France vs Poland: 2022 World Cup, Round of 16, Match Preview and Predictions

France vs Poland is next as reigning world champions France face Poland in their round of 16 tie on Sunday afternoon.

Match Details:

• Location: Doha, Qatar
• Stadium: Al Thumama Stadium
• Date: Sunday 4 December
• Kick-off Time: 8:30 PM IST
• Watch: Sports 18/HD, Jio Cinema App

France vs Poland: Match Preview:

Champions France have broken the long-standing World Cup curse and will feel confident about progressing into the quarter-finals, potentially to meet England.

𝘞𝘩𝘦𝘯 @KMbappe 𝘮𝘦𝘵 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘪-𝘮𝘦 🥰

Young fan Nassim got the chance to speak with his hero before returning to France 💙#FiersdetreBleus pic.twitter.com/cyWlSYlc0h

— French Team ⭐⭐ (@FrenchTeam) December 3, 2022

For the first time since 2006, the world champions have not been knocked out during the group stages, a feat made even more impressive when you consider the injury problems Didier Deschamps has had to deal with.

Poland, meanwhile, rather limped into the round-of-16, getting through via goals scored ahead of Mexico. While they do boast quality – namely through Robert Lewandowski – they will need a huge improvement based on their performance against Argentina.

All of Poland right now: pic.twitter.com/2vdX9OV62d

— B/R Football (@brfootball) November 30, 2022

Team News:

France:

After an injury-riddled start to the tournament, Deschamps wrapped his stars up in cotton wool, making nine changes to the starting XI which faced Tunisia.

𝘽𝙖𝙘𝙠 𝙬𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚 𝙞𝙩 𝙖𝙡𝙡 𝙗𝙚𝙜𝙖𝙣… ⚽️

📸 Les Bleus pay tribute to their first amateur clubs 👕😉#FiersdetreBleus pic.twitter.com/8WI5GFOYV8

— French Team ⭐⭐ (@FrenchTeam) December 2, 2022

The lacklustre performance – until some of those lofty names came on – would have done little to convince Deschamps that any of the reserves deserve a starting berth.

Poland:

Czeslaw Michniewicz is expected to have a full squad at his disposal. Although, Poland's manager doesn't seem to be entirely convinced of the quality it possesses. Before backtracking, Michniewicz joked: "I can't turn water into wine. Although here that might be useful."

Poland advances to the knock-out stage of the World Cup after a 0-2 loss against Argentina.

The Poles advance thanks to a 1+ better goal difference than Mexico, with goalkeeper W. Szczęsny playing the role as hero after having saved a penalty from Messi.

Poland vs France next! pic.twitter.com/lFvV0Mwvu4

— Visegrád 24 (@visegrad24) November 30, 2022

France vs Poland: Head to Head:

The two teams have squared off 16 times across all competitions. As expected, France have a better record in these games with eight wins to their name. Poland have three wins to their name while five games have ended in draws.

Steve Mandanda became the oldest player to wear the France shirt this week, at 37 years et 247 days 💙

"Il Fenomeno" still going strong 💪 pic.twitter.com/45385U2zVc

— French Team ⭐⭐ (@FrenchTeam) December 2, 2022

The last five meetings between the two teams have produced fewer than 2.5 goals, with Denmark failing to score in four of these matches. France outscored Denmark 6-2 in the group stage but Denmark had the better defensive record, conceding two times while France had let in three goals.

There have been under 2.5 goals scored per game in Poland's last four games in the World Cup.

Predicted Line-ups:

France Starting 11 (4-2-3-1): Lloris; Kounde, Varane, Upamecano, T Hernandez; Tchouameni, Rabiot; Dembele, Griezmann, Mbappe; Giroud.
Bench: Mandanda, Areola, Disasi, Pavard, Saliba, Konate, Guendouzi, Veretout, Camavinga, Y Fofana, Kolo Muani, Coman, Thuram.

Poland Starting 11 (4-2-3-1): Szczesny; Cash, Glik, Kiwior, Bereszynski; Krychowiak, Bielik; Frankowski, Zielinski, Kaminski; Lewandowski.
Bench: Grabara, Skorupski, Bednarek, Jedrzejczyk, Wieteska, Gumny, Zurkowski, D Szymanski, Zalewski, S Szymanski, Grosicki, Swiderski, Skoras, Milik, Piatek.

FRA vs POL: Dream11 Predictions:

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