Poland vs San Marino

Poland will be looking to fight their way into the World Cup qualification Group I top two when they take on doomed San Marino at the PGE Narodowy.

After a brace of overwhelming World Cup qualifying victories over Albania and San Marino by an aggregate score of 11-2, Poland eked out a 1-1 home draw with England in their most recent Group I fixture. With second-placed Albania heading to Hungary, third-placed Poland could close a narrow one-point distance with another emphatic victory against the microstate. The Poles have won their five World Cup qualifying H2Hs by an aggregate score of 29-1, suggesting we could have a high-scoring affair on our hands here. With Poland’s hopes of ensuring their second straight World Cup finals appearance up in the air, San Marino’s visit to Warsaw could be precisely what the doctor ordered. Paulo Sousa’s men have lost just two of their last 12 competitive internationals on home soil (W7, D3), keeping their opponents at bay in 58.33% of those match-ups.

On the other hand, the visitors’ trend of stringing heavy defeats one after another has continued during this World Cup qualifying campaign, as they’ve lost all six Group I games, conceding 24 goals while scoring just one in return. Speaking of the visitors’ faint hopes of avoiding another horrific defeat, they have drawn just two of their 72 historical World Cup qualifying matches (L70), letting in a staggering 334 goals in the process! Going back to October 2017, ‘La Serenissima’ have lost all but one of their 17 internationals on foreign soil (D1), with 15 of those 16 losses coming ‘to nil.’ Speaking of their underdog status in this encounter, it’s enough to say that the entire population of San Marino is roughly 34,000, which isn’t even enough to fill the hosting stadium.