EURO 2020 Half time: Spain 1-0 Poland. Peep peep! Spain lead through a goal from Alvaro Morata, who had a bit of help from the third, fourth and fifth letters of his first name.
Although Spain dominated, Poland had a decent penalty appeal turned down early on and hit the post just before half-time. If Poland don’t score in the second half, they will be out of the tournament.
Now Moreno misses a great chance! Jordi Alba breaks down the left in familiar style and slides an inviting low pass towards the six-yard box. Moreno gets in front of Szczesny at the near post but then flicks the ball into the side netting.
Double chance for Poland! It should be 1-1. Swiderski cut inside on his left foot and hit a vicious low drive that thumped off the post. The ball rebounded to Lewandowski, who controlled it and smashed a close-range volley that was somehow blocked by Simon. It was a vital save but Lewandowski should have scored.
Chance for Poland! Lewandowski breaks down the right and crosses towards the near post. It’s blocked but the ball comes to back to Lewandowski, who waits for some movement and then coaxes another cross towards Swiderski in the six-yard box. He twists his body and sidefoots an acrobatic volley over the bar. He was unable to get over the ball, and it’s a bit strange that he didn’t attack it with his head. He probably saw Simon in his peripheral vision; that’s all I can think of.
“I pity the managers of both sides if they fail to win,” says Anis Aslaam. “Paulo Sousa will probably be feeling the heat if Poland lose this. Don’t forget, he was hired after qualification for the Euros was achieved and since day one, his only victory has been against David Nugent’s favourite opposition, Andorra. As for Luis Enrique, big jobs come with big expectations and one of those would be to conquer Group E.”
An interesting second half awaits.
