Poland vs. Russia Preview, Odds, Prediction

EURO 2020 is less than two weeks away, and we will slowly start to get ready for this competition. Poland and Russia will meet in a friendly match, which marks the start of their preparation period. The clashes of these two nations in any sport are always intense, and we expect to see the same here. Both Poland and Russia have very high ambitions for the upcoming EURO, and to be honest, very solid squads. Tuesday’s game will be a chance to see where they stand at the moment.

Preview

Poland (+120) has Robert Lewandowski, arguably the best striker in the world at this point. Bayern’s no.9 recently broke Gerd Muller’s Bundesliga record, netting 41 goals, with the note that he missed one part of the season because of an injury. That was when the Bavarians suffered a defeat against PSG in the UEFA Champions League.

Over the last five games, Poland recorded just one win against Andorra in the WC qualifiers, 3-0. Apart from that, they posted three losses and a draw, which isn’t near expected.

The noticeable thing here is that in all but the match against Andorra, the Polish defense allowed two or more goals, which is a problematic trend. Lewa and the boys have just two points in three World Cup qualifying games because of that as well. All this adds pressure on Paulo Sosa’s squad.

Russia (+210) has two wins in the last nine games, but those two were very important, with Zbornaya collecting six points in three WC qualifiers contests. They would beat Malta on the road, 1-3, Slovenia at home, 2-1 before losing to Slovakia 2-1 on the road.

The previous five matches this unit played saw over 2.5 goals, and in all of them, the Russians allowed at least one goal (in four, two, or more).

They are a hard-working team that often both concedes and scores. At the moment, Russia doesn’t have a superstar player as it used to be several years ago with Arshavin, Akinfeev, and the others in the lineup. But still, there are a lot of interesting and quality players involved.

Latest News

Both teams assembled the best they have for these preparations.

Poland will start with Lewandowski, Milik, Krychowiak and Zielinski.

On the other side, Dzyuba leads the way in the attack, with the veteran striker having a great year with Zenit, scoring 20 goals in 27 Russian Premier League games.

Head to Head Games

The last game between these two sides was in 2012, at the EURO, which took place in Poland. The result was 1-1, with Dzagoev netting for Russia and Blasczykowski for the hosts.

Five years before, these teams played 2-2 in a friendly international match.

Prediction

Both Russian and Polish defense hasn’t been that convincing in the last few matches, which couldn’t be said for the respective offenses. It appears that the best possible pick for this match is both teams to score with the odds at the moment set at -120. From our perspective, the risk/profits ratio here is very good, and why not using it.

Pick: Both teams to score -120