Poland Reaches The Last 8

Poland beat Switzerland 5–4 on penalties to become the first side to book their place in the quarter-finals of Euro 2016.

Poland become the first side to book their place in the last 8 of the EURO 2016. They defeated Switzerland 5–4 on penalties after Jakub Blaszczykowski goal was cancelled by a stunner from Xherdan Shaqiri.

The score line stayed the same even after 120 minutes and the match was decided after penalties, Granit Xhaka was the one to waste penalty. He is currently signed by English giants Arsenal. It will be the first time for Poland to reach the last eight of a major tournament, last time was back in 1982 when they played the last eight of the World Cup. But Switzerland is also not going empty handed, Xherdan might win the goal of the tournament award after he scored a stunner to equalize the score line. The eventual winners should have been ahead inside 30 seconds after a terrible mix-up in the Switzerland back-line.

Switzerland was all over Poland in the first 25 minutes, Lewandowski was unable to touch the ball but finally they were crowned the winners. Switzerland was never out of the game, Fabian Schar wasted a very easy chance to open the score line because he was against a gunner Lukasz Fabianski.

Unlike first half Poland started controlling the ball, Lewandowski had couple of chances but he was scoreless till end. Before the match he was the man to look, he scored some stunner for Bayern Munich but failed to create an impact in EURO. But still his team broke the deadlock. He also had to suffer a harsh tackle from Schar but surprisingly he was not given a red card.

Captain Stephan Lichtsteiner’s cross from the left was half-cleared by Pazdan, but it sat up perfectly for Shaqiri to strike. With the ball dropping over his shoulder he jumped and twisted in the air to produce an incredible scissor-kick that went in off the post as Fabianski dived desperately.

Then in the extra minutes both teams started playing defensive and somehow they managed to escape the 30 minutes. Which clearly shows their trust in their keepers but they disappointed and they were failed to stop even a single penalty. Xhaka’s penalty was the decided as he misses to spot the goal.

Portugal is their next hurdle although Portugal was failed to impress in their last encounter which they had against Croatia, let’s see what they have to offer in EURO.