All hands on deck as Poland look to restore Lewandowski's prowess

GDANSK, Poland : Poland will need to look beyond leading striker Robert Lewandowski if they are to break their group stage jinx and reach the knockout rounds at the World Cup in Qatar.

Poland, who have been drawn in Group C alongside Argentina, Mexico and Saudi Arabia, last made the knockout phase in 1986.

They have since qualified for three more World Cups - in 2002, 2006 and 2018 - winning one group game and losing the other two at each of them.

Poland's best performance at a tournament in the last decade was at Euro 2016, where they reached the knockout stages from a group containing Ukraine, Northern Ireland and Germany.

They beat Switzerland in the last 16 before being eliminated by eventual champions Portugal in the quarters, but their two most recent major tournaments, the 2018 World Cup and Euro 2020, were disappointing as they finished bottom of their groups.

The good news for coach Czeslaw Michniewicz is that he has quality players at his disposal. The bad news is that he is still struggling to get a tune out of them ahead of his first World Cup.

Michniewicz took over in January after former coach Paulo Sousa, who masterminded Poland's World Cup qualification campaign, unexpectedly quit to take over Brazilian side Flamengo.

The Polish FA bet on Michniewicz to lead the team at the World Cup after he excelled during his three years in charge of the country's under-21 side.

But the 52-year-old, who has never coached outside Poland, has struggled to get the most from talisman Lewandowski, who has appeared isolated when deployed as a lone striker in Michniewicz's system.

Poland have three wins, three defeats and two draws under Michniewicz, a run in which Lewandowski has only managed two goals.

The Barcelona forward, one of