Poland 1 Slovakia 2: Szczesny error and Skriniar winner hand 10-man Poles shock loss in Euros opener
WOJCIECH SZCZESNY will not be disappointed if this European Championships prove to be his last.
Fair to say it’s not been a tournament to tell the former Arsenal goalkeeper will want to tell the grandkids about.
Hope rested on his shoulders back in 2012 when Poland co-hosted the event with Ukraine.
Unfortunately for him he was sent off in the opening game against Greece, for a professional foul on Dimitris Salpingidis.
The resulting penalty was saved by Przemysław Tyton in a 1–1 draw but Poland went out at the group stage without Szczesny reappearing.
He was injured in Poland’s winning opener against Northern Ireland four years later and did not appear again as his country exited at the quarter-final stage.
Then tonight Juventus’ three time Serie A winner had another unwanted addition to his CV with an own goal.
It was slightly harsh on Slovakia’s Robert Mak that official credit for the 18th minute opener was taken away for him as he did brilliantly to force the goal.
Seemingly stuck on the touchline to the left there was nowhere for him to go until he wriggled away from Kamil Jozwiak, nutmegged Bartosz Bereszyniski and shot to the near post.
It hit that post but rebounded back off Szczesny and went in.
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Slovakia deserved the goal too based on their first half performance.
Sharper in all departments, they had Poland looking sluggish.
Bayern Munich’s Robert Lewandowski, one of the great strikers in the game, was afforded only one chance which he scuffed badly wide.
Still coach Paulo Sousa must have said something special at half time because less than a minute after the restart they were level.
A Slovakia side that were comfortable against Poland’s attack in the first period were suddenly mesmerised as the ball fired between their opponents feet as they bore down upon them.
The move ended with Mateusz Klich slipping the ball through for Maciej Rybus to set up Karol Linetty for a scuffed cross shot that seemed to crawl over the line.
Advantage Poland? Oh no, this Slovakia team has some belief about it.
They were helped by Grzegorz Krychowiak’s second yellow card and subsequent red unsettling their opponents and went back ahead in the 68th minute.
Robert Mak delivered an outswinging corner that Milan Skriniar pulled down with his right boot before digging out a shot from 16 yard into the bottom left hand corner.
What a moment for the Inter Milan defender who has just celebrated a first Scudetto.
This time you could not blame Szczesny, the finish was just brilliant.
Slovakia coach Stefan Tarkovic’s pre-match prayers were answered as his team held on to claim the points.
Tarkovic said: “Paper assumptions are not important for me.
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“I will be happy if we leave the field with our heads up and if we show our fans we came here to fight for our country.”
They did just that and more.
