Poland come from behind to beat Wales as Nations League kicks off

Reuters

3 minutes to read

Nations League – Group D – Poland vs Wales

Football – Nations League – Group D – Poland vs Wales – Wroclaw Stadium, Wroclaw, Poland – June 1, 2022 Poland player Robert Lewandowski in a match with Wales national team Joe Morell (Reuters) / Kasper Pemble

Wroclaw, June 2 (BNA): Poland came from behind to snatch a 2-1 victory over Wales at the start of the Nations League and deny the visitors morale before trying at the weekend to reach the World Cup finals. For the first time in 64 years.

Substitute Karol Swiderski scored five minutes from time to secure a World Cup-bound Poland win in the first-division Group D match after Wales took an early lead in the second half.

Johnny Williams hit the net with his right foot from outside the penalty area as under-powered Wales took the lead in the 52nd minute in Wroclaw before Jakub Kaminski equalized 20 minutes later.

Wales’ Gareth Bale, Ben Davies and Aaron Ramsey rested with their focus on qualifying for their first World Cup since 1958 in Sweden, when they meet either Scotland or Ukraine in the play-off in Cardiff on Sunday. The identity of their opponents will be announced later on Wednesday.

“We had our plan for this match, but we played against a very good team. Poland presented their best team and Sunday’s game was in sight, which is very important for us. Despite the defeat, there are a lot of positive things we can do,” said Rob. Page coach Wales.

Poland had to wait for the points to be decided and there was an element of good fortune for the winner as Swiederski netted from close range.

The ball fell perfectly for him, veering off the heel of Welsh defender Reese Norrington Davies after an initial attempt by captain Robert Lewandowski was blocked.

Swederski and teen Kaminski revived a rude Polish attack when they entered, denying Wells’ hopes of a first away success in Poland.

“The second half started in the worst way possible for us with Wales scoring, but we managed to turn things around,” Poland coach Czeslaw Michenewicz said.

Williams’ goal had strength and deflecting and did not give Polish goalkeeper Kamil Grabara, who was in Liverpool’s books previously, no chance.
Kaminski equalized after giving him some time to push the ball to his right foot after Wales’ steadfast defense waned and gave the 19-year-old the space he needed to give goalkeeper Wayne Hennessy any chance with the power of his shot.

Poland – who joined Argentina, Mexico and Saudi Arabia in Qatar in November – might have gone ahead in the fourth minute when Peter Zielinski’s header from close range just went wide.

Lewandowski’s effort after a choppy streak in the 21st minute was pushed to safety by Danny Ward, who was substituted in goal by Hennessy in the first half.

Newcomer Wes Burns was blocked by Wales in the 26th minute, and Dan James also had an opportunity in the 31st minute and he could have snatched the equalizer in stoppage time had Matt Smith not hit the crossbar.