2022 World Cup: Watch Robert Lewandowski and Poland’s Unique Air Force Escort to Qatar

• Poland received a special escort route to Qatar for the 2022 World Cup tournament
• The Polish national team were escorted by two military jets to the Polish border ahead of rising tension in Eastern Europe
• Poland are looking to better their dismal 2018 campaign, where they exited at the Group stages

2022 World Cup participants have started arriving in Qatar for arguably the biggest sporting event in the world.

The Polish team decided to travel unconventionally to the tournament. Not because of choice but a necessity as fears of a possible Russian attack arose this week following a scary incident in Poland.

Poland performed dismally in the 2018 edition. They have not progressed from the group stages in the last three World Cups and three of its last Euro appearances.

This will probably be Robert Lewandowski's last World Cup, and they should make this count. They're in a tough group alongside favourites Argentina, Mexico and Saudi Arabia

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Football

Poland escorted by F-16s

On Thursday, November 17th, two F-16 jets flanked Robert Lewandowski and his teammates to Qatar as they look to help Czesław Michniewicz's side progress to the knockout stages for the first time since 1986, according to the Sun.

The reason for the escort was the death of two Polish citizens on a farm on the Ukrainian border on Tuesday. Reuters reports that a possible missile struck inside Poland, a NATO member

However, NATO clarified that the attack wasn't deliberate by Russia. Poland president Andrzej Duda added the incident wasn't an intentional attack on his country, according to AP.

The team was impressively given the defensive escort to the Polish border en-route to the Middle Eastern country.

The Poles open their tournament against Mexico next week on Tuesday, 22nd November.

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Football

Lewandowski's last dance

Sports Brief earlier analyzed Group C consisting of Argentina, Poland, Mexico and Saudi Arabia.

Despite Barcelona's woes in Europe, much of Poland's burden still lies on Lewandowski, who remains a proven goal-poacher.

The good news is Lewandowski will have support from other quarters in the form of Piotr Zielinski, who is part of the devastating Napoli side that has taken the world by storm this season.