LIVE: Argentina, Poland Play for World Cup Knockout Places
Lionel Messi’s side meets Robert Lewandowski’s in a high-stakes World Cup group finale. Follow along here.
Two of the greatest players of their generation lead their national teams against one another with World Cup survival on the line.
Those are the stakes when Lionel Messi’s Argentina faces Robert Lewandowski’s Poland in their Group C finale in Qatar. They’ll play at the same time as Mexico vs. Saudi Arabia, with all four sides entering the day with a chance of going through to the knockout stage.
The group winner will face Australia, a surprise second-place finisher in Group D, while the runner-up will book a date with defending champion France on the other side of the bracket.
Both Messi and Lewandowski enter on the heels of major moments. It was Messi’s goal that broke a deadlock vs. Mexico and allowed Argentina to breathe a bit easier, following a shocking defeat to Saudi Arabia to open the tournament. Lewandowski, meanwhile, scored the first World Cup goal of his career to help Poland put away the Saudis and keep his side in contention for a last-16 berth.
Follow along here for live updates and highlights of goals and key plays from throughout the match (refresh for most recent updates).
Here are the lineups for both sides:
Full World Cup squads:
Argentina
GOALKEEPERS: Franco Armani (River Plate), Emi Martínez (Aston Villa), Gerónimo Rulli (Villarreal)
DEFENDERS: Marcos Acuña (Sevilla), Juan Foyth (Villarreal), Lisandro Martínez (Manchester United), Nahuel Molina (Atlético Madrid), Gonzalo Montiel (Sevilla), Nicolás Otamendi (Benfica), Germán Pezzella (Real Betis), Cristian Romero (Tottenham), Nicolás Tagliafico (Lyon)
MIDFIELDERS: Rodrigo De Paul (Atlético Madrid), Enzo Fernández (Benfica), Alejandro Gómez (Sevilla), Alexis Mac Allister (Brighton), Exequiel Palacios (Bayer Leverkusen), Leandro Paredes (Juventus), Guido Rodriguez (Real Betis)
FORWARDS: Thiago Almada (Atlanta United), Julián Álvarez (Manchester City), Ángel Correa (Atlético Madrid), Paulo Dybala (Roma), Ángel Di María (Juventus), Lautaro Martínez (Inter Milan), Lionel Messi (Paris Saint-Germain)
Poland
GOALKEEPERS: Kamil Grabara (Copenhagen), Łukasz Skorupski (Bologna), Wojciech Szczęsny (Juventus)
DEFENDERS: Jan Bednarek (Aston Villa), Bartosz Bereszynski (Sampdoria), Matty Cash (Aston Villa), Kamil Glik (Benevento), Robert Gumny (Augsburg), Artur Jędrzejczyk (Legia Warsaw), Jakub Kiwior (Spezia), Mateusz Wieteska (Clermont), Nicola Zalewski (Roma)
MIDFIELDERS: Krystian Bielik (Birmingham City), Przemysław Frankowski (Lens), Kamil Grosicki (Pogon), Jakub Kaminski (Wolfsburg), Grzegorz Krychowiak (Al-Shabab), Michal Skoras (Lech Poznan), Damian Szymański (AEK Athens), Sebastian Szymański (Feyenoord), Piotr Zielinski (Napoli), Szymon Żurkowski (Fiorentina)
FORWARDS: Robert Lewandowski (Barcelona), Arkadiusz Milik (Juventus), Krzysztof Piątek (Salernitana), Karol Świderski (Charlotte FC)