CHORZÓW, Poland — Either
Robert Lewandowski or
Zlatan Ibrahimovic will miss out on the chance to play at
the 2022 World Cup when Poland and Sweden clash in Tuesday's play-off.
اضافة اعلان
The winners in Chorzow will go into Friday's
draw for the World Cup group stage.
It could be the final chance to play at a
World Cup for Swedish striker Ibrahimovic, who will be 41, and Poland's
Lewandowski, who will be 34, when the finals kick off in Qatar this November.
"A World Cup without Zlatan is not a
World Cup," said Ibrahimovic.
The veteran has endured an injury-blighted
season and last played a full 90 minutes for his club
AC Milan in January.
Sweden coach Janne Andersson said Monday
that Ibrahimovic "is a weapon for us" as a substitute, but
"can't play the whole game".
In contrast,
Bayern Munich's Lewandowski is
in stellar form having scored 50 goals for club and country this season.
The Poland captain, a back-to-back winner of
FIFA's best men's player award, took part in training Sunday after suffering a
knee knock last week and is set to start in Chorzow.
There will be an element of seeking revenge
for hosts Poland, who lost 3–2 to Sweden in their final
Euro 2020 group game
last year.
Sweden's winning goal by Viktor Claesson in
stoppage time in Saint Petersburg knocked Poland out in the group stage.
"We won last summer, so they (Poland)
will no doubt be hungry for revenge," said Sweden playmaker Emil Forsberg.
"It would be great to give them another
slap in the face."
Sweden are unhappy that Poland qualified
automatically for the play-off final after being handed a bye when
UEFA banned
their semi-final opponents Russia over the invasion of Ukraine.
"The principle of playing under the
same conditions, i.e. winning two matches to reach the World Cup finals, should
apply," said Swedish FA general secretary Hakan Sjostrand.
The same night
Poland drew a friendly away
to Scotland last Thursday with Lewandowski rested, Sweden needed extra time to
squeeze past the Czech Republic 1-0 in their play-off semi-final.
Robin Quaison scored the winner for Sweden
in the 110th minute in Stockholm.
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