Poland boss 'heart stopped' during tense Argentina tie
Head coach Czeslaw Michniewicz admitted his "heart stopped" during Poland's 2-0 defeat to Argentina - a result which saw his side scrape into the last 16 of the World Cup on goal difference.
With Group C on a knife edge heading into the final round of fixtures, Mexico conceded a last-gasp goal in a 2-1 victory over Saudi Arabia, sending Poland through after it had seemed for much of the second half that they would advance purely on fair play rules.
Second-half goals from Premier League duo Alexis Mac Allister and Julian Alvarez ensured Argentina progressed as group winners after Lionel Messi saw a controversial penalty saved by Wojciech Szczesny.
Poland will face reigning champions France in the last 16, while Argentina come up against Australia.
Perhaps fittingly in the closing stages of the fixture at Stadium 974, everyone was number-crunching as Poland's better fair play ranking had them squeaking through at Mexico's expense - progressing by virtue of picking up three fewer bookings in the wake of Alvarez's strike.
Grzegorz Krychowiak's yellow card with 12 minutes remaining shortened that margin further still and Michniewicz revealed he was getting anxious.
"We had an agreement that only me and the technical staff would be across what was happening in the Mexico match, at one point in time I did pass on some information to Robert (Lewandowski)," he said.
"My heart stopped a bit when Grzegorz Krychowiak was booked, we knew it was minus three points and fair play was already taken into consideration.
"So Piotr Zielinski was supposed to leave but we substituted Krychowiak because for five minutes we didn't have control of the game and couldn't make the substitution, while he was endangered by the second yellow card.
"My technical