The knockout phase kicked off with Switzerland facing Poland in the round of 16 at the Stade Geoffroy-Guichard in Saint-Ètienne. Poland took the lead in the first half through Jacob J. Błaszczykowski and it looked like Switzerland were down and out before Xherdan Shaqiri scored what possibly will be the goal of the tournament in the 83rd minute . Switzerland could not convert their late dominance in extra time into a goal , and lost out 5-4 on penalties. Here are 5 things we learnt from Switzerland vs Poland.
1 Switzerland were unlucky
Even though Poland dominated most of the second half , Switzerland equalized with a goal worthy of winning any game and were really unlucky to have lost out in the Penalties. Xhaktha’s penalty miss proved costly as Poland did really well in the penalties.
2 Poland can cause trouble going forward
Polish side defended really well and created several chances going forward, they played the same way they did in their group fixtures and the way they are playing right now , they can cause problem for any team going forward.
3 Shaqiri is wasting his talent at Stoke City
In 2015 Xherdan Shaqiri played for 3 clubs, Bayern Munich , Inter Milan and Stoke City. With all due respects to Stoke, a player of Shaqiri’s caliber should be playing his club football at a club which competes in Europe. His overhead kick will most probably go down as the goal of the tournament and he along with his teammates was really unlucky not to have progressed.
4 Lewandowski is struggling badly
Lewandowski’s struggles have been the story of Euro 2016 so far. The Bayern Munich striker has done very little of what he usually does in games and so far has struggled to make an impact on games. Poland badly need him to fire if they want to go further.
5 Portugal Await for Poland
Poland knew that they would face the winner of Croatia and Portugal.Portugal’s win late in the night confirmed the fixture for the QF.
Also Read – 4 things we learnt from Wales vs Northern Ireland
