Northern Ireland fell to a 1-0 defeat to Poland in their Euro 2016 opener on a day which fell exactly 30 years since their last finals appearance.
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Krychowiak added that Poland’s players consider themselves contenders to win the tournament, but must avoid complacency for the next game against Germany on Thursday.
Northern Ireland, which boasted the longest unbeaten run of any team at Euro 2012, rarely looked like finding a way back into the contest after Milik’s strike. Coach Michael O’Neill said his team struggled to match Poland’s physical approach. Poland, with their full-backs overlapping and Milik operating in a free role behind Robert Lewandowski, swarmed all over their opponents, dominating possession and territory.
The big worry for Northern Ireland over the last few days has of course been Kyle Lafferty.
However, all that graft counted for naught after Poland found the initiative after the restart.
Milik, a forward played for Ajax Amsterdam, held the opportunity to score after collecting Blaszczykowski’s pass from the right.
Northern Ireland did well to hold off the Poles in the opening 45 minutes.
Northern Ireland face Poland in Nice on Sunday knowing this will be the nation’s first major global tournament for 30 years.
Goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny showed superb guts to come out of his area and claim a late cross, but he clattered into team-mate Lukasz Piszczek for his troubles, although both came out of the clash all right to carry on.
Bartosz Kapustka: The teenager showed much promise.
Poland was the top goal-scoring team in the qualifying round with the total scalps of 33 from 10 matches.
The result against Poland leaves Northern Ireland up against it to try and get out of their group and now need to beat Ukraine in Lyon on Thursday to stand any chance.
Where will Northern Ireland get their goals from?
Northern Ireland could have caused an upset on Sunday had they only posed more of an attacking threat on Poland, such was the resilience of their defence. We knew the danger of all of them.
“They are coming up from League One football and not having played a lot of club football this season and playing against players who are playing at the highest level of European club football”.
Yes, Northern Ireland had their own impressive run in qualifying, and they’re an impressive and popular underdog in this tournament.
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“It’s a massive step to ask players to do that and we have to have a system which gives us a chance to take something from the game”. Now it has to justify the team’s place in France.
