Our prediction for this Nations League match:
There will be fireworks when Scotland and Poland face each other at Hampden Park in what is expected to be a close Nations League encounter. Scotland aim to recover from a heart-breaking loss to Hungary and, as always, they will surely leave their hearts on the field. QPR striker Lyndon Dykes is back to contention after missing EURO 2024 with injury, with Rangers defender John Souttar making his return to the national team as well. The likes of Liam Kelly, Jack Hendry, Ross McCrorie, Kieran Tierney, Liam Cooper, Stuart Armstrong, and Ryan Jack miss out with different reasons.
The Poles, meanwhile, aim to make amends for the unsuccessful EURO 2024 campaign. As Michal Probierz’s troops will go for a win as well, we are tempted to place our bets on both teams to score. You should know that both teams managed to find the net in each of their last three meetings in all competitions. A man to watch in the away team will be Barcelona ace Robert Lewandowski, who found the net in a 7-0 crushing of Valladolid at the weekend.
Highlighted Player (Robert Lewandowski):
After scoring 36 goals in 59 league games for Znicz Pruskow, Robert Lewandowski joined Lech Poznan in June, 2008. The 184-cm-tall attacker scored 18 goals in 28 appearances for the club in the 2009/2010 Ekstraklasa campaign and during the season he was on Borussia Dortmund’s radar.
The Polish forward signed a four-year deal with the Bundesliga side in June, 2010 and he quickly established himself as the team’s key attacker. Lewandowski was producing excellent performances with the Millionaires between 2010 and 2014 and it has to be noted that he won two Bundesliga trophies with the club (2010/2011, 2011/2012). He participated in the 2012/2013 Champions League final with Borussia Dortmund, but the Millionaires were beaten by fellow Bundesliga side Bayern Munich in the title game.
However, he betrayed Borussia Dortmund fans in 2014 as he signed a four-year deal with the Bundesliga giants. Lewandowski impressed in the 2016/2017 Bundesliga campaign as he scored 30 goals in 32 league games for Pep Guardiola’s troops. The Polish footballer represented his homeland at Euro 2016 in France and he scored one goal at the showpiece tournament in France.
Highlighted Team (Scotland):
Despite being part of United Kingdom Scotland participate in football competitions as an independent country. The Scots qualified for the 1950 FIFA World Cup finals, but the SFA eventually withdrew their entry as they were not British champions. Four years later Scotland national football team participated at the showpiece tournament in Switzerland, but they were eliminated in the group stages.
Scotland booked their place at the FIFA World Cup on eight occasions, but they have not played a match at the finals of the major tournament since 1998. On the other hand, the Scotts participated at both Euro 1992 and Euro 1996, but they failed to qualify for the knockout stages at the tournaments in Sweden and England respectively. A number of Premier League stars played for the Scotland national football team in the past and Jim Baxter, Hughie Gallacher, John Greig, Jimmy Johnstone, Billy McNeill, Bobby Murdoch, Archie Gemmill and Lawrie Reilly are the footballers who made more than 50 appearances for Scotland, with Alan Hutton and Scott Brown joining the list recently.
The Scotts recorded their biggest win back in February 23, 1901, with the team rolling over Ireland 11-0. The team suffered their biggest defeat against Uruguay (0-7) in June, 1954. Gordon Strachan’s team welcome their opponents at Hampden Park.