Even though he endured a difficult debut World Cup in Russia, Polish goalkeeper, Wojciech Szczesny, has played sensationally at this year’s tournament.
Shortly after he helped Juventus win a Serie A title, Szczesny had hoped for more success at the 2018 World Cup with Poland.
Unfortunately, he struggled to replicate his solid form and conceded five goals in Poland’s first two group-stage matches.
In his nation’s opening game against Senegal, Szczesny only managed one save in the 2-1 defeat.
Poland’s challenging campaign continued after they suffered a 3-0 loss to Columbia and crashed out of contention for the knockout stages.
Once again, Szczesny saved a single shot in the defeat and got benched for Lukasz Fabianski in his country’s final match of the tournament against Japan.
Contrary to his performance four years ago in Russia, Szczesny’s effort in goals has helped Poland advance to the knockout stages of the 2022 World Cup.
In this year’s opening group stage game, he tallied four saves and kept his maiden World Cup clean sheet in Poland’s 0-0 draw with Mexico.
Backing up his strong showing against Mexico, Szcznesy played exceptionally against Saudi Arabia, pulling off one of the best double saves in World Cup history and steering his country to a 2-0 win.
During the sequence, he lunged to his right and saved Saudi captain Salem Al-Dawsari’s powerful penalty kick before diving the opposite way to tip Mohammed Al-Burayk’s shot over the crossbar from point-blank range.
Including his world-class double save, the Polish number one made five stops in his nation’s impressive victory over The Green Falcons.
Although Poland lost their final group-stage game to an elite Argentina side 2-0, Szczesny made an incredible nine saves and helped his country qualify for the Round of 16 on goal differential.
One of those nine saves was another remarkable penalty stop. With PSG superstar Lionel Messi stepping up to the penalty spot, many fans awaited a seemingly certain opening goal.
However, Szczesny lunged to his left at full-stretch to deny the Argentinian champion and continue his excellent form in Qatar.
His persistence and resilience to bounce back after a challenging tournament in Russia has epitomised the magic of the World Cup and inspired many fans around the globe.
With two clean sheets and three excellent efforts to his name, Szczesny will look to produce another strong outing when his nation takes on France in the Round of 16.
Photo by GLYN KIRK/AFP via Getty Images
