World Cup 2018: 5 intriguing games from the group stage

#4: Colombia vs. Poland – Group H – June 24th

Robert Lewandowski hit 16 goals for Poland in qualification

It’s a little harsh to call any side in the World Cup a one-man team, but Poland and Colombia come closer than most simply because their two best players are equally fantastic. Colombia can call upon the talents of James Rodriguez – arguably the best player at the 2014 World Cup and a man who looked rejuvenated at Bayern Munich this season – while Poland have his Bayern teammate Robert Lewandowski, recognised as one of the world’s best strikers for the best part of a decade now.

Colombia made the quarter-finals of the 2014 tournament and their squad remains largely unchanged – alongside Rodriguez will be the likes of Carlos Bacca and Juan Cuadrado, as well as emerging Tottenham super-talent Davinson Sanchez. Qualification wasn’t perfect as they lost 5 games, but it never felt likely that they wouldn’t be in Russia.

Poland meanwhile have a tremendous goalkeeper in Wojciech Szczesny and other talented players like Jan Bednarek and Arkadiusz Milik. They won their qualification group and scored 28 goals along the way – only a handful of European sides scored more.

Let’s be honest, though – this game is massively intriguing because it’s James vs. Lewandowski, one of the most mouth-watering sounding clashes in the entire group stage. If the respective defences can’t keep either man out then we might be in for a goal-fest here.