Soccer-Holding back for fear of injury is not the way to go, says Poland's Bereszynski

"Each of us gives their best in friendlies and in training, to make sure that they're the ones who make the lineup, for example in Tuesday's match." Poland kick off their World Cup campaign on Tuesday against Mexico, and face Saudi Arabia and Argentina in their other Group C games.

Poland defender Bartosz Bereszynski does not hold back in training for fear of getting injured and tries not to think too much about the possibility of that happening, he said on Sunday.

France striker and Ballon d'Or winner Karim Benzema is the latest addition to the list of players who were ruled out of the World Cup after sustaining an injury in training one day before the start of the tournament. "If I was thinking this way, I wouldn't have been training at full capacity for the last three months," Bereszynski told a news conference when asked about Benzema.

"(Thinking this way) everyone would have in their minds the fact that the tournament is coming up and you have to watch out for any kind of injury that could take you out of it." Poland also experienced an unexpected change to their squad when goalkeeper Bartlomiej Dragowski sprained an ankle playing for his club Spezia in their last Serie A match before the World Cup break, one week ahead of the tournament.

"There is no need to think too much about it," Bereszynski said. "I believe that if you always train to the maximum, at 100%, these injuries do not happen - or maybe they happen less often, because the body is prepared for different types of injuries or collisions.

"Personally, in every appearance I try to prove and show that I'm the one who should be playing, I think it's a healthy competition and that's how it should be and then it's up to the coach to decide. "Each of us gives their best in friendlies and in training, to make sure that they're the ones who make the lineup, for example in Tuesday's match."

Poland kick off their World Cup campaign on Tuesday against Mexico, and face Saudi Arabia and Argentina in their other Group C games.

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