Robert Lewandowski said on Friday that Poland’s World Cup squad had gone into shock earlier this week after the rocket attack in his home country that killed two people. A missile hit the Polish village of Przewodow near the Ukrainian border on Tuesday, killing two people and sparking fears of an escalation of conflict between Ukraine and the invading Russian army. Both Warsaw and NATO have said the explosion was likely caused by a Ukrainian air defense missile launched to intercept a massive Russian barrage targeting civilian infrastructure.
Lewandowski and his teammates were in Warsaw at the time preparing for a friendly against Chile the next day ahead of the spectacle in Qatar.
“It was not an easy moment, everyone was waiting for an explanation, for some information,” the Barcelona attacker said from the Polish training base in Doha.
“Unfortunately, it affected people who died. This is definitely a very difficult situation.”
Lewandowski said concerns eased after evidence emerged that the missile strike was not a direct attack by Russia.
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“After it became clearer what was happening, we were a little calmer… .
“I hope it’s a one-time event… and it won’t happen again.”
Marked human
Poland will launch their World Cup campaign against Mexico at the 974 Stadium on Tuesday.
They also face Saudi Arabia and Group C favorites Argentina, who are unbeaten for 36 games.
Poland expects goalscoring machine Lewandowski, who has scored 76 goals in 134 appearances for the national team, to be a outspoken man in Doha, but the striker says this could work in the team’s favour.
“I’m ready for opponents to focus more on me. In the game, defenders will stay with me,” said Lewandowski, who has already scored 18 goals in 19 appearances for Barca this season.
“Other players will take advantage of the fact that I go to the side and take two players with me. There will be more free space for them to enter.”
He added: “This could also be our strength, to be able to use those free areas on the field that have arisen due to opponents focusing too much on me.”
This will be Lewandowski’s second World Cup, but he declined to speculate if it would be his last.
“We haven’t started the World Cup yet and I already have to talk about its end,” he joked.
“I don’t know if it will be my last World Cup, but I am preparing as if it could be my last.”
Lewandowski failed to score in any of Poland’s three group matches in Russia four years ago, but he said he is not worried about breaking his World Cup scoring duck.
“If we as a team create more chances to score, then I and the other strikers will have more chances to score,” he told reporters at Poland’s training center.
“Who scores is not important, but the team and the victory is the most important.”
(This story has not been edited by DailyExpertNews staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
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