Captain striker Robert Lewandowski scored twice, helping Poland defeat the Faroes Islands 2-0 in round five on September 7 to rise to third place in Group E of Euro 2024 qualifying.

Poland is rated higher, currently ranked 26th, while the Faroe Islands are ranked 129th in FIFA. Besides Lewandowski, the Polish squad also has many other names, such as Wojciech Szczesny (Juventus), Jakub Kiwior (Arsenal), Jan Bednarek (Southampton), Piotr Zielinski (Napoli) or Arkadiusz Milik (Juventus).

The difference in class was clearly shown on the Warsaw field on September 7, when Poland controlled the ball 72%, and finished 19 times with seven shots on target – compared to 2 and 1 of the visitors.

But the white team was deadlocked and only made a difference thanks to the intervention of VAR. In the 70th minute, after going to the sideline to review the video, referee David Smajc determined that midfielder Odmar Faero touched the ball with his hand in the penalty area and awarded a penalty to Poland. On the 11-meter mark, Lewandowski shot with a flute foot to the left corner, against the direction of goalkeeper Mattias Lamhauge’s judgment.

10 minutes later, Poland counterattacked by stealing the ball in the away team’s field. Receiving a pass from Karol Swiderski, Lewandowski controlled a beat and then curled his right foot into the far corner, leaving Lamhauge rooted, completing the double and sealing a 2-0 victory.

Lewandowski joins a group of 13 players to score three goals in Euro 2024 qualifying, which includes Erling Haaland, Bernardo Silva, and Dusan Vlahovic. They are behind Bukayo Saka, Kylian Mbappe (4 goals), Cristiano Ronaldo, Harry Kane, Zeki Amdouni, Scott McTominay (5), and Romelu Lukaku, Rasmus Hojlund (6).

This result puts Poland third in Grovup E with six points, one and two points behind Albania and the Czech Republic respectively. Lewandowski and his teammates can take over the top spot if they win against Albania in the next round on September 10, when the Czech Republic does not compete because the group has five teams.

Each Euro qualifying group takes the top two teams to the final round. The final round includes 24 teams, taking place from June 14 to July 14 in 10 German cities.