Poland has the opportunity to justify their top seeding in the draw when they take on Senegal today in the last match of the first round of the group stage at Moscow's Spartak Stadium.
Expectations are high in Poland after they won eight of their 10 matches in qualifying, finished five points clear of Denmark in their group and have in Robert Lewandowski one of the world's top strikers.
After failing to qualify in 2010 and 2014, Poland could be one of the teams to watch in Russia, their squad full of established top European players such as Borussia Dortmund's Lukasz Piszczek in defense or Grzegorz Krychkowiak, Arkadiusz Milik and Napoli teammate Piotr Zielinski further forward.
But it is Bayern Munich's Lewandowski coach Adam Nawalka will be looking to after he scored a top mark of 16 goals in qualifying. He now has more than 170 Bundesliga goals with Dortmund and Bayern, and his 29 league goals last season made him top scorer, again helped Munich to the title and have once again reportedly kindled the interest of Real Madrid.
Group H opponents Senegal are meanwhile back for a second time, the Lions of Teranga hoping to match their stunning run to the quarter-finals in their 2002 debut, when they also beat holders France 1-0 in the opening game.
