Poland loses to Moldova despite two-goal lead at half time

The game in Moldova's capital city of Chisinau began very well for Poland as Arkadiusz Milik scored the first goal from close range, finishing Robert Lewandowski's pass.

The FC Barcelona striker and Poland's captain doubled Poland's lead with a fierce low strike from outside the box in the 34th minute. Lewandowski thus became the author of the 1500th goal in the over-century-long history of Poland's national team. It was also his personal 79th goal for Poland.

The skipper had one more chance to score after Piotr Zieliński skillful through pass but his shot went wide.

With a 2:0 lead at the break, Poland must have felt too confident as the second half turned out be a complete catastrophy. First, Zieliński lost the ball on his own half and Beitar Jerusalem forward Ion Nicolaescu unleashed a great strike after a short run towards the box.

Although it seemed to have been only a single minor error in Poland's plans, the goal gave Moldova enough confidence to push their rivals back onto their own half and create more and more chances.

Less than 15 minutes later, Moldova scored after a corner kick, but the referre spotted Nicolaescu's foul and disallowed the goal.

Poland had one more chance to extend their lead in the 75th minute, but Jakub Kamiński and Sebastian Szymański failed to score despite having only Moldova's goalkeeper in front of them.

Nicolaescu took full advantage when Tomasz Kędziora passed the ball to him by mistake in the 79th minute. The forward rushed into the penalty box and equalized with another brilliant strike, despite having a few defenders around him.

At that point, the final blow for Poland seemed imminent. It came in the 85th minute when Vladislav Baboglo scored the winning goal with a header. This time Poland's goalkeeper Wojciech Szczęsny made a mistake by rushing out of the goal and failing to catch a cross in the first stage of this situation.

The unthinkable became reality after the final whistle.

Poland's center back Jan Bednarek said after the game Poland had had a good first half and controlled the situation on the pitch. "But then we made simple mistakes and failed to respond after conceding. Catastrophy," he said.

Poland has only three points after three games in Group E of the Euro 2024 qualifying round.

Robert Lewandowski said the team should focus on what's ahead of them. "The margin of error is really small and we have no other option than to win the remaining games."

Asked how he felt after the loss, he replied: "How do I feel? How can I feel? It's a huge disappointment".

Poland will play their next qualifier against Faroe Islands on September 7, and then against Albania three days later.