Horror in the Malta-Poland match. VAR took away the goal, Zalewski out of the play-offs

On Monday evening, November 17 The Polish national team played its last match in the World Cup qualifiers. The rivals of Jan Urban’s players were Malta. Before the match started, the white and red team were considered the clear favorites.

Especially since our team was sure of participating in the March play-offs even before the first whistle. The stake of the match was to increase the chances of winning the first basket in the draw of the play-off pairs. For this, the Poles needed a victory.

Malta – Poland. Nawrocki supports football players

The national team could count on Karol Nawrocki’s support. This time, however, the president did not watch the sports competition live from the stadium. The head of state decided to support the players in a different way.

On Monday evening, the facade of the Presidential Palace was illuminated by lights that fans could not bring to the Poland-Netherlands match. “Today, on the facade of the Presidential Palace, there is strong support for our national team, which is playing a match against Malta today!” – the president wrote on social media.

Malta – Poland. What result?

Robert Lewandowski scored a goal in the 32nd minute. We didn’t have to wait long for a response from our rivals. Less than four minutes later, there was a surprise. Irvin Cardona scored the equalizing goal. This is the first goal in history for Malta in matches against the Polish national team.

In the second half of the match Paweł Wszołek gave Poland the lead 2:1. In the 61st minute, the hosts demanded a penalty kick for Jakub Kiwior’s foul on Irvin Cardona. However, the referee found no offense.

A moment later Karol Świderski increased the score to 3-1. After VAR analysis of the earlier situation, the goal for our team was disallowed. What’s more, referee Igor Pajac dictated the eleven for Malta. It was exploited by the Maltese, who led to… draw 2:2.

Piotr Zieliński saved the Poles’ honor in the 85th minute, increasing the score at 3:2.

Malta – Poland. Zalewski will not play in the play-offs

Although the Poles managed to win against Malta, the national team has a big problem before the March play-offs. Even before the match began, Jan Ubran explained that three players were at risk of a forced break in the play-offs if they received a yellow card in the qualifying match.

In this context, the coach mentioned Piotr Zieliński, Jan Ziółkowski and Nicola Zalewski. Already in the 18th minute, the worst-case scenario came true. The Atalanta Bergamo player was shown a yellow card for a foul and thus lost the chance to play in the play-offs.