Huge controversy in the Sweden-Poland match. Poles wronged?

After the first 45 minutes, the Polish national team was losing to Sweden 1:2. Although the Poles were definitely the better team, unfortunately, the hosts struck two blows that turned out to be exceptionally accurate – giving comfort to the hosts.

Fortunately, in the second half of the 2026 World Cup play-off final, after a goal by Karol Świderski, the Poles equalized for the second time, this time 2-2. But who knows what would have happened if Poland had been awarded… two penalties!

Controversies in the Sweden-Poland match. Did Slavko Vinčić make mistakes?

Rafał Rostowski, an international referee in the past, who published in TVP Sport, pointed out the error of the referee of the fight in Solno. It turns out that Slavko Vinčić could have awarded a penalty kick to the Poles in the first quarter of the match.

“In the 14th minute, Matty Cash was about to shoot, but he didn’t hit the ball cleanly and as a result, it quite accidentally hit his right hand, and after a moment, equally accidentally – in the left. Both of Cash’s hands were in a position that was natural for the situation – natural for the movements he made. The Pole moved in accordance with his motor coordination, in accordance with the dynamics of movement, he did not score a goal after the ball made contact with his hand, so referee Slavko Vincić should not have stopped the game. The ball rolled to Robert Lewandowski, who kicked it, but was fouled in the penalty area by Carl Starfelt,” we read Rostkowski’s words on the TVP Sport website.

However, referee Vinčić stopped the game earlier – so the foul on Lewandowski was not taken into account. However, as you can see, since Cash’s offense was not committed, the Poles deserved a penalty kick.

Interestingly, the second part of the match was also controversial from the visitors’ perspective. It seems that Jakub Kamiński was fouled in the penalty area as he put his foot in front of the Swedish defender. He didn’t kick the ball, but the Pole’s leg. However, the Slovenian referee did not decide to even check the situation via VAR.

The Polish national team’s patent for the play-offs! The last few years have been a real show off

In recent years, Polish football players have become specialists in winning tickets to large tournaments, competing through the so-called a second, play-off chance.

This series started with the previous World Cup that was played in Qatar (2022). After excluding the Russians from the competition, who were the Polish team’s opponents, due to their brutal attack on Ukraine, Poland immediately played in the final against the Swedes. In Chorzów, after goals by Robert Lewandowski and Piotr Zieliński, the team won a relatively certain 2-0. It was also a great success for the then coach Czesław Michniewicz. The Pole was brought in in an emergency after a stormy breakup between the Polish Football Association and the Portuguese Paulo Sousa.

Two years later, a similar story happened to the team led by Michał Probierz. Paradoxically, at that time the Pole was “cleaning up” after the Portuguese, when Fernando Santos had a disastrous term in Poland. Touchstone managed to lead the team to the Euro 2024 play-off zone. However, the Poles had to overcome two obstacles. It started with a high victory at the PGE Narodowy against Estonia (5:1) in the semi-final. In the play-off final, Poland defeated Wales in Cardiff after a series of penalties (0-0 in regular time and overtime). The hero of the match was goalkeeper Wojciech Szczęsny, who saved the decisive penalty in favor of the Poles.

For the third time in a row, the Poles started the play-offs under the leadership of coach Jan Urban. It started very promisingly, with a valuable 2-1 victory over Albania at the PGE Narodowy. Thanks to the win in the semi-final, the Poles had to face the Swedes away for a direct trip – this time to the 2026 World Cup.