Poland and Colombia battle as the hosts’ begin their tournament

Picture: Fifa.com

Poland will be hoping to put a show on for their home crowd when they meet Colombia in Group A action on Thursday afternoon.

The Polish side haven’t featured in the tournament since 2007 in Canada when they lost 3-1 in the round of 16 against the eventual winners, Argentina.

This is a big chance to showcase themselves after automatically qualifying for the tournament and proving their worth in the competition.

Colombia didn’t qualify for the 2017 edition and last featured in 2015 when they bowed out in the round of 16 with a 1-0 defeat against USA.

Anderson Arroyo who plays his football in England for Liverpool could be a key player for the Colombians, while Marcel Zylla from German champions Bayern Munich could be a big threat for the host country.

Kickoff is at 2:30 p.m. ET. on Thursday afternoon at Stadion Miejski Widzewk Lodz. The game will be televised in Canada on TSN 2.

Squads

Poland: Radoslaw Majecki, Milosz Mleczko, Karol Niemczycki; Maik Nawrocki, Adrian Gryszkiewicz, Serafin Szota, Sebastian Waluekiewicz, Jakub Bednarczyk, Jan Sobocinski; Tymoteusz Puchacz, Tomasz Makowsk, Mateusz Bogusz, David Kopacz, Michal Skoras, Nicola Zalewski, Bartosz Slisz, Adrian Stanilewicz, Adrian Lyszczarz, Marcel Zylla; Dominik Steczyk, Adrian Bebedyczak.

Colombia: Reinaldo Fontalvo, Juan Lemus, Kevin Mier; Andres Balanta, Luis Sandoval, Juan Palma, Andres Amaya, Jean Colorado; Andres Perea, Jaime Alvarado, Brayan Vera, Deiber Caicedo, Johan Carbonero; Carlos Cuesta, Andres Reyes, Anderson Arroyo, Ivan Angulo, Juan Hernandez, Luis Sinisterra, Gustavo Carvajal, Carlos Teran.