Euro 2016: Wasteful Poland attack have their own strikers to blame for loss to Portugal

In many ways, this was the antithesis to Round of 16 fixture against Switzerland. On performance alone, Poland deserved to go through, having created the better chances, the more spiteful goal threats. After 120 minutes of frustrating misses and misfired shots from outside the box, 1-1 was a shocking scoreline, considering the shift put in by the attacking half in what was an open game. Penalties ensued, and Jakub Blaszczykowski, scorer of two crucial goals to get Poland to this stage, was the one to snap, as Portugal snatched a semi-final berth at the end of it all. [caption id=“attachment_2866410” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Poland players react after the quarterfinal loss to Portugal. Reuters[/caption] The missing pieces finally started to come together for Poland, and as early as the second minute, Robert Lewandowski made good of yet another perfect Kamil Grosicki ball from the left, scoring his first goal of the tournament. The one piece of jigsaw that had not quite fit in, was starting to make the perfect picture. With almost two entire halves to go, Poland’s front man should have gone on to put the game beyond any reasonable doubt, having as he did four shots, all of which were meaningful efforts on target. The support cast played their roles to perfection, especially the twin threats down the flanks, along with the inventive Arkadiusz Milik, against whom the only quibble could be his overzealousness to take shots too soon. The industrious Grzegorz Krychowiak has been among Poland’s headlining stories of the tournament, and on a day when Paris Saint Germain hinted at a big money move to sign him from Sevilla, his performance was overshadowed by the minor deflection he took on Renato Sanches’ shot en route to goal. It was a needless blot on a near flawless tournament for Poland’s midfield orchestrator. Adam Nawalka’s side were bidding to become the first Polish team to make it to the semi-finals of a major tournament since 1982, and in fairness, their wastefulness in front of goal throughout the course of the past few weeks has been a common theme. The defence has not been under any real pressure, and on this night, Portugal were to blame, misfiring, mis-heading and missing the ball in general, after getting away from Glik and Pazdan with eye-catching dribbles. Portugal have not won a single game in 90 minutes so far, and continued to mirror Poland’s profligacy throughout, and apart from Sanches’ strike, Fabianski was hardly troubled yet again. Such performances have characterized a significant part of the tournament, and Portugal only need two strong performances to lift the trophy now. We can all blame the format, but it isn’t just that, as much as it is the widespread toothlessness of front lines. Poland, despite putting up a strong show, will be left wondering what could have been, and have their own attack to blame. Blaszczykowski bailed them out twice with top corner strikes, and called upon to do so a third time in the penalty shootout, fluffed it up. It was an apt conclusion to a tournament where they left themselves with too much to do.