Mexico and Poland draw and miss a chance to gain the upper hand in their group.
The match took on a different complexion even before kickoff, after Saudi Arabia’s stunning upset of Argentina in the other Group C match on Tuesday.
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By James WagnerNov. 22, 2022Updated 6:06 p.m. ET
0
Mexico
Group C
Final
0
Poland
DOHA, Qatar — Saudi Arabia’s stunning victory over Argentina on Tuesday at Lusail Stadium was one of the biggest upsets in World Cup history, so its ripple effects, of course, are plentiful. They were still felt hours later, at Stadium 974, where Mexico and Poland faced off in their first matches of the 2022 World Cup.
All four teams are in Group C and only two get to advance to the knockout rounds. A title contender, Argentina was widely expected to win this group, with Mexico and Poland duking it out for second. Argentina’s loss blew the race for first wide open, but neither Mexico nor Poland firmly seized the chance.
With a 0-0 draw, each team earned 1 point but failed to more clearly define a path to the last 16. The result felt like a missed opportunity more for Mexico, which outplayed Poland in many ways. Mexico possessed the ball 61 percent of the time, attempted nearly double the shots on goal and limited Robert Lewandowski, the 34-year-old star striker who plays his club soccer at Barcelona and the most talented player on the field.
But, in a fast-paced game, Lewandowski was part of the most pivotal moment, a hairy situation that had Mexico teetering on the edge before goalkeeper Guillermo Ochoa, the rare player to appear in five World Cups, pulled it back to safety. With a diving stab early in the second half, he rejected Lewandowski’s penalty kick, Poland’s best chance at erasing Mexico’s otherwise solid efforts. Lewandowski is Poland’s career leading scorer but has yet to notch a goal in a World Cup.
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“We know Lewandowski,” Ochoa said. “I’m happy to have stopped that penalty and kept it at zero.” Mexico forward Henry Martín said in Spanish, using Ochoa’s nickname, “Memo is made for big moments.”
A Brief Guide to the 2022 World Cup
Card 1 of 9
What is the World Cup? The quadrennial event pits the best national soccer teams against each other for the title of world champion. Here’s a primer to the 2022 men’s tournament:
Where is it being held? This year’s host is Qatar, which in 2010 beat the United States and Japan to win the right to hold the tournament. Whether that was an honest competition remains in dispute.
When is it? The tournament opened on Nov. 20, when Qatar played Ecuador. Over the two weeks that follow, four games will be played on most days. The tournament ends with the final on Dec. 18.
Is a winter World Cup normal? No. The World Cup usually takes place in July. But in 2015, FIFA concluded that the summer temperatures in Qatar might have unpleasant consequences and agreed to move the tournament to the relatively bearable months of November and December.
How many teams are competing? Thirty-two. Qatar qualified automatically as the host, and after years of matches, the other 31 teams earned the right to come and play. Meet the teams here.
How does the tournament work? The 32 teams are divided into eight groups of four. In the opening stage, each team plays all the other teams in its group once. The top two finishers in each group advance to the round of 16. After that, the World Cup is a straight knockout tournament.
How can I watch the World Cup in the U.S.? The tournament will be broadcast on Fox and FS1 in English, and on Telemundo in Spanish. You can livestream it on Peacock, or on streaming services that carry Fox and FS1. Here’s how to watch every match.
When will the games take place? Qatar is three hours ahead of London, eight hours ahead of New York and 11 hours ahead of Los Angeles. That means there will be predawn kickoffs on the East Coast of the United States for some games, and midafternoon starts for 10 p.m. games in Qatar.
Got more questions? We’ve got more answers here.
Midfielder Charly Rodríguez called the result bittersweet given how Mexico had handled Poland but was unable to notch 3 points in the standings.
“We need to be calmer in that final pass and that final decision because we had a lot of possession and we generated a lot,” he said in Spanish. “And sometimes we have clear options and we don’t complete them. Having that tranquillity is difficult in a World Cup because you’re playing at miles per hour, but we have to strive for that.”
While neither team is expected to contend for the FIFA World Cup Trophy, they arrived in Qatar against starkly different backdrops. Poland has far less of a World Cup pedigree than Mexico, getting eliminated in the group stage in each of its three previous trips to the tournament. Mexico, on the other hand, had many World Cup demons.
Only two countries have advanced out of the group stage in each of the past seven World Cups: Brazil and Mexico. Brazil, though, has won the World Cup twice in that span, while Mexico has an ignominious record. El Tri, as the national team is known, was immediately eliminated in the first knockout round all seven times, a failure that has come with immense pressure and criticism in Mexico.
