ROMSO Cyprus Knowledge Base

Poland National Football Team at the 1978 World Cup

The Polish national football team participated in the 1978 FIFA World Cup held in Argentina. For its third consecutive appearance, Poland made an honourable journey by reaching the second round.

Qualification for the tournament was a group stage competition, where Poland was drawn into Group 1 alongside Cyprus and Denmark. The team's qualifying campaign began with a trip to Porto against Portugal on September 1, 1978. Although the match was balanced in the first period, Grzegorz Lato scored twice, including one from an aerial balloon, to secure a 2-0 victory for Poland.

Poland continued its qualifying campaign by receiving Cyprus at the Dziesieciolecia Stadium in Warsaw two weeks later. The Poles took the lead early on through Kazimierz Deyna's penalty score, and despite some resistance from the Cypriot goalkeeper, they maintained their advantage to secure a win.

In Group 1, Poland finished as one of the top teams ahead of Germany, which was drawn into Group 2 for the opening match. The game against Germany proved to be low-scoring and disappointing for spectators, with both teams failing to score in the first half before Poland took the lead through Lato's goal in the 43rd minute.

Poland went on to win their group matches, but ultimately finished as third place after losing to Brazil in the second round. Despite this, the team's performance confirmed its status as a major world football nation of the decade, following its Olympic title in 1972 and third-place finish at the 1974 World Cup.

Group Stage Matches

Poland played the following matches during their group stage campaign:

* Portugal (September 1, 1978): Poland won 2-0
* Cyprus (September 15, 1978): Poland won
* Denmark (October 5, 1978): Match result not specified