How to score Lewandowski, the top scorer who wants to dress like a villain against Argentina

In the preview of any key match the fan quickly spots the enemy. The figure of the rival, the feared scorer, the one you can dream with even the night before. A potential nightmare. It’s not about making a macumba, it’s better to mark it well. Robert Lewandowski fulfills all the conditions to become a villain.

Lethal goalscorer with record: Poland’s all-time top scorer, Third top scorer in the Champions League just behind Cristiano Ronaldo Y Lionel Messi, second top scorer of all time in the Bundesliga. The word scorer is repeated, with no synonyms. There is nothing more. His resume scares. And just one goal from this 34-year-old, 189 cm and 80 kg striker can be lethal for the national team. Synthesizing: you have to try to delete it.

One of the ways to block a center forward who scores is to take him out of the area where comfort is most dangerous: the box. Of course It is very probable that Poland will not play the ball with the national team and that they will not press too much at the start, so you have to be careful of the spaces that Lewandowski can have. It is essential that the first passes from the back are precise and in this Lisandro Martínez is a specialist. Impossible to go wrong in that area because Lewandowski bills them.

There is a fundamental issue: if Poland plays as they did against Saudi Arabia, with two centre-forwards (the other is Arkadiusz Milik, a tank who plays for Juventus) they could go face-to-face with the centre-backs, Otamendi and Lisandro . Scaloni tried with a five-point line, but it wouldn’t be used in this game. In that case, if Milik is ahead (he can also raise) he should lower the central midfielder to generate numerical superiority.

The choice of the central midfielder could define how much Scaloni cares about the good Lewandowski. If that’s a lot, he will choose Guido Rodríguez, a midfielder who specializes in relays and coverage. If he is betting on good management, he will bet on Paredes, Enzo Fernández or Mac Allister.

The selection usually does not make personal marks, but surely Otamendi will be more above Lewandowski by Lisandro Martinez.

Quick transitions and steady ball

Marking an off-balance striker always involves a complementary side, preventing him from being supplied. In the case of the Poles, that task falls mainly to Piotr Zielinski, the talented Napoli midfielder. Argentina should take care of their passes. Poland is a team with fast transitions: when they steal the ball they don’t entertain it.

Lewandowski is a fearsome attacker, we know. With his debut goal at the World Cup, against Saudi Arabia, he reached 77 goals for his team, of which he is the top scorer in history. With that figure he equaled Pelé’s mark in the Brazilian team, no less. He also has 552 goals at club level (mostly at Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Munich) and in his first season at Barcelona he started with 18 goals in 19 games.

However, we must also consider that he can provide an assist, given that he was in the first goal (by Zielinski) against Arabia. The territory offers many variations, not just the definition. Can search for spaces and generate them for mates. Head, define with both legsanyway…

Another fact to take into consideration is the ball at rest. The national team will have to deal with committing fouls close to the area because it is one of the Poles’ favorite weapons. Not only because they have Lewandowski and Milik, good headers, but because they add central defenders Kiwiok (1.89) and Glik (1.90). The average height of Poland is 1.86 and that of Argentina is 1.79.

Lewandowski is playing his second World Cup. In the first, Russia 2018, he didn’t convert. In his debut here against Mexico, Ochoa saved a penalty. He just took off his mufa in the second game against Arabia. A hot marker is scary, but a hungry marker can be worse.

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