RIGA, Latvia. October 10 (PSN) – The Polish national team earned their fifth victory in UEFA EURO 2020 qualifying on Thursday, which saw Robert Lewandowski’s hat trick defeat Latvia 3:0.
The bialo-czerwoni came into the encounter as the clear favourites and that showed in their game.
While Jerzy Brzeczek’s side did start things rather sluggishly, by their first complete play they had already the lead. Robert Lewandowski opened up the scoring in the 9th minute, where he found himself in a one-on-one situation with the goalkeeper after an assist by Sebastian Szymanski.
Four minutes later it was already 2:0. Lewandowski was again the player to put the ball in the Latvian net, which this time saw him pounce on goal unmarked in the penalty box after a very good play from Kamil Grosicki on the right wing.
The 27th minute saw Grzegorz Krychowiak take an attempt on goal from long range, but Andris Vanins for Latvia managed to parry off the shot and avoid seeing the hosts be downed by three so early on.
In the second half, Poland continued to play their game without needing to up the tempo. Lewandowski this time completed his hat trick in the 76th minute, where he calmly fired on goal from six meters away after another pass from Grosicki.
As a result of this game, Poland have strengthened their first place position in group G. The Poles are now three points ahead of second place Austria, and five points over North Macedonia. Poland now only need a win against North Macedonia to clinch qualification.
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Latvia – Poland 0:3 (0:2)
Goals: Lewandowski 9′, 13′, 76′
Yellow carded: Maksimenko
Referee: Halis Özkahya (Turkey) Attendance: 7107
Latvia: 1. Andris Vaņins – 7. Ritvars Rugins, 3. Mārcis Ošs, 4. Kaspars Dubra, 19. Vitālijs Jagodinskis, 2. Vitālijs Maksimenko – 13. Mārtiņš Ķigurs (86, 14. Andrejs Cigaņiks), 5. Oļegs Laizāns (72, 21. Kristers Tobers), 15. Deniss Rakels (72, 11. Artūrs Karašausks), 10. Jānis Ikaunieks – 22. Vladislavs Gutkovskis
Poland: 1. Wojciech Szczęsny – 16. Tomasz Kędziora, 15. Kamil Glik, 5. Jan Bednarek, 13. Maciej Rybus (80, 2. Arkadiusz Reca) – 19. Sebastian Szymański, 10. Grzegorz Krychowiak, 14. Mateusz Klich (60, 23. Krzysztof Piątek), 20. Piotr Zieliński, 11. Kamil Grosicki (77, 21. Przemysław Frankowski) – 9. Robert Lewandowski
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