Our prediction for this World Cup 2026 match:
A place in the World Cup quarter-finals will be at stake when France and Poland square off against each other at Al Thumama Stadium. Les Tricolores suffered an unexpected 1-0 loss to Tunisia in their last group game, but it has to be noted that Didier Deschamps used this match to rest key players. The France boss is likely to field the best possible side against Poland, with all Rabiot, Mbappe, Kounde, Griezmann, Dembele, and Giroud returning to the starting XI. Lucas Hernandez remains on the sidelines with injury.
The Poles, on the other hand, failed to impress in a 2-0 loss to Argentina, but thanks to a better goal difference they eventually made it to the last 16. Anyhow, France are more of a team than Poland, and we do not believe that Robert Lewandowski and Co. are capable of spoiling les Tricolores’ party in Doha. There are no fresh injury worries in the away team ahead of Sunday’s clash. In their last meeting at the World Cup finals, back in 1982, Poland defeated France 3-2, meaning that the reigning champions are hungry for revenge.
Highlighted Player (Kylian Mbappé):
Kylian Mbappe is a French footballer who plays for Paris Saint-Germain as a forward. The French rising star began his youth career at AS Bondy and in 2013 he moved to AS Monaco. After making 12 appearances for Monaco B, Kylian Mbappe made his debut for the senior team in 2015. Mbappe quickly established himself as a regular goalscorer, with the teenager finding the net 15 times in 29 appearances in the Ligue 1 in the 2016/2017 season.
In 2017 he moved to fellow French club PSG on loan, with the option of making the deal permanent. Kylian Mbappe scored 13 goals in 27 appearances for les Parisiens in the 2017/2018 and it has to be noted that Unai Emery’s troops eventually won the national championship.
Speaking of his international career, Mbappe played an important role for France at the 2018 FIFA World Cup finals, with the pacey rising star scoring a brace in a thrilling 4-3 win over Argentina in the last 16 of the showpiece tournament. The PSG attacker was born in Paris on December 20, 1998.
Highlighted Team (Poland):
Poland have recently emerged as one of Europe’s top sides, although they did enjoy some success during the 70’s and 80’s. The White Eagles impressed to achieve third-place finish at the 1974 and 1982 World Cup tournaments, while they also win the 1972 Olympics, albeit with an amateur side.
Poland started showing improvement at the turn of the century, slowly becoming regular at major tournaments and they even co-hosted the Euro 2012 with Ukraine, but disappointed home fans to crash out in the group stage. The new generation, boasting players like Robert Lewandowski, Arkadiusz Milik, Lukas Piszczek, Grzegorz Krychowiak and Jakub Blaszczykowski, has the potential to help the national team return to old glory days, with some talented players also coming through the youth ranks.
Zbigniew Boniek, Wlodzimierz Lubanski and Grzegorz Lato are some of the other players who have impressed playing for the national team, which has been playing their home games at the National Stadium in Warsaw.