- Macdara Ferris
- Fri, Jun 17 2016
Report from Macdara Ferris live at Stade de France.
After the drama of the matches elsewhere on Thursday, with England's late win and Northern Ireland's historic victory over Ukraine, it was a surprisingly drab affair at the Stade de France with Germany and Poland playing out a 0-0 draw. With the Group C game at the Saint-Denis venue ending all square, both teams go into their next match on four points – just one ahead of Michael O’Neill’s Northern Ireland who Germany will face in their final group game.
It certainly was a tight encounter in the opening 45 minutes, in a half that the world champions just about shaded. With their 65% possession, they put most pressure on the opposition goal but they failed to truly test Lukasz Fabianski who started in goal for Poland in place of Wojciech Szczesny.
The two teams do know a lot about one another having played in the qualifying games in the same group as Ireland. In Frankfurt last time out, the Germans had made the most of the bulk of the play that they had then - winning 3-1.
This time around Adam Nawalka’s team had a lot more defensive stability about them and weren’t overrun as they were at time in Germany. However there was no repeat of their win in Warsaw at the start of the campaign - still the only victory over their neighbouts. This time around they reduced Joachim Low’s men to mostly long shots from outside the box.
Luckily for Poland the majority of Germany’s seven shots on goal in the opening half came from Sami Khedira. The Juventus player was particularly wayward with all of his efforts. He had gone in the book after only three minutes when referee Bjorn Kuipers gave him a yellow card for a heavy challenge on Arkadiusz Milik, not a great position to be in when you are anchoring the midfield for the next 87 minutes.
Midway through the half, the attacking duo of Milik and Polish captain Robert Lewandowski forced Germany into some last ditch defending. Twice Milik had his shots on goal blocked by the German defence. Mats Hummels, on his return to the German starting XI, was in the right place at the right time with the second crucial block.
At the other end it was the influential Toni Kroos and the self-styled ‘interpreter of space’ Thomas Muller who were linking up for the opposition. However Muller was denied space for most of the game in front of goal through by Michal Pazdan, Kamil Glik and particularly Artur Jedrzejczyk playing in front of Muller.
If the first half was a quiet affair, the second half began with a bang and it should have been Poland that took the lead. Somehow Milik failed to get a decent connection on Kamil Grosicki’s perfect cross after he had been set free by a flick from Kuba Blaszczykowski.
After that let off Germany had their best chance of the game when Mario Gotze ran onto a through ball but he blasted his shot straight at the ‘keeper.
Milik gave the ball away on 55 minutes and Germany broke at pace. Grosicki took one for the team and hauled Draxler down before Germany could punish the error.
A lovely free kick straight off the training ground had the German fans behind Neuer’s goal worried. Lewandowkski shaped to shoot a free kick won by Grzegorz Krychowiak but he rolled his foot over the top of the ball into the path of Milik. The Ajax player’s effort around the left hand side of the wall had Neuer in a bit of difficulty but the ball went wide.
The Polish captain was about to pull the trigger on the hour mark when Jerome Boateng put in a block that drew roars from the German fans. Perfect timing was required by Boateng and he delivered.
His timing was not so good with his tackle minutes later stepping across Milik to earn himself a yellow card, in a challenge that the Polish player will likely feel in the morning.
Milik then missed a great chance on 69 minutes after a quick Polish break. He ran over the ball for