Jan Bednarek cannot wait for Poland’s World Cup to get started and is aiming to enjoy his second taste of football’s biggest major tournament.
Poland’s Group C campaign kicks off on Tuesday as they face Mexico at Stadium 974 in Doha (ko 4pm).
Bednarek is “buzzing” to play alongside Villa team-mate and fellow defender Matty Cash in Qatar.
Poland will also face Saudi Arabia and Argentina in the group stage, and Bednarek is firmly focused on getting into the knockout phase of the competition before seeing where their progress can take them.
“I’m very excited, I cannot wait for the World Cup,” he told VillaTV before departing for international duty.
“It’s the biggest tournament in football, I think when we get there, when we feel this preparation, feel this atmosphere, this vibe, we’ll be so happy to be there.
“And I think that’s what we have to do; be happy, enjoy it and do as good as we can.
“That’s the most important thing. I don’t think we should be stressed, worried or concerned, there’s no pressure on us, we just have to go there and enjoy it.”
Reflecting on his aims and aspirations for the World Cup, Bednarek added: “I think we are dreaming of winning it, of course, when you go to the biggest tournaments, you want to win it.
“But I think our target is to go into the next round, to go to the next stage of the tournament and let’s see what that brings for us.
“It’s the minimum we want to achieve, that’s our target, our goal, and we will do everything we can to achieve it.
“But it’s a tough group. Of course, there’s Argentina who are favourites, but us, Mexico and Saudi Arabia, we all want to go through and hopefully it’s going to be Poland.”
Qatar will be the centre-back’s second World Cup having played for his country in Russia 2018.
It was a tournament that saw Poland bow out in disappointing fashion, bottom of their group having lost two and won one of their three matches.
That solitary victory came against Japan in their final match, with Bednarek slamming home the only goal of the game in a 1-0 triumph – his only international strike.
Bednarek has contrasting feelings when thinking back to four years ago, but is determined to make his nation proud this time around.
“It was mixed emotions for me,” he said.
“Of course, I scored a winner against Japan but, as a team, as a group, we didn’t succeed.
“We didn’t qualify for the next stage and it wasn’t our best tournament.
“But it was a great experience for the ones who were there, it was a great lesson and we only got better after that.
“So, hopefully this time we’ll all be happy, hopefully our families, our fans all over Poland will be proud of us and that’s our goal.”
