2022 World Cup: Mexico vs Poland prediction, odds and preview

Tuesday’s matchup between Mexico and Poland in Group C is a crucial one considering Argentina surprisingly lost to Saudi Arabia earlier.

The game will begin at 4 PM GMT in Doha, Qatar, at Stadium 974, the first temporary World Cup stadium ever built out of 974 repurposed shipping containers.

Mexico is entering its eighth World Cup tournament after being ousted in the round of 16 in each of its previous seven appearances.

Gerardo Martino, a former player, and manager for Argentina has been in command of El Tri since January 2019. He is the person in charge of ending that cycle in Qatar.

The 60-year-old, who played for Barcelona for a season before becoming the manager of Argentina in 2014, led Mexico to their eighth Gold Cup victory by defeating the United States in the final in 2019, but the Americans got even with his team two years later.

With a 2-0 victory over El Salvador on the penultimate matchday, Mexico qualified for the World Cup, finishing level on points with Canada at the top of CONCACAF qualifying and importantly three points ahead of Costa Rica in the play-off berth.

It remains to be seen if they have the talent necessary to advance to the round of eight for the first time since hosting the event in 1986.

Since Argentina, the clear second favorite, is also in their group, Poland’s initial match against that country would certainly be important if they are to go past the group stage for the first time since Mexico ’86.

After failing to reach the heights of placing third in 1974 and 1982, the Eagles have fallen at the first hurdle in each of their previous three World Cup campaigns in 2002, 2006, and 2018 – winning one match and losing two in each of those editions.

Czeslaw Michniewicz, the former manager of Legia Warslaw, was named head coach earlier this year. He almost immediately became a household name by leading Poland to a 2-0 victory over Sweden in a qualifying play-off to advance to Qatar.

Their chances of succeeding at a big event, as has frequently been the case in the last few years, mainly depend on the performance of storied forward Robert Lewandowski, who has yet to score at a World Cup after going scoreless in all three games in 2018.

The 34-year-old will be adamant to change that undesirable record against Mexico on Tuesday, possibly putting his country in the driver’s seat for second place in Group C.