Two Napoli players were in action on Saturday: Piotr Zielinski and Hirving Lozano.
Match Winner
Piotr Zielinski played 63 minutes in Poland’s 2-0 victory over Saudi Arabia in Group C. With Arkadiusz Milik getting his first start of the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022, Czeslaw Michniewicz switched to a 4-5-1 formation with Zielinski in the No. 10.
Though Milik lined up on the right side of the midfield, he tended to get forward, with Zielinski playing as a trequartista behind Milik and Robert Lewandovski. The Napoli midfielder was in that position when he opened the scoring in the 39th minute – his tenth goal for his country and his first ever in the World Cup.
The move started with Wojciech Szczesny playing a long goal kick to Matty Cash, who directed his first touch to Przemyslaw Frankowski on the right side of the midfield. Frankowski returned the ball to Cash who squared to Lewandowski in front of the goal.
The Barcelona striker nipped in, saved the ball from going out of play, then quickly cut it back to Zielinski at the edge of the six yard box. Zielinski smashed the ball into the back of the goal to give Poland the lead.
Zielinski nearly added an assist shortly after the hour mark, picking out Milik with a cross from the left wing. Milik got plenty of power behind his header but watched as the ball crashed off the bar and stay out.
Zielinski, who was not the only player to score his first ever goal in the World Cup, was replaced by Jakub Kaminski in the 63rd minute. Roughly 15 minutes after hitting the upright, Lewandowski dispossessed Abdulelah Al Malki before scoring his first ever goal in World Cup play.
Lozano vs Argentina
Hirving Lozano played 73 minutes in Mexico’s 2-0 defeat to Argentina. After playing on the right wing against Poland, El Chucky played as one of the two strikers in Gerardo Martino’s 5-3-2 formation.
Lozano was very lively as Mexico took it to Argentina early in the match. However, Mexico was only able to maintain that level of intensity for the first 45 minutes.
The Albiceleste dominated the second half, pinning Mexico deep in their own half. On the odd occasion that Lozano got forward, he had no support whatsoever from his teammates.
Lozano was replaced in the 73rd minute, approximately ten minutes after Lionel Messi opened the scoring. With his 8th FIFA World Cup goal, Messi equaled Diego Maradona as the second most prolific goal-scorer in Argentina history. Both players reached that milestone in their 21st World Cup appearance.
