betprepare.com

It's fair their faith is decided in a direct clash

Both teams have had ups and downs in the last year, and it all comes down to these 90 minutes. Poland have a bit more maneuvering space, 0-0 or 1-1 results would be enough for them to qualify directly for European Championship

Getty Images

Poland won a valuable point on Thursday in Scotland, and the key person, as expected, was Robert Lewandowski, who continued his great scoring series with two goals at the start and at the finish of the game. Selector Adam Nawalka had to be pleased with the development of the situation:

- Boys played great and displayed character, if they didn't have it they wouldn't have equalized in 94th minute, but we would probably have avoided such situation if scored for 2-0 on time. Either way, this game also confirmed that we are improving, I believe that we will confirm our European Championship qualification on Sunday. 

That second goal during injury time leaves more maneuvering space for Poland than they would have had it had they lost in Glasgow, since, except a win, they can stay ahead of Ireland with 0-0 and 1-1 results, which is good to know in case the game is tough and tense. However, Nawalka points out that they are not interested in calculations:

- We won't play for a draw, this team doesn't have that kind of attitude, so far we always went for the win and the same will happen today. That is why we decided to use only completely fit players, because that's the only way to play well in a game like this one, we made a game plan, and we will try to implement it regardless of the way Ireland is set up.

In accordance with Nawalka's statement, defender Rybus, forward Milik and midfielder Jodloiec will not be playing tonight, they all suffered minor injuries against Scotland which can't be cured in such a short period between two games. The first two should be replaced by Wawrzyniak and Sobiech, who were with Nawalka at the press conference yesterday, which must be a sign that he seriously counts on them. 

We can only guess how much the Irish believed they could surprise Germany, but the miracle happened in Dublin three days ago, their defense was string and offense managed to use one of the rare mistakes made by their opponents. Selector Martin O'Neill had trouble holding in his feelings:

- This is a fantastic win, after we withstood Germany's pressure in the first half, we were braver in offense as well in the second half and it paid off, we defeated World Champions and that is a memory we will keep for life. Another bonus is that we at least secured the play-offs, and we have a chance to do even more than that in Poland, if someone offered us this position before the last round, we would gladly accept it. 

Thursday would have been perfect from their perspective if Lewandowski hadn't scored the second goal against Scotland, in that case they would any kind of draw in Warsaw tonight to qualify for France, but this way they will probably need a win because it is hard to expect that the game will end 2-2 or 3-3. And that might be for the best, thinks one of the heroes of the triumph over Germany, defender Cyrus Christie:

- The pressure is gone now that we secured the third spot, but the feeling would be even better if we qualified directly for the Euro, we are going to Poland to win, and we'll see what happens. We were a much better team when we faced them in Ireland, we didn't deserve to lose, we can use that as encouragement. 

Christie could lose his spot in the starting lineup today since, as it was announced, experienced Coleman has recovered, and midfielders Whelan and McClean who were suspended are also back. The only player definitely out is goalkeeper Given, he had to be substituted against Germany by Randolph who will start the match today, and O'Neill has called up Rob Elliot from Newcastle just in case they had any new problems.