Poland arrives in Russia as one of the seven seeded teams. That brings a legitimate expectation of getting out of the group.  Robert Lewandowski is arguably the greatest Polish player of all time and has more goals than any other player that has played for The White and Reds. Always in red-hot form, Lewy finished with the most goals in World Cup Qualification. His 16 World Cup qualifying goals in just 10 games ensured that Poland finished safely on top of their group and automatically sealing a place in the final 32. His goal tally was the most a player has ever scored from Europe in World Cup qualifying. The 6 time Bundesliga champion has been heavily linked to move away from Germany and is rumoured to want a new challenge. Not that it is needed, but some more goals in Russia might be the catalyst for such a move. The accomplished forward is clearly the man to mark on this Polish team.

Supplying the Polish hitman would be Napoli's Piotr Zielinski. Zielinski finished with 6 assists in qualifying and although he does not always start for the Naples team he will be monumental to how Poland looks to attack. Behind him in the midfield would be PSG owned Grzegorz Krychowiak. Krychowiak's disappointing move to the Premier League has not made the coach question his ability and he should start in the team's core. In Jakub Błaszczykowski and Łukasz Piszczek, Poland can display a very seasoned right side. The players have operated the Polish right flank over a combined 150 caps. Centre back Kamil Glik is an injury worry, if available the Monaco man will look to improve a defence that received some criticism during the qualifiers. Arkadiusz Milik has never quite found his feet after a serious injury early in his time at Napoli. Now apparently fully fit the forward does have a knack of scoring timely goals and finished the season with back to back goals in the Serie A. Ex-Arsenal goalkeepers Wojciech Szczęsny and Łukasz Fabiański have been rotated in the national team and it's now down to head coach Nawalka to finally decide whether its Buffon's 2018 back up or Swansea's Player of the Year in goal for Poland at the World Cup. 

Head Coach: Adam Nawałka

Population: 55 million

Appearances: 8

Best: 3rd 1974 and 1982

How they Qualified: Poland won 8 out of 10 games on their road to Russia. They qualified early and finished 5 points above second-placed Denmark. A 4-0 away defeat to that Danish team did expose Poland's obvious defensive deficiencies.

Star Players: Robert Lewandoski (Bayern Munich), Kamil Glik (Monaco), Grzegorz Krychowiak (West Brom), Piotr Zielinski(Napoli), Lukasz Piszczek (Borussia Dortmund)

Wildcard: Arkadiusz Milik- The Napoli forward has been plagued by injuries since joining Napoli as Higuain's replacement. His injuries only allowed him to start 2 of Poland's 10 qualifying games. If he does, however, get back fit he will give Lewandoski some much-needed support. 

Legend:Zbigniew Boniek