Stalemate between Germans and Poles – Germany v Poland EURO 2016
Group C
Germany 0-0 Poland
Poland held Germany to the first scoreless draw of Euro 2016 as the world champions struggled to break down dogged opponents who were overjoyed with the point at the Stade de France this evening.
The Germans started the better zipping the ball around early on, poking and prodding at the Poles but, with focal point Mario Goetze consistently dropping off, they lacked conviction in the final third. The two neighbours failed to conjure a shot on target in the first half in front of a packed and boisterous crowd.The only notable chances fell to Goetze, who drifted a header over the bar in the fourth minute, and Toni Kroos, with a toe-poke in the 15th minute that went wide of the left post.
The second half saw the Polish come out firing on all cylinders, Kamil Grosicki’s cross found Arkadiusz Milik, who appeared to only have to guide the ball into the net, but the ball smacked off his face and it went it went agonisingly wide.Seconds later Poland keeper Lukasz Fabianski held on to a Goetze shot in the box, the first on target in the game.Poland began to take the ascendancy and had the better chances with Milik shooting wide after striker Robert Lewandowski laid a free-kick to him after 57 minutes. Lewandowski then had a shot blocked well by Bayern Munich club mate Jerome Boateng.
The game finally came to life when Mesut Ozil’s shot was tipped over the bar spectacularly by Fabianski in the 68th minute. The midfielder then turned provider, supplying in substitute Andre Schuerrle who shot straight at Fabianski who made an important save. Both sides created chances in the final 20 minutes but none found the back of the net.
Germany and Poland sit together at the top of Group C with 4 points each while Northern Ireland sit in third thanks to their win today.
Man of the Match – Jerome Boateng (Germany)
Substitutes:
Germany –
- Andre Schuerrle replaces Mario Goetze 66 mins
- Mario Gomez replaces Julian Draxler 72 mins
Poland –
- Tomasz Jodlowiec replaces Krzysztof Maczynski 76 mins
- Bartosz Kapustka replaces Jakub Blaszczykowski 80 mins
- Slawomir Peszko replaces Kamil Grosicki 87 mins
Yellow cards:
Germany – Sami Khedira,Mesut Oezil,Jerome Boateng.
Poland – Krzysztof Maczynski,Kamil Grosicki,Slawomir Peszko.
