Poland, like England, has often had very high expectations of its soccer team, particularly when its volleyball teams for example, both men's and women's, have been among the very best in the world recently.
Football fans in Poland have a witty and fatalistic saying at present, that there are three kinds of match Poland plays in international competitions: 1. The opening match 2. The match for everything/for survival and 3. The face-saving match or "honour match".
Poland lost its opening match to Holland (2-1) and then was heavily defeated by Austria (3-1) so the match for honour was the last with France, one of the competition favourites. France was ahead 1-0 when Lewandowski took his penalty and used a "South American" style hesitation to send the keeper the wrong way and easily place the ball on the opposite side:
Although some experts have called for this kind of trick to be banned, including Polish experts, this kind of penalty technique is permitted by FIFA regulations.
Sources: sport.pl, X
pt