Tonight, Poland and Austria play at the Olympiastadion in Berlin. Both teams are aware that another loss in Group D would be very bad for them.
Both France and Poland lost their first games in Euro 2024. France beat Austria 1-0, while Poland lost 2-1 to the Netherlands.
When Adam Buksa scored a great header to put Poland ahead of the Netherlands on Sunday, it didn’t look like Robert Lewandowski’s absence would hurt them.
While Michal Probierz’s team had luck on their side, they were pushed back by the half-hour mark, and Wout Weghorst’s winner for Oranje was well-deserved in the end.
Probierz will still be happy with some parts of the performance, like the fact that they only missed seven shots on goal against good opponents, but they also let the Netherlands score 21 goals.
With this loss, Poland’s eight-game winning streak came to an end. This gives Probierz a lot to think about before their trip to the German city.
Being able to play with Robert Lewandowski again would be a huge plus, but the Eagles will need to find a way to beat Ralf Rangnick’s classy Austrian team.
Before their game against France on Monday night, Austria had also gone a long time without losing, going seven games in a row without losing.
It ended when Max Wober scored an own goal in the first half, ending the streak. France fought hard and won in Dusseldorf.
The news has been all about Kylian Mbappe’s broken nose since then, which takes away from Austria’s hard work, which kept Les Bleus worried until the end.
In secret, Rangnick would have agreed that getting a point would have been nice, since they were mostly focused on their last two games in the group.
In the past, these two countries were enemies, but their only two games in 16 years happened in 2019: Poland won a Euro 2020 qualifier away by a single goal, and the return match ended in a tie.
Lewandowski is likely to be able to play in this game, but Probierz may decide to keep the Barcelona player on the bench.
Another player who might have been hurt for the Netherlands game was Karol Swiderski. However, the attacker played in the second half and could replace Kacper Urbanski.
Bartosz Slisz or Jakub Moder could both play in the middle of the field, but Probierz might not want to make too many changes.
Rangnick will also be careful not to make too many changes to his team, but Marko Arnautovic is a clear choice to come back in the final third.
Patrick Wimmer could play on the left, which would let Marcel Sabitzer play in the field. The back line might stay the same, though, unless there are any fitness problems.
Poland possible starting lineup:
Szczesny; Bednarek, Salamon, Kiwior; Frankowski, Szymanski, Romanczuk, Zielinski, Zalewski; Swiderski, Buksa
Austria possible starting lineup:
Pentz; Posch, Danso, Wober, Mwene; Seiwald, Grillitsch; Laimer, Baumgartner, Sabitzer; Arnautovic
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