right and Nicola Zalewski on the left.

But Poland knows for sure that it must maximize the potential of its bombers, especially Robert Lewandowski. He needs to get space and the opportunity to damage the Mexican defense.

From this understanding, midfield duo Krystian Bielik and Piotr Zielinski will be tasked with supporting the Polish attack, with Bielik serving as the anchor, while Zielinski will more often assist the attack which will rely on both irons spear, Karol Swiderski and Lewandowski.

Poland still have Arkadiusz Milik but this player can be installed as a replacement, if the initial strategy is not too favorable to Poland or if the momentum is in Poland’s sway.

Mexico vs Poland Facts:

– Mexico and Poland have already met nine times, and both have won three times, while the other three have ended in draws.

– Poland had not beaten Mexico since winning the 1978 World Cup, which was also the only meeting between the two teams in a World Cup before this one in Qatar.

– The last time they faced each other was in November 2017 when Raul Jimenez scored the winner in a 1-0 win over Mexico.

– Mexico finished second in CONCACAF World Cup qualifying after losing on goal difference to Canada.

– Mexico have appeared in 17 World Cup finals and this is the eighth in a row. But since 1994, they have always been eliminated in the round of 16.

– Poland is playing its ninth World Cup. They were on a mission to avoid bad luck in the 2018 edition when they finished last in the group.

– Robert Lewandowski scored nine goals for Poland in World Cup qualifying. He is currently in good form with Barcelona scoring 18 goals in 19 appearances.

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