Poland vs Wales

UEFA Nations League Group A4 gets underway this midweek as Poland take on Wales at the Tarczynski Arena in the competition’s curtain-raiser.

Placed in the same section alongside Belgium and the Netherlands, Poland will be seeking a flying start to their Group A4 journey. But based on their past experience in the Nations League, it could be easier said than done. It took Poland five winless matches since the tournament’s inauguration in 2018 before they pulled off their first victory. However, the Poles have the recent home form firmly on their side, with just one defeat from their last five outings on home soil (W3, D1), including a 2-0 triumph over Sweden in their most recent such fixture. Though the ‘White and Reds’ boast an eye-catching four-match winning H2H run, it’s worth noting that their last meeting with Wales dates back to 2009.

As for Wales, a 2-1 victory over Austria in their 2022 World Cup play-off semi-finals took them to within one win from reaching their first final tournament since 1958. With the crunch play-off fixture against either Scotland or Ukraine coming up this weekend, the ‘Dragons’ will consider this encounter a warm-up game. Confidence in the Wales camp should be sky-high, as they’ve not lost a single international match since June 2021, going unbeaten in nine games (W5, D4). That’s, in fact, Wales’ longest undefeated streak since a run of ten between October 2001 and March 2003. Though head coach Robert Page is likely to field an understrength squad for obvious reasons, a potential upset in Wroclaw would mark Wales’ first-ever victory on Polish soil (D2, L2).