Lewandowski leaves Ibra out; Mané lowers Salah

Sweden put the football, treated the ball with care, catapulted from Forsberg and ended up dissolving in the rival area. Zlatan Ibrahimovic (40 years old) was missing, a substitute by definition with coach Jane Andersson due to old quarrels and anonymous revulsion at the Silesian stadium in Chorzów. Jauja for Poland, who took refuge in his field in search of sporadic cons, always with Robert Lewandowski (33) as a reference. He barely arrived, but a childish outrage by Karlström on Krychowiak in the area was enough – a goal with paradinha from the Bayern striker—, also with a dangerous back pass from Karlström himself that Zielinski stole to define with the interior. Triumph of Poland (2-0), which returns to the World Cup to dream of the performances of 1974 and 1982, when it came third. And that a round was saved in this playoff due to the situation in Russia, expelled from the competition due to the war with Ukraine.

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Szczesny, Bereszynski, Matthew Cash, Glik, Bednarek, Jacek Goralski (Krychowiak, min. 45), Bielik, Sebastian Szymanski, Zielinski (Adam Buksa, min. 88), Jakub Moder and Lewandowski

Robin Olsen, Nilsson-Lindelöf, Danielsson (Ibrahimovic, min. 78), Krafth, Augustinsson, Olsson (Jesper Karlsson, min. 79), Dejan Kulusevski, Jesper Karlström, Forsberg, Isak and Quaison (Anthony Elanga, min. 65)

goals 1-0 min. 48: Lewandowski. 2-0 min. 71: Zielinsky.

Yellow cards Jacek Goralski (min. 37), Jakub Moder (min. 50), Lewandowski (min. 76), Bielik (min. 79), Isak (min. 79) and Dejan Kulusevski (min. 91)

Quite a success for coach Czeslaw Michniewicz, who was playing his first official game in charge of the Polish team —he did play a friendly against Scotland the previous week; tie to one—because last January the Portuguese Paulo Sousa accepted an offer from Flamengo. And the best possible revalidation for Lewandowski (74 goals in 128 games), capital piece and final point of the Polish attack, which has scored nine goals in this qualifying phase. He has never celebrated one in a World Cup, because in 2018 he played all three games without success. The same thing happens to Ibrahimovic (62 goals in 120 games), who has left and returned to the national team three times due to differences with the coach on duty or due to qualifying disappointments, unable to see the door in his participations in 2002 and 2006. And so it will stay, Sweden dismounted for Polish revelry and its scorer Lewandowski.

There was also mambo on the African continent. In a match as intense as it was chaotic, Senegal once again made it clear to Egypt that they have the measure, at least in the penalty shootout, as happened in the last African Cup final. Enjoyment for Mané and desolation for Salah, a teammate at Liverpool who missed his shot from 11 meters (in the round trip the 1-0 was repeated). Everything happened in the duel. Scuffles between the benches, kicks at the wrong time with the ball in play, rain of lasers from the stands on the Egyptians, a bottle of water (with a stopper) that hit the rival goal, extra time, penalties and invasion of the field.

The only goal in Dakar with the ball in play was scored by Boulaye Dia (Villarreal striker), as soon as the match began. But the door was not seen again until penalties, when Senegal, thanks to a last shot by Mané —Salah missed his shot—, was able to beat Egypt again and sealed their participation in Qatar.

Morocco also qualified against Congo, Tunisia against Mali, and Cameroon after winning extra time with a goal from Ekambi against Algeria 1-2 after 0-1 in the first leg.

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