Slovakia hits and surprises in the group of Spain. The Central European team took the victory (1-2) against Poland in a clash in which they showed greater punctuality in the face of the rival goal and benefited from luck in the first goal, from Szczęsny at own goal, from the expulsion of Krychowiak with half an hour to celebrate and the repeated failures of the Poles in the last minutes of the game.
Poland and Slovakia made their debut in the European Championship within a group in which Spain started as a clear favorite and the two protagonists, together with Sweden, had to fight for one or two places in the eighth. The Polish team had the plus of the individualities of Lewandowski, Zielinski or Szczęsny , but the solid Slovak team, with Hamsik and Skriniar at the top, remained an outsider ready to give more than a scare.
The match played in Saint Petersburg , more than 4,000 kilometers from Seville, was postulated as a good aperitif before the main course of Spain-Sweden and, despite the fact that Poland started as favorites, Slovakia would strike first in a series of circumstances in which perseverance and fortune ended up culminating in 0-1.
Robert Mak, in a creditable move down the left wing, opened enough space to hit the Polish goal comfortably. The shot was good, although to the post defended by Szczęsny , but the Juventus goalkeeper agreed with his not a few detractors by allowing the shot to pass his side, hitting the post. There would appear bad fortune, since the rejection hit the back of the goalkeeper, irremediably entering the goal of Poland.
The surprise jumped at the Krestovski Stadium and Poland could not react to a hard blow to their qualifying aspirations. Lewandowski collided again and again with the wall led by Skriniar and the break gave a respite before the restart, in which the team led by Paulo Sousa had to change many things if they wanted to come back and score the points.
Said and done, the first thing that Poland found in the second half was the aim and with it, in the first, the tie in the light. Linetty sent the ball to the bottom of the meshes and returned equality to the scoreboard, with the entire second half to be played. After the initial scare, everything returned to its usual paths waiting for one or the other team to tip the balance with a new goal.
Polonia no reacciona a la roja a Krychowiak
The turning point, however, was an expulsion, that of the former Sevilla player Krychowiak . The Polish midfielder arrived late for an action with a yellow card and was retiring from the field of play with red still with half an hour to go. Poland could not believe what happened and while assimilating it, Milan Skriniar made good his offensive power to place the 1-2 for Slovakia, turned into the most difficult still for the Polish team.
The last minutes brought the reaction of Poland, without ties, with ten men and with nothing to lose. Bendarek and Lewandowski , already in the discount, had it to tie and put the tables in the match, but both shots went off the track for very little, while the first surprise in the first game in the group of Spain in Eurocup.
