Poland's boss sympathizes with Lewandowski after World Cup exit!

Poland head coach Czeslaw Michniewicz can understand the frustration around Robert Lewandowski's role after the team's World Cup exit.

With its defeat against France 1-3 in the round 16, the Polish career in the World Cup in Qatar was ended, as Olivier Giroud and Kylian Mbappe, each scored (2 goals), while Lewandowski scored Poland’s only goal from a penalty kick in the extra-time the second half at Al-Thumama Stadium.

This was Poland's first match in the knockout stage of a World Cup since 1986, when they lost 4-0 to Brazil in the round of 16.

Speaking at a press conference after the defeat, Michniewicz accentuated the positive of his team reaching the last-16 stage for the first time in 36 years, even though he was disappointed by the result.

"Unfortunately, this tournament is over for us. After 36 years, we reached the knockout stage but faced the current world champions. Congratulations to France," he said.

"We had good situations at 0-0 and I think many things changed before the break with Giroud's 44th-minute goal, the French became calmer and we became nervous.

"We knew we could still recover, we made some changes on the hour, and another forward came on Arkadiusz Milik and had moments where we could score. But then Mbappe scored fantastically and not even Wojciech (Szczesny) could help us on this occasion, even though he had an excellent tournament.

"After some weeks and months, I think we will be able to look back and appreciate that we achieved something here we have not done in 36 years."

The Poland coach said: “Lewandowski will decide his future himself. Given the way he plays, I think he will be the leader for years. Let's see if he will participate in the next World Cup."