For the first time since 2006, Poland have secured their place at the World Cup, and obviously they hope to show themselves in a good light in Russia. Their qualification campaign was quite successful as the team coached by Adam Navalka topped Group E with eight wins in ten matches and five points clear of the runners-up Denmark.

Robert Lewandowski played a special role in that result as he scored 16 goals, becoming the European record holder and joint best scorer of the whole World Cup qualification with Saudi Arabia’s Mohammad Al-Sahlawi and UAE’s Ahmed Khalil. The Bayern Munich striker will definitely be in the spotlight during the tournament in Russia, yet Poland is not a one-man team, and they have a few more quality footballers to look at.

Jakub Blaszczykowski is among them - at 32, he is not young any longer, but his experience can certainly be an asset. The winger, nicknamed “Kuba”, is also based in Germany, at Wolfsburg - and in the past, he played many years alongside Lewandowski at Borussia Dortmund. Blaszczykowski was not always lucky with the national team - he was dropped from the 2006 World Cup squad due to an injury and missed a crucial penalty in the quarter-final against Portugal at EURO’2016. However, now the player, who is a devoted Catholic, hopes to avoid major setbacks.

The 33-year-old defender Lukasz Piszczek is another veteran, who made his debut for the national team in 2007. Unlike Lewandowski and Blaszykowski, the right back still plays for Dortmund and promises to finish his career at that club. A quiet and humble person off the pitch, Piszczek is a hard-working footballer. Defense is not the strongest side of Poland, who conceded 14 goals during the qualifying tournament - more than any other European team that reached the final stage, and the 4:0 defeat in Denmark was the game that Polish players would like to erase from their memories altogether. However, Lukasz is certainly not the weak chain of the Polish side, and neither is Monaco’s centre back Kamil Glik, who is seen as the boss of Poland’s defence and known for his tackling abilities as well as organisational skills.

Grzegorz Krychowiak is another prominent figure, who was one of Poland’s leaders during the memorable EURO’2016. Following that tournament, the hard-working midfielder moved from Atletico Madrid - where he had done very well - to Paris Saint-Germain, yet the promising transfer turned to a deception as he barely played at the star-studded French club. Last summer, Krychowiak was loaned to West Bromwich Albion, but failed to impress there as well, so playing a solid World Cup should help him to find a club which suits him best.

Piotr Zelinski is only 24, and he came to the fore just in the recent years, but now it is hard to imagine the national team without the Napoli-based midfielder, who has taken part in every qualifying game. His two brothers Pawel and Tomasz are professional footballers as well, but they hardly have the same potential as Piotr.

Poland is also known for producing good goalkeepers, and while the veteran Artur Boruc finished his international career last year, the team still can rely on Lukasz Fabianski from Swansea and Wojciech Szczesny from Juventus, both of whom have a lot of international experience. Actually each of the two can handle the role of the first-choice goalie, and it is not easy for the coaching staff to choose between them.

By the way, the head coach Adam Navalka should definitely be credited for the team’s recent progress. A Polish international himself back in the seventies, he took charge of the team in 2013, when they failed to qualify for the World Cup in Brazil. And since that time, Poland have been steadily going in the right direction.

Navalka’s men are not seen as favourites in Russia, yet they can become the “dark horse” who will give a surprise. Poland enjoyed a favourable draw, and a group with Senegal, Colombia and Japan gives them a good chance to go through, but for the team to succeed, the star striker Lewandowski needs some solid support from his teammates.