Poland will take on Northern Ireland in a Group C encounter of Euro 2016 at the Allianz Riviera Stadium in Nice on Sunday. Northern Ireland have made it to a major tournament finals for the first time since 1986. This is also their Euro Cup debut.
Northern Ireland will be raring to go out on the field and prove their mettle. As this is their first appearance in Euro Cup, they will want to make it count.
They will be up against a Polish side who are being considered as one of the serious forces in Euro 2016 and who can give other contenders a run for their money.
Fans will expect Germany and Poland to cruise into the Euro 2016 knockout rounds. But one should not underestimate Northern Ireland (25) as they are placed two positions above Poland (27) in the FIFA World rankings.
If Northern Ireland manage to beat Poland in this game and follow it up with a win against Ukraine, it will give them a massive chance of making it into the quarter-finals of Euro 2016.
But it will not be an easy task for Northern Ireland. They run into this Poland side which has become better and better over time.
Poland manager Adam Nawalka also believes the same and is confident that his side can make a winning start to the tournament.
"The team have developed really well so we have high hopes here in France, but this is football – anything can happen. Still, I believe in this team as we have shown we can play well in difficult games," the Poland manager was quoted as saying by official website of UEFA.
"We expect a tough game. They are very strong as a team but I don't want to go into detail. What I can assure you is that we are 100% ready for this challenge."
Click here for Poland vs Northern Ireland team news.
Meanwhile, Northern Ireland manager Michael O'Neill is expecting a tough game against Poland as well. He is expected to have made some special plans for stopping Robert Lewandowski from scoring against his side. O'Neill has even compared the Bayern Munich striker with Zlatan Ibrahimovic and is of the opinion that Lewandowski is one of the top two strikers in the world.
"We expect a very tough game but we're confident going into the competition and are looking forward to it. Lewandowski is in my opinion in the top two centre-forwards in the world. If you asked any club in the world, they would take him. We know the threat of [Arkadiusz] Milik and know the Polish team very well," O'Neill said.
"Lewandowski is similar to [Zlatan] Ibrahimović in the Swedish team in that he's a huge player, a big personality, the captain, but we have done a lot of work on the Poland team as a whole. We know their strengths and we know their weaknesses."
Where to Watch Live
Poland vs Northern Ireland is set to begin at 6 p.m. local time (9.30 p.m. IST, 5 p.m. BST, 12 p.m. ET). All the live streaming and TV information is below.
India: TV: Sony Six/HD and Sone ESPN/HD. Live Streaming: Sonyliv.
France: TV: Bein Sports 1 and 2. Live Streaming: Bein Sports Connect.
UK, Ireland: TV: BBC One, BBC Wales. Radio: BBC Radio 5 Live. Live Streaming: BBCiPlayer.
Poland: Polsat Sport 2 HD, Belarus 5, TV P1. Live Streaming: TVP Sport.
Slovakia: TV: HRT and STV.
USA: TV: ESPN 2 and ESPN 3. Live Streaming: Watch ESPN.
Canada: TV: TSN and RDS. Live Streaming: TSN TV.
Australia: TV: Bein Sports and SBS One. Live Streaming: Bein Sports Connect.
Germany: TV: ZDF and ORF.
Latin America: TV: DirecTV.
China and Hong Kong: TV: CCTV and LeTV.
Thailand: TV: Channel 3.
Singapore: TV: Eleven Singapore and Singtel. Live Streaming: Singtel Go.
Malaysia: TV: Astro.
Middle East and North Africa: TV: Bein Sports Max. Live Streaming: Bein Sports Connect.
South Africa and Sub Saharan Africa: TV: SuperSport 3. Live Streaming: SuperSport
