DOHA, Qatar — This was the World Cup we had feared. Nobody quite knew whether the November-December scheduling of this tournament would mean players could just pick up from their league season, unhindered by the physical and emotional fatigue of the end of the season, or whether the lack of preparation time would mean teams came into the tournament undercooked, lacking the sort of cohesion and mutual understanding that brings fluency and comes only from weeks of training together. Early signs had been promising, but successive 0-0 draws on the tournament’s third day—there was one in the entirety of 2018—hinted that perhaps worst fears will be realized, at least for some teams.
At least Tunisia’s battling draw with Denmark earlier in the day had shimmered with intent. There had been half a dozen decent chances. But Mexico’s 0–0 draw with Poland was grim, at least in the final third. Other than Guillermo Ochoa saving Robert Lewandowski’s 55th-minute penalty, almost nothing happened.
“Such things happen,” said the Poland coach Czesław Michniewicz. “Great players miss penalties—Zico, Socrates, Platini, Maradona, I remember from World Cups. It is a pity for Robert—I know how much he wants to score at a World Cup. It was not easy for him. He had good central midfielders close to him and it was difficult for him to win balls.
“I know how a captain who misses a penalty feels when the match does not end in victory. He was very emotional about it. We have a monitor in the dressing room. We saw a few replays, Robert had a look at them. He must digest them himself. He knows how he will deal with situation.”
Richard Callis/Fotoarena/Imago Images
Expectations had been that Argentina would top the group with these two sides effectively battling it out for second, but that was upended by Saudi Arabia’s shocking win earlier in the day. Not only is Argentina no longer an obvious group winner, but the Saudis, well-organized at the back, capable of a ferocious press and with three points already on the board, represent a far greater threat than most had anticipated.
“The first match in the day conditioned this match,” Mexico coach Tata Martino said.
Mexico was the more adventurous of two cautious sides but, just as it had in qualifying, it lacked a clinical edge in the final third. Alexis Vega sent a header looping just wide and there was a Jorge Sánchez angled drive that Wojciech Szczęsny pushed over, but that was it for meaningful chances in a scrappy first half.
Poland was the third-highest scorer in UEFA qualifying, but that was under Paulo Sousa, who left the job in January to join Brazilian club Flamengo. Under his replacement, form has been patchy, and this was a display that was simultaneously cautious and disjointed, something the coach blamed on the youth and relative inexperience of his players.
“When they have more experience they will show their full potential,” Michniewicz, said. “I know today they were not able to do that, but I think stress explains that.”
Lewandowski managed just nine touches in the opposition box in the three group games at the last World Cup and had just one on the first half here. His first in the second half brought a hotly disputed penalty, as Héctor Moreno was penalized for grabbing Lewandowski’s shirt as the two grappled in chasing a through ball. His third and last touch in Mexico’s box was to take the penalty, but Ochoa, at his fifth World Cup and who is no stranger to heroics in an opener after his performance in Brazil vs. the hosts eight years ago, saved low to his right. Lewandowski has still not scored a World cup goal. Meanwhile, the roar from the Mexico fans who packed the 974 Stadium (named after the number of recycled shipping containers used in its construction to make the perimeter of the stadium) was deafening, their celebrations extended, and suddenly the game was alive.
While that sounds exciting, and it was better than what had gone before but, all it meant in practice was that passes were misplaced at a higher tempo than previously, but there were also tackles flying in as well as a handful of gratuitous dives. There was a Henry Martin back-header that Szczęsny parried to safety and not a huge amount else, for all the huff and bustle.
“What we need undoubtedly is to be more effective,” Martino said. “We need to be able to convert into goals the few chances we have. We won’t create 15 chances, maybe three…”
And that perhaps is the problem when sides lack cohesion. Defenses are always easier to organize than attacks and so opportunities are hard to come by. There could be more of this in the next few days.
