by Wales face Poland for a place at Euro 2024 as the two nations contest their play-off final in Cardiff on Tuesday night.
It’s a very familiar ending for the hosts, who beat both Austria and Ukraine on home soil to end their long 64-year absence from the World Cup two years ago and are looking for the feat to do so again to qualify for the fourth major tournament from the Championship. the last five.
Euro 2016 semi-finalists Wales – who finished third behind Turkey and Croatia in qualifying for this summer’s finals in Germany – got the job done in the first half on Thursday night, when they saw off Finland aside 4-1 thanks to goals from David Brooks, Neco Williams, Brennan Johnson and Dan James.
But they now face a much tougher test against a Polish side who beat 10-man Estonia 5-1 in Warsaw after tries from Przemyslaw Frankowski, Piotr Zielinski, Jakub Piotrowski and Sebastian Szymanski, as well as an own goal from Karol Mets.
Poland have not reached the finals of a major competition since the 2014 World Cup in Brazil and last missed out on the Euros in 2004, but suffered a disappointing qualifying campaign this time around, finishing behind Albania and the Republic of Czech.
The winners of this competition will be placed in Group D at Euro 2024 along with France, the Netherlands and Austria, as they face the Dutch for the first time in Hamburg on 16 June.
Date, start time and venue
Wales vs Poland is scheduled to kick off at 7:45pm GMT on Tuesday 26 March 2024.
The match will take place at Cardiff City Stadium.
Where to watch Wales vs Poland
TV channel: In the UK, Wales vs Poland will be broadcast live on Viaplay Sports and the Welsh channel S4C.
Live stream: Subscribers can also catch the competition live online via Viaplay Sports streaming service and S4C Clic.
Live blog: You can follow all the action on match day three Standard SportsIt’s a live blog.
Wales vs Poland team news
Rob Page made two changes to his Wales team against Finland, with Luton captain Tom Lockyer – whose football future remains uncertain after suffering a cardiac arrest on the pitch in December – Chris Mepham and Brooks selected to join Harry Wilson and Johnson in his defensive position. in attack, with the likes of Kieffer More and Dan James on the bench.
Captain Aaron Ramsey remained an unused substitute after returning earlier than expected from a calf injury to play 18 minutes off the bench in Swansea’s win over Derby last weekend, making only his fourth appearance club since mid-September. Tottenham’s Ben Davies captained Wales again in his place.
Wales did not appear to have suffered any injuries against Finland, but were without the likes of Joe Low, Ben Cabango and Wes Burns, who withdrew from the squad ahead of the game.
Page looks set to overdo a winning formula against Poland, his attack looking dangerous with Ethan Ampadu and Jordan James developing a promising partnership in midfield in Ramsey’s absence.
However, after some hairy minutes against below-par Finland, he may want to tighten up in defense against a good Poland side who put five past Estonia and are led by the talismanic Robert Lewandowski.
Poland were without Juventus striker Arkadiusz Milik against Estonia due to a muscle injury, with Karol Swiderski joining Lewandowski in attack instead.
Wales vs Poland prediction
This should be a bone of contention between two inconsistent sides capable of mixing it with Europe’s best on the day and scoring nine goals between them in their semi-final.
Despite the loss of inspirational leader Gareth Bale to retirement last year, Wales managed to make it to the big event again in front of a passionate home crowd who will once again play a huge role on Tuesday.
Page’s men are generally much stronger at home than on the road, and the same can be said of Poland, who have a long unbeaten run in qualifiers in front of their own fans.
But as strange as it is considering the tight final scoring, there were elements of that first half performance from Wales against Finland which will be a cause for concern for their head coach and Poland will surely be seized if they are again in the final.
We expect a close and extremely tense game that could really go either way, but with the slight edge given to Lewandowski and Co.
Poland to win, 2-1.
Head to head (h2h) history and results
Wales’ only previous win in 10 attempts against Poland came all the way back when they qualified for the 1974 World Cup.
They have lost all but two of the nine meetings since then following a pair of draws in 1991 and 2000, including six in a row this century.
These two teams last met in the 2022 Nations League, when Poland were the only team from Wales to find the changes ahead of their World Cup final against Ukraine.
Swiderski then hit a second-half winner in Cardiff later that year to condemn Wales to relegation.
Wales won: 1
Poland wins: 7
Draws: 2
The choice of the match between Wales and Poland
The picks for Tuesday night’s Euro 2024 play-off final will be available soon.
