UEFA Nations League: Poland Want Sweet Revenge over Belgium

Poland vs Belgium

Poland welcome Belgium to the National Stadium in Warsaw on Tuesday night for a UEFA Nations League Group A4 clash, and revenge is on the agenda for the hosts.   

Both teams come into the game on the back of a draw, Belgium away to Wales and Poland away to the Netherlands, results which leave them locked on four points and both trailing leaders Netherlands who have seven.

But in their previous Nations League game, Poland and Belgium met in Brussels and the Red Devils ran riot in the second half to win it 6-1. So this fixture has more riding on it than most.

The Oranje are likely to beat Wales on Tuesday, so a victory is needed to stay in touch with the leaders. But the hosts have additional motivation to give Belgium some of the pain they suffered in Brussels.

It all adds up to a fascinating 90-plus minutes and a match guaranteed to provide action and entertainment.    

 Talking Points

How does Michniewicz prepare Poland for this one?

His team was slaughtered by Belgium only last week and now head coach Czeslaw Michniewicz must find a way to show his team they can somehow win this time around. The pre-match UEFA Nations League 2022 betting odds don’t have too much faith, pitching the visitors as odds-on favourites, but the Warsaw crowd will make this a hostile atmosphere for the Belgians.

Michniewicz needs his players to channel the energy from the crowd and take the game to the Red Devils, but they must stay disciplined and avoid another capitulation. Belgium have not been that impressive recently, but it would be dangerous for Poland to write the 6-1 defeat off as an outrageous blip.

Robert Lewandowski may have his mind on other things, with the saga around his attempt to leave FC Bayern rumbling on. He’s been mooted to be on his way to Barcelona but Manchester United have made a surprise entrance to the race to win his services.  The Bayern man will presumably want Champions League football, which may rule United out, but for now, his manager will try to get him ready and focussed for the Belgium game, having rested him against the Netherlands.

Aston Villa full-back Matty Cash scored to give Poland a lead in that game and Piotr Zielinski made it two on 49 minutes, but the Netherlands were level within five minutes as Davy Klaassen and Denzel Dumfries took advantage of slack Polish defending.  

Red Devils searching for consistency

The hosts know that Belgium are not currently as relentless as they usually are, and the Golden Generation of Red Devils is struggling to put a run together. With only two wins from the last six, Roberto Martinez’s men started this campaign by surrendering meekly to the Netherlands.

They followed that up by thumping Poland and were expected to produce back-to-back UEFA Nations League 2022 results against Wales on Saturday, but they fluffed their lines again. Youri Tielemans gave Belgium a lead early in the second half but young Wales striker Brennan Johnson came off the bench to grab a late leveler. The Nottingham Forest hit man latched on to a through ball from Aaron Ramsay and slid his shot home. He was flagged offside but, after a lengthy VAR check, the referee awarded the goal, much to the annoyance of Martinez, who called the technology ‘comical and not reliable’.

Maybe so, but Martinez should concentrate more on what his players can do. The stats for the match were interesting. Belgium dominated possession with over 63 per cent of the ball and had four shots to two on target. But in terms of attempts on goal the Red Devils were distinctly shot shy, with just one attempt every ten minutes while Wales had 14 attempts.

It looks like the Red Devils might be over-playing, but with players such as Tielemens, Kevin de Bruyne and the Hazard brothers in their ranks, they should be able to cut through defences like Wales a little more easily…if they are to challenge for long-awaited silverware.    

History

Poland have had the better of the head-to-head results with five wins to the Red Devils’ two, in all competitions since 1967. Of course, the Poles would rather forget the last encounter, just a few days ago, but they did win the previous two meetings in qualification for Euro 2008.  

The Red Devil’s recent form has been pretty uninspiring with two wins, three draws and a defeat, while Poland have two wins, two draws and two losses.

Betting Tip 

Poland are at SBOTOP odds of 3.49 to exact sweet revenge or 3.40 to draw with Belgium, while the visitors are at 1.89 to hand out a second beating to their hosts.

While Poland will be determined to avoid another thrashing, there are goals in both teams and I’m predicting over 2.50 again.

 

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