{"id":22403,"date":"2022-12-05T08:05:28","date_gmt":"2022-12-05T08:05:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/france-vs-poland-match-preview-world-cup-2022-round-of-16"},"modified":"2022-12-05T08:05:28","modified_gmt":"2022-12-05T08:05:28","slug":"france-vs-poland-match-preview-world-cup-2022-round-of-16","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/france-vs-poland-match-preview-world-cup-2022-round-of-16","title":{"rendered":"France vs Poland match preview: World Cup 2022 round of 16"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Lesotho. <\/strong><\/span>France will start their World Cup last-16 clash as overwhelming favourites but Poland are well equipped to derail Les Bleus\u2019 title defence at Al Thumama Stadium.<\/p>\n

France qualified for the knockout phase with a game to spare after two stylish performances against Australia and Denmark but lost the final group match to Tunisia after resting several key players.<\/p>\n

Poland went through despite a 2-0 loss to Argentina in their final group game, carried through the opening phase by their sturdy defence and the touch of striker Robert Lewandowski.<\/p>\n

France will enter the contest with most of their top players having recharged their batteries but patience, more than energy, might be key against Poland.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey have experienced players. Obviously, Lewandowski is the stand-out player, one of the best strikers in the world,\u201d said coach Didier Deschamps.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe should not underestimate them.<\/p>\n

\u201d France often struggle against compact sides who defend deep, such as Poland, but Deschamps has the tools to crack a game wide open.<\/p>\n

While Kylian Mbappe, who is chasing records in Qatar after already scoring seven World Cup goals before the age of 24, might find it hard to use his devastating pace against a packed defence, Ousmane Dembele could be France\u2019s main weapon.<\/p>\n

The forward\u2019s relentless dribbling, surging one way before jinking another, could be tough to handle for the Poles, who will also need to keep an eye on Olivier Giroud in the box.<\/p>\n

Poland, meanwhile, have moved to the knockout stages for the first time in 36 years after finishing second in their group behind Argentina. Poland have been resolute at the back, having conceded just twice in the tournament.<\/p>\n

A lot of that is down to the heroics of their keeper Wojcieh Szczesny, who has arguably been their best player so far. He is the only goalkeeper this World Cup to have saved penalty kicks, including one by Lionel Messi.<\/p>\n

But for all of Poland\u2019s defensive resolve, they have been far from prolific in front of goal and have scored just twice this World Cup, both goals coming against Saudi Arabia.<\/p>\n

But Poland coach Czeslaw Michniewicz bristled at the criticism his side\u2019s conservative approach has received. \u201cThe ones that weren\u2019t playing defensively at the World Cup are back home watching on TV.<\/p>\n

Now we\u2019re out of the group phase, so we will change our plans,\u201d Michniewicz said ahead of Sunday\u2019s game against France. <\/a>\u201cOur luggage is not packed, we weren\u2019t ready to go home before playing Argentina and we\u2019re not ready to go home now,\u201d he added. The winner of Sunday\u2019s match will face either England or Senegal in the quarter-finals.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Lesotho<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Lesotho. France will start their World Cup last-16 clash as overwhelming favourites but Poland are well equipped to derail Les Bleus\u2019 title defence at Al Thumama Stadium. France qualified for the knockout phase with a game to spare after two stylish performances against Australia and Denmark but lost the final group match to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":22402,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,17],"tags":[233,246,1555,245],"class_list":["post-22403","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-sport","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-lesotho","tag-france","tag-lesotho"],"yoast_head":"\nFrance vs Poland match preview: World Cup 2022 round of 16 - Lesotho<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/france-vs-poland-match-preview-world-cup-2022-round-of-16\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"France vs Poland match preview: World Cup 2022 round of 16\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Africa-Press – Lesotho. France will start their World Cup last-16 clash as overwhelming favourites but Poland are well equipped to derail Les Bleus\u2019 title defence at Al Thumama Stadium. France qualified for the knockout phase with a game to spare after two stylish performances against Australia and Denmark but lost the final group match to […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/france-vs-poland-match-preview-world-cup-2022-round-of-16\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Lesotho\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-12-05T08:05:28+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/france-vs-poland-match-preview-world-cup-2022-round-of-16#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/france-vs-poland-match-preview-world-cup-2022-round-of-16\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"France vs Poland match preview: World Cup 2022 round of 16\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-12-05T08:05:28+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/france-vs-poland-match-preview-world-cup-2022-round-of-16\"},\"wordCount\":464,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/france-vs-poland-match-preview-world-cup-2022-round-of-16#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2022\/12\/postQueueImg_1670215123.05.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Lesotho\",\"France\",\"Lesotho\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"sport\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/france-vs-poland-match-preview-world-cup-2022-round-of-16#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/france-vs-poland-match-preview-world-cup-2022-round-of-16\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/france-vs-poland-match-preview-world-cup-2022-round-of-16\",\"name\":\"France vs Poland match preview: World Cup 2022 round of 16 - Lesotho\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/france-vs-poland-match-preview-world-cup-2022-round-of-16#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/france-vs-poland-match-preview-world-cup-2022-round-of-16#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2022\/12\/postQueueImg_1670215123.05.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-12-05T08:05:28+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/france-vs-poland-match-preview-world-cup-2022-round-of-16#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/france-vs-poland-match-preview-world-cup-2022-round-of-16\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/france-vs-poland-match-preview-world-cup-2022-round-of-16#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2022\/12\/postQueueImg_1670215123.05.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2022\/12\/postQueueImg_1670215123.05.jpg\",\"width\":1280,\"height\":720,\"caption\":\"France vs Poland match preview: World Cup 2022 round of 16\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/france-vs-poland-match-preview-world-cup-2022-round-of-16#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"France vs Poland match preview: World Cup 2022 round of 16\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/\",\"name\":\"Lesotho\",\"description\":\"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\",\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"cfeditoren\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"France vs Poland match preview: World Cup 2022 round of 16 - Lesotho","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/france-vs-poland-match-preview-world-cup-2022-round-of-16","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"France vs Poland match preview: World Cup 2022 round of 16","og_description":"Africa-Press – Lesotho. France will start their World Cup last-16 clash as overwhelming favourites but Poland are well equipped to derail Les Bleus\u2019 title defence at Al Thumama Stadium. France qualified for the knockout phase with a game to spare after two stylish performances against Australia and Denmark but lost the final group match to […]","og_url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/france-vs-poland-match-preview-world-cup-2022-round-of-16","og_site_name":"Lesotho","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa","article_published_time":"2022-12-05T08:05:28+00:00","author":"cfeditoren","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"cfeditoren","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/france-vs-poland-match-preview-world-cup-2022-round-of-16#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/france-vs-poland-match-preview-world-cup-2022-round-of-16"},"author":{"name":"cfeditoren","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"headline":"France vs Poland match preview: World Cup 2022 round of 16","datePublished":"2022-12-05T08:05:28+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/france-vs-poland-match-preview-world-cup-2022-round-of-16"},"wordCount":464,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/france-vs-poland-match-preview-world-cup-2022-round-of-16#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2022\/12\/postQueueImg_1670215123.05.jpg","keywords":["Africa Press","Africa Press-Lesotho","France","Lesotho"],"articleSection":["all news","sport"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/france-vs-poland-match-preview-world-cup-2022-round-of-16#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/france-vs-poland-match-preview-world-cup-2022-round-of-16","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/france-vs-poland-match-preview-world-cup-2022-round-of-16","name":"France vs Poland match preview: World Cup 2022 round of 16 - Lesotho","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/france-vs-poland-match-preview-world-cup-2022-round-of-16#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/france-vs-poland-match-preview-world-cup-2022-round-of-16#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2022\/12\/postQueueImg_1670215123.05.jpg","datePublished":"2022-12-05T08:05:28+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/france-vs-poland-match-preview-world-cup-2022-round-of-16#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/france-vs-poland-match-preview-world-cup-2022-round-of-16"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/france-vs-poland-match-preview-world-cup-2022-round-of-16#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2022\/12\/postQueueImg_1670215123.05.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2022\/12\/postQueueImg_1670215123.05.jpg","width":1280,"height":720,"caption":"France vs Poland match preview: World Cup 2022 round of 16"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/france-vs-poland-match-preview-world-cup-2022-round-of-16#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"France vs Poland match preview: World Cup 2022 round of 16"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/","name":"Lesotho","description":"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb","name":"cfeditoren","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"cfeditoren"}}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22403","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/84"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22403"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22403\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22402"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22403"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22403"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22403"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}