Sign up for the World Cup Briefing. The world’s greatest sporting spectacle returns in November. Get our daily analysis of every match and the stories from Qatar that you won’t see on TV. Get it sent to your inbox.
“It was a great game, and we should have won the 3 points,” Mexico defender Jorge Sánchez said in Spanish. “It wasn’t easy, but we leave happy with the game we played. We possessed the ball a lot, we had a lot of shots and we injected adrenaline into the fan base, which is important.”
From the opening whistle, Mexico tried frantically to pressure Poland with the forwards Alexis Vega and Hirving Lozano, who used their speed and shiftiness. They did and had Poland on its heels repeatedly, but couldn’t capitalize. Of their six shots in the first half, only one was on target. At least they were trying: Poland and Lewandowski mustered just one shot on goal in the first half.
But Lewandowski nearly changed the game in the second half. As Lewandowski charged toward the goal with the ball, Mexico defender Héctor Moreno yanked his jersey in the penalty area. No penalty was issued at the time, and play continued.
It wasn’t until moments later, when Mexico was setting up for a free kick on the other side of the field, that a check of the video assistant referee system was called for, prompting boos from a stadium seemingly full of Mexican fans. They booed louder when the referee Chris Beath signaled for a penalty kick and pulled out a yellow card for Moreno.
But all was not lost for Mexico thanks to Ochoa. Lewandowski took the penalty in the 58th minute and fired a low strike to his right. Ochoa dived to his left and slapped the ball away. After his teammates ended the threat by clearing the ball, Ochoa pumped his fists as the stadium erupted. Fans chanted “Yes we can!” in Spanish.
Wojciech Szczesny, Poland’s goalkeeper, commended Ochoa’s save and noted that Lewandowski normally watches the opposing keeper on penalties. But against Mexico, he said, Lewandowski “decided to choose a corner and kick it, and he made a good save.”
Szczesny continued: “Unfortunately, it cost us a win but looking at the whole game, it was probably a deserved result.”
More clarity to a group flipped upside down will arrive on Saturday, when Mexico takes on Argentina and Saudi Arabia plays Poland.
“In the World Cup, there are always surprises and all the teams prepare well,” Ochoa said. “We, too, are prepared and are looking to compete well against our rivals.”
The match took on a different complexion even before kickoff, after Saudi Arabia’s stunning upset of Argentina in the other Group C match on Tuesday.
Give this article
By James WagnerNov. 22, 2022Updated 6:06 p.m. ET
0
Mexico
Group C
Final
0
Poland
DOHA, Qatar — Saudi Arabia’s stunning victory over Argentina on Tuesday at Lusail Stadium was one of the biggest upsets in World Cup history, so its ripple effects, of course, are plentiful. They were still felt hours later, at Stadium 974, where Mexico and Poland faced off in their first matches of the 2022 World Cup.
All four teams are in Group C and only two get to advance to the knockout rounds. A title contender, Argentina was widely expected to win this group, with Mexico and Poland duking it out for second. Argentina’s loss blew the race for first wide open, but neither Mexico nor Poland firmly seized the chance.
With a 0-0 draw, each team earned 1 point but failed to more clearly define a path to the last 16. The result felt like a missed opportunity more for Mexico, which outplayed Poland in many ways. Mexico possessed the ball 61 percent of the time, attempted nearly double the shots on goal and limited Robert Lewandowski, the 34-year-old star striker who plays his club soccer at Barcelona and the most talented player on the field.
But, in a fast-paced game, Lewandowski was part of the most pivotal moment, a hairy situation that had Mexico teetering on the edge before goalkeeper Guillermo Ochoa, the rare player to appear in five World Cups, pulled it back to safety. With a diving stab early in the second half, he rejected Lewandowski’s penalty kick, Poland’s best chance at erasing Mexico’s otherwise solid efforts. Lewandowski is Poland’s career leading scorer but has yet to notch a goal in a World Cup.
ADVERTISEMENTContinue reading the main story
“We know Lewandowski,” Ochoa said. “I’m happy to have stopped that penalty and kept it at zero.” Mexico forward Henry Martín said in Spanish, using Ochoa’s nickname, “Memo is made for big moments.”
A Brief Guide to the 2022 World Cup
Card 1 of 9
What is the World Cup? The quadrennial event pits the best national soccer teams against each other for the title of world champion. Here’s a primer to the 2022 men’s tournament:
Where is it being held? This year’s host is Qatar, which in 2010 beat the United States and Japan to win the right to hold the tournament. Whether that was an honest competition remains in dispute.
When is it? The tournament opened on Nov. 20, when Qatar played Ecuador. Over the two weeks that follow, four games will be played on most days. The tournament ends with the final on Dec. 18.
Is a winter World Cup normal? No. The World Cup usually takes place in July. But in 2015, FIFA concluded that the summer temperatures in Qatar might have unpleasant consequences and agreed to move the tournament to the relatively bearable months of November and December.
How many teams are competing? Thirty-two. Qatar qualified automatically as the host, and after years of matches, the other 31 teams earned the right to come and play. Meet the teams here.
How does the tournament work? The 32 teams are divided into eight groups of four. In the opening stage, each team plays all the other teams in its group once. The top two finishers in each group advance to the round of 16. After that, the World Cup is a straight knockout tournament.
How can I watch the World Cup in the U.S.? The tournament will be broadcast on Fox and FS1 in English, and on Telemundo in Spanish. You can livestream it on Peacock, or on streaming services that carry Fox and FS1. Here’s how to watch every match.
When will the games take place? Qatar is three hours ahead of London, eight hours ahead of New York and 11 hours ahead of Los Angeles. That means there will be predawn kickoffs on the East Coast of the United States for some games, and midafternoon starts for 10 p.m. games in Qatar.
Got more questions? We’ve got more answers here.
Midfielder Charly Rodríguez called the result bittersweet given how Mexico had handled Poland but was unable to notch 3 points in the standings.
“We need to be calmer in that final pass and that final decision because we had a lot of possession and we generated a lot,” he said in Spanish. “And sometimes we have clear options and we don’t complete them. Having that tranquillity is difficult in a World Cup because you’re playing at miles per hour, but we have to strive for that.”
While neither team is expected to contend for the FIFA World Cup Trophy, they arrived in Qatar against starkly different backdrops. Poland has far less of a World Cup pedigree than Mexico, getting eliminated in the group stage in each of its three previous trips to the tournament. Mexico, on the other hand, had many World Cup demons.
Only two countries have advanced out of the group stage in each of the past seven World Cups: Brazil and Mexico. Brazil, though, has won the World Cup twice in that span, while Mexico has an ignominious record. El Tri, as the national team is known, was immediately eliminated in the first knockout round all seven times, a failure that has come with immense pressure and criticism in Mexico.
Sign up for the World Cup Briefing. The world’s greatest sporting spectacle returns in November. Get our daily analysis of every match and the stories from Qatar that you won’t see on TV. Get it sent to your inbox.
“It was a great game, and we should have won the 3 points,” Mexico defender Jorge Sánchez said in Spanish. “It wasn’t easy, but we leave happy with the game we played. We possessed the ball a lot, we had a lot of shots and we injected adrenaline into the fan base, which is important.”
From the opening whistle, Mexico tried frantically to pressure Poland with the forwards Alexis Vega and Hirving Lozano, who used their speed and shiftiness. They did and had Poland on its heels repeatedly, but couldn’t capitalize. Of their six shots in the first half, only one was on target. At least they were trying: Poland and Lewandowski mustered just one shot on goal in the first half.
But Lewandowski nearly changed the game in the second half. As Lewandowski charged toward the goal with the ball, Mexico defender Héctor Moreno yanked his jersey in the penalty area. No penalty was issued at the time, and play continued.
It wasn’t until moments later, when Mexico was setting up for a free kick on the other side of the field, that a check of the video assistant referee system was called for, prompting boos from a stadium seemingly full of Mexican fans. They booed louder when the referee Chris Beath signaled for a penalty kick and pulled out a yellow card for Moreno.
But all was not lost for Mexico thanks to Ochoa. Lewandowski took the penalty in the 58th minute and fired a low strike to his right. Ochoa dived to his left and slapped the ball away. After his teammates ended the threat by clearing the ball, Ochoa pumped his fists as the stadium erupted. Fans chanted “Yes we can!” in Spanish.
Wojciech Szczesny, Poland’s goalkeeper, commended Ochoa’s save and noted that Lewandowski normally watches the opposing keeper on penalties. But against Mexico, he said, Lewandowski “decided to choose a corner and kick it, and he made a good save.”
Szczesny continued: “Unfortunately, it cost us a win but looking at the whole game, it was probably a deserved result.”
More clarity to a group flipped upside down will arrive on Saturday, when Mexico takes on Argentina and Saudi Arabia plays Poland.
“In the World Cup, there are always surprises and all the teams prepare well,” Ochoa said. “We, too, are prepared and are looking to compete well against our rivals.”
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