Fresh from a successful sojourn to the Faroe Islands, Poland return to their Warsaw headquarters at the Stadion Narodowy to tackle Moldova in Sunday's Euro 2024 qualifying Group E clash.

The Eagles cruised past the section's basement team 2-0 on Thursday evening to rise into the second and final automatic qualifying spot, one point and two places better off than their upcoming foes.

Match preview

The Fernando Santos era was short-lived and best consigned to the history books for Poland, who swiftly replaced the ex-Portugal head coach with Michal Probierz on the back of the 51-year-old's noteworthy exploits with the Under-21 team.

A former Poland youth international himself, Probierz was handed a particularly kind fixture to open his tenure - a trip to a 131st-ranked Faroe Islands team without a win in Group E so far - and the White-Reds ran out comfortable victors by the close of play in Torshavn.

Sebastian Szymanski needed just four minutes to draw first blood, and while Poland failed to add to their advantage against the minnows in the remainder of the first half, Hordur Askham's 49th-minute red card opened the door for Adam Buksa to seal the deal.

Still following a loss-win-loss-win pattern in Group E - which will not fill the more superstitious supporters with optimism for Sunday's game - Poland capitalised on the Czech Republic's 3-0 loss to Albania to rise to second in the group, although they sit just one point above the Czechs having played a game more.

With a clash against Jaroslav Silhavy's side to come next month, though, Poland's qualification fate remains in their own hands as they seek a fifth-straight appearance at the Euros Finals, and they head into Sunday's match having won all three of their home fixtures in 2023 with three clean sheets in tow.

While the rest of their Group E hopefuls butted heads in competitive action on Thursday, Moldova warmed up for a pivotal period of winter fixtures by meeting Sweden in a friendly at the appropriately-named Friends Arena, but Serghei Clescenco's men will not be making friends with their Scandinavian counterparts anytime soon.

In a match where no fewer than six Moldova players went into the referee's book - one of whom, Artur Craciun, was sent off - Moldova succumbed to a 3-1 loss in Solna thanks to a masterclass from Jesper Karlsson, who netted twice either side of setting up Gustaf Lagerbielke.

Ion Nicolaescu did reduce the arrears for Moldova before the break, but Karlsson's second with 75 minutes on the clock saw Clescenco's men suffer just their second defeat of 2023 so far - still not bad going for a nation who are still very much capable of upsetting the European apple cart.

The Tricolours are yet to earn their Euros baptism, but a respectable tally of eight points from five games has them sat fourth in the section - level with the Czechs and only one point worse off than Poland - and Clescenco's side could therefore end the October break in second place if results go their way.

However, Moldova would be relying on basement boys Faroe Islands to take at least a point off the Czech Republic for that to happen, although they have previous when it comes to shocking Poland, coming back from two goals down to triumph 3-2 in June for their first-ever win over the Eagles.

Team News

As well as losing all-time top goalscorer Robert Lewandowski to an ankle sprain, Poland waved goodbye to Nicola Zalewski, Kamil Grabara and Tymoteusz Puchacz before their win over the Faroe Islands due to injury, although the trio are far from indispensable.

Probierz came through his maiden match with no new fitness concerns bedevilling him, and Buksa's effort off the bench in midweek could see Arkadiusz Milik's spot come under threat - the Juventus man has just one goal to show from his last 11 international appearances.

Empoli defender Bartosz Bereszynski was a notable absentee from Thursday's match after picking up a hamstring injury in Serie A recently, but the 54-cap international is pushing to play a part in Sunday's affair.

Even though Moldova centre-back Craciun was made to take the walk of shame in his side's friendly loss to Sweden, the 25-year-old - who is based in Poland with Puszcza Niepolomice - will be fine to step out onto semi-familiar territory this weekend.

On the back of his record-extending 13th goal for the Tricolours, Heerenveen frontman Nicolaescu will also bid to replicate his brace from June's famous win over Poland, who then succumbed to a late winner from Ukrainian second-division midfielder Vladyslav Baboglo.

Poland possible starting lineup:
Szczesny; Kedziora, Kiwior, Peda; Cash, D. Szymanski, Slisz, Frankowski; S. Szymanski, Zielinski; Buksa

Moldova possible starting lineup:
Railean; Revenco, Posman, Craciun, Marandici, Reabciuk; Platica, Baboglo, Moypan; Rata; Nicolaescu

We say: Poland 2-0 Moldova

Basking in the new manager bounce and also out for a slice of vengeance for events in the summer, the stage is set for Poland to finally break their loss-win streak with back-to-back Group E triumphs on Sunday.

Moldova undoubtedly command respect given their unexpected feats in the section so far, but with their morale taking a hit in Sweden, repeating June's historic win over Poland at the hosts' Warsaw base is surely a step too far.


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