Poland downed Northern Ireland 1-0 in their Euro 2016 curtain-raiser on Sunday and temporarily shot to the summit of Group C thanks to an early second-half victor from Arkadiusz Milik.
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Poland opened the scoring shortly after the break, Jakub Blaszczykowski squaring the ball for Arkadiusz Milik, who tucked the chance away neatly with his left boot. “We have a lot of respect for Poland”. Robert Lewandowski is by far the biggest name on the pitch, but Poland are more than just the Bayern striker, and Grzegorz Krychowiak, if he’s 100%, is someone to look out for.
You have got to remember these players are in the finals of a major tournament for the first time and maybe it will take them time to adapt to it. Northern Ireland did well to hold off the Poles in the opening 45 minutes.
Gary Lineker will be on hand to bring you coverage of Northern Ireland’s first ever European Championships match.
“We know we are in a hard group with three tough teams, but I am confident we can go and get some positive results”.
“All of our players played very well and I believe everyone will be in great form, we are prepared for some tough moments and I hope it will play out according to our expectations”.
As the halfway interval approached, Northern Ireland had still failed to land a single shot on target, while Poland’s advances began to test their opponents more and more vigorously. The players had a commitment to the shape and to work for each other, we gave everything possible and that kept us in the game.
Cathcart was soon booked for his foul on Lewandowski, and Northern Ireland finally got one opportunity in the 71st – it was Washington with an instant impact as he ran past Poland’s back four, but Szczesny was quick off the line to smother the ball.
Northern Ireland fans have arrived in droves to the French Riviera city of Nice and a party atmosphere with Polish fans prevails.
For all of Poland’s possession – and in the first half it was 68% – they did not batter Northern Ireland and it took them until the 29th minute to force Michael McGovern into a save.
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The huge expectations back home, however, will put Poland under considerable pressure as they attempt to pass the group stage at the Euros for the first time, and Northern Ireland are just the team to play on their anxiety. Lewandowski is the one where your defenders can never let up. Of the 24 qualified teams, they have the best record coming into the tournament and have the longest unbeaten run of any nation.
