- Fran Reilly
- Sat, Jun 25 2016
Poland defeated Switzerland 5-4 on penalties after a 1-1 draw in Saint-Etienne – with Granit Xhaka blazing his side's second spot-kick well wide of the target.
It was unfortunate for Switzerland, who recovered from early Polish pressure and going a goal down - Jakub Blaszczykowski opened the scoring just before half-time – to battle back and equalise through a certain goal of the tournament contender from Xherdan Shaqiri.
While Xhaka will be cast as the Swiss villain, Arkadiusz Milik of Poland will be a relieved man after he passed up three excellent chances in the first-half of normal time which would have ensured victory for his side within 90 minutes.
For a while it looked like Poland would run riot, but the longer the game wore on without Adam Nawalka's men adding a second, the more Switzerland grew into the encounter.
Ajax striker Milik should have put the Poles one-up inside the first minute as Johan Djourou left Yann Sommer,very shot with a backpass, gifting an opportunity to Robert Lewandowski. The Swiss 'keeper came off his line quickly to deny the Bayern Munich striker and the rebound fell to Milik just outside the box – but he curled well over with the goal at his mercy.
Lukasz Piszczek had a shot blocked then before Milik passed up another glorious chance. This time, Kamil Grosicki puts an inswinging cross from the right flank onto the 22 year old's head but he could only nod straight at Sommer from close range.
Blerim Dzemaili had Switzerland's first chance of the match on ten minutes when he hit the side netting after meeting a Shaqiri cross at the near post. Both sides traded half-chances before Grzegorz Krychowiak headed over from a Milik corner on 29 minutes.
After a bright start, the tempo of the game dropped and became bogged down in midfield, with Switzerland in particular lacking the guile to carve their opponents open.
Whenever Poland did manage to break, though, they looked like scoring, with Milik and Grosicki both missing decent chances. They wouldn't be denied forever, though, as the Poles broke the deadlock in the 39th minute.
Lukasz Fabianski claimed a Swiss corner and immediately fed Grosicki down the left flank. As lively as ever, he drove at the opposition defence, twisting and turning, earning a little bit of luck in the form of a ricochet back when it looked like he had overrun the ball. His cross towards the far side of the box was dummied by Milik and found Blaszczykowski.
The Dortmund winger, who spent last season on loan at Fiorentina, made no mistake, delaying his shot in anticipation of movement from Sommer before drilling it low and hard beyond the Swiss 'keeper.
That goal meant Blaszczykowski has now been involved in five of Poland's six goals at European Championships, scoring three and creating two. Ominously for the Swiss, Poland have never lost when Blaszczykowski has scored. It was his 18th goal for Poland.
Switzerland flew out of the blocks at the start of the second half, attempting to rattle Poland early on. Shaqiri stung the palms of Fabianski with a long range effort from outside the box. However, it didn't take long for the Poles to reassert themselves in the chances-created stakes.
Lewandowski tested Sommer with an effort from the edge of the box which the 'keeper did well to hold.
In the 53rd minute, Blaszczykowski almost recreated his goal against Ukraine in the group stages, dancing inside onto his left foot and shooting from range – Sommer had to be at full stretch to save that one.
However, Poland started to flag and Switzerland gradually began to control the game. They struggled to fashion clear-cut chances, but in the 72nd minute Fabianksi pulled off an incredible save to tip over a Ricardo Rodriguez free-kick which was dipping into the top corner.
Switzerland then rattled the woodwork in the 79th minute. A deep free-kick towards the backpost was played back inside and Djourou had his initial attempt blocked. It fell to striker Haris Seferovic, quiet until this point, whose first time curling left-footed effort cannoned back off the crossbar to deny the Swiss an equaliser.
But then, that moment of magic from Shaqiri. There seemed to be little on when substitute
Eren Derdiyok crossed towards the edge of the penalty area in the 82nd minute. However, the Stoke City winger performed an acrobatic scissor-kick which beat a full-stretch Fabianksi at the 'keeper's left-hand post. It was spectacular.
It was Shaqiri's 18th goal for Switzerland and his first in 11 games – the longest barren run of his international career. It was also a goal that forced these two fading sides into a period of extra-time that went by at almost walking pace.
Bar some speculative efforts from players with tired legs and some set-piece opportunities, little of note occurred during the first 15 minutes of extra-time. The second period, though, was more lively, and twice inside the last eight minutes Derdiyok could have won it for Switzerland.
Firstly, Shaqiri, the only player on the pitch whose legs didn't look like they had turned to lead, picked out the run of Derdiyok into the box. All alone, he put his header to the left of Fabianksi and the 'keeper was able to beat it away with his left-hand. Then, the substitute just couldn't get on the end of a cross into the six yard box as pressure from Michal Pazden threw him off at the near-post.
In the end, it went to a shootout where Xhaka crucially missed and Krychowiak scored the decisive fifth of five excellently converted Polish penalties. Milik, meanwhile, will breathe a sigh of relief as his side progresses to the quarter-finals.
Switzerland: Yann Sommer; Stephan Lichtsteiner, Fabian Schar, Johan Djourou, Ricardo Rodriguez; Xherdan Shaqiri, Valon Behrami (Gelson Fernandes, 77), Granit Xhaka, Admir Mehmedi (Eren Derdiyok, 70); Blerim Dzemaili (Breel Embolo, 58); Haris Seferovic.
Subs not used: Roman Burki (GK), Marwin Hitz (GK), Fabian Frei, Nico Elvedi, Francois Moubandje, Shani Tarashaj, Steve Von Bergen, Denis Zakaria, Michael Lang.
Bookings: F Schar (56), J Djourou (117).
Poland: Lukasz Fabianski, Lukasz Piszczek, Michal Pazden, Kamil Glik, Artur Jedrzejczyk; Jakub Blaszczykowski, Krzysztof Maczynski (Tomasz Jodlowiec, 101), Grzegorz Krychowiak, Kamil Grosicki (Slawomir Peszko, 103); Arkadiusz Milik; Robert Lewandowski.
Subs not used: Artur Boruc (GK), Wojciech Szczesny (GK), Piotr Zielinski, Jakub Wawrzyniak, Mariusz Stepinski, Filip Starzynski, Bartosz Salamon, Karol Linetty, Thiago Cionek.
Bookings: A Jedrzejczyk (58), M Pazden (112).
Referee: Mark Clattenburg (England).
Attendance: 41,500.
Extratime Man of the Match: Xherdan Shaqiri (Switzerland).
