Poland beats Switzerland on penalties to reach quarterfinals

It was his second goal of the tournament.

Overall, the technically gifted Swiss gave the impression that they could have produced more, especially with players such as full backs Stephan Lichtsteiner and Ricardo Rodriguez, goalkeeper Yann Sommer, Xhaka himself and the mercurial Xherdan Shaqiri.

Poland defeated Switzerlalnd after penalty shootout in the opening game of Euro 2016 round 16.

While many would have hoped that the boredom was limited to the Wales v Northern Ireland match, they were in for a rude awakening as Portugal and Croatia literally made Louis van Gaal’s brand of football under Manchester United look like the best thing that ever happened to football. Lewandowski has yet to score, although he did finally steer his first shots on target against Switzerland.

“We knew it was going to be an ugly match”, said Bale, who lifted his baby girl up the air on the pitch to salute the Wales fans.

Still riding the moment of their late equaliser, it was Switzerland looking the more unsafe in the first half of extra time though it was Poland with the majority of the ball.

“It is instinct and belief because you have to really be convinced when you throw yourself at a ball like that”, said Switzerland coach Vladimir Petkovic.

Shaqiri was a constant threat to Poland with his speed of touch and play in extra time.

Substitute Eren Derdiyok missed a sitter for the Swiss when Fabianski kept out his close-range header but a rattled Poland somehow held on to force the shoot-out.

Those saves were crucial as they set up the shootout that Poland had clearly prepared for. “In general we are very happy as we did we have achieved something we had not done before”. “This is a marvelous feeling”.

And the result meant Poland preserved their record of never having lost in all 18 games when Blaszczykowski has scored.

Despite his success in converting in the penalty shootout, Robert Lewandowski, the top scorer in qualifying with 13 goals, remains without a regular goal in France.

They camped in the Poland half for long spells with goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski under constant siege.

“He is doing phenomenal work for this team”, Nawalka said. The game took off, cruise-mode, played mainly in the midfield between two sides showing copious amounts of mutual respect.

Adam Nawalka’s team gave up the lead to draw 1-1 in Saint-Etienne, where their skipper started strongly but faded physically as the contest wore on. “The good thing about these boys is they have that bit of spirit and when they aren’t playing well they can hang on”.