Poland vs Germany

A tasty-looking international friendly at the PGE Narodowy Stadium pits Poland and Germany against each other.

Poland’s life under new manager Fernando Santos, who replaced Czeslaw Michniewicz shortly after their 2022 World Cup fiasco, was off to a woeful start as the Czech Republic thrashed the ‘Eagles’ 3-1 on the Portuguese coach’s touchline debut. However, Santos made amends for his nightmarish debut with a narrow 1-0 home win over Albania last time out to maintain Poland’s chances of qualifying for the fifth consecutive European Championship finals. It’s worth mentioning the Poles have historically struggled against elite opponents, with their most recent victory against teams currently ranked in FIFA’s top 15 dating back to 2014 when they ousted non-other than Germany 2-0 at this venue. But considering three of their last four friendlies have ended as a draw (W1), a third successive stalemate in exhibition matches against the Germans could be on the cards.

On the other hand, Germany won’t participate in the qualifying campaign for Euro 2024 as they’ve earned automatic qualification as a host nation. However, manager Hansi Flick cannot be satisfied with his side’s performances in the warm-up to the tournament, with ‘Die Mannschaft’ fighting back from a 3-1 deficit to hold Ukraine to a goal-glutted 3-3 draw in their 1000th match last time out. Flick’s men have blown hot and cold across their three internationals in 2023 (W1, D1, L1), conceding multiple goals in the most recent two. But since they netted at least twice in all three, their bid to extend a two-game unbeaten run against Poland (W1, D1) shoud be safe and sound. Adding to this sentiment, the Germans are unbeaten in their last 11 matches on foreign soil (W6, D5).