ROBERT LEWANDOSKI SCORES FROM A SPORT KICK AS POLAND QUALIFIES FOR WORLD CUP AFTER ENDING 31-YEARS WAIT AS THEY BEAT SWEDEN.
World Cup Qualifiers, European qualifying play-off final, Poland 2 (Lewandowski 49′ pen, Zielinski (72′) Sweden 0.
A jubilant Poland booked their spot at Qatar 2022 thanks to a 2-0 win over Sweden in their World Cup play-off. Second-half goals from Robert Lewandowski and Piotr Zielinski were enough to earn the hosts a historic victory, their first over the Swedes since 1991.
Both sides had chances in what was a nervy and at times frantic opening period, but Poland’s Wojciech Szczesny made a superb save from Emil Forsberg’s low drive, while Robin Olsen kept out Jan Bednarek’s terrific volley at the other end.
The deadlock was finally broken after the break when substitute Grzegorz Krychowiak, who had only been on the field for a handful of minutes, was fouled in the box by Jesper Karlstrom. The referee immediately pointed to the spot, with Lewandowski sending the goalkeeper the wrong way with his calm penalty.
Sweden responded quickly to going behind, but for all their pressing, they could not find a way past Szczesny, who made another huge save from Forsberg when he rushed across his line to block down to his right.
And the visitors were made to pay for not making their chances count as they found themselves two goals down with 72-minutes on the clock. Zielinski capitalised on a mistake in the visiting defence, bursting forward one-on-one with Olsen before calmly lifting into the back of the net.
