From the off Poland dominated possession but struggled to penetrate close to goal against a back-four stoutly marshalled by West Brom’s Jonny Evans.
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Gary McAllister of The Amalgamation of Official Northern Ireland Supporters Clubs, which represents nearly sixty supporters groups, had a similar take.
Next up is a tough match against Ukraine on Thursday in Lyon, before finishing group play against world champion Germany. On his day, the Pole can wreak havoc among even the best of defences, making him one of the world’s most feared strikers.
“We set up to get a clean sheet and nick something, then they scored and we had to come out”, said defender McAuley.
Milik’s 51st-minute strike proved enough for three points at the Stade de Nice, with Poland’s President Andrzej Duda joining the players in the dressing room afterwards to offer his congratulations.
Northern Ireland, whose striker Kyle Lafferty was their only player in the opposing half for much of the game, soon paid for their defensive approach. With the prestige of the game and everything around the tournament, maybe there was an element in some aspects of our play where it took us a while to settle into the game. Now, though, he’s helped guide his team through qualification with a series of superlative performances, and now he’s on the biggest stage in Europe ready to show everyone just how good he can be. Let us know by dropping a comment below via our Facebook comment box.
The wave of white shirts did not relent after the restart and the breakthrough Adam Nawalka’s team had been threatening eventually arrived when Milik struck, sweeping Jakub BLaszczykowski cut-back into McGovern’s bottom left-hand corner. I think we didn’t expect that type of start.
Northern Ireland’s plan was clear from the kick-off and their 4-5-1 formation attempted to stifle and frustrate Poland.
Bet365 make Poland 7/10, with Northern Ireland priced at 7/2. “It ” s a fantastic achievement to be out here but having achieved that we want to leave our mark on the tournament”, said O ” Neill. Goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny had to get down on the ground to clear the ball from an onrushing Conor Washington, but otherwise Poland were in complete control.
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“If I was to assess how I played, there were good moments, there were slightly worse ones – some stupid mistakes and missed chances”.
