STARTING off their World Cup campaign with a defeat against Senegal, Poland will be depending heavily on their star striker Robert Lewandowski, not only for inspiration but also for what he is famous for providing — goals when they take on Colombia in their Group ‘H’ match today.

The defeat, combined with Japan’s surprise victory over the South American side in the earlier game, means Poland cannot afford another slip-up.

Lewandowski, a pure number nine, scored 16 out of 28 Poland goals during their qualifying campaign which shows how critically the side rely on their talisman.

The 29-year-old also bagged 29 goals to help Bayern Munich defend their Bundesliga title successfully last season and will be looking for better service from the Polish midfield to try and score more goals and avoid an early exit from what may be his last World Cup appearance.

Published in Dawn, June 24th, 2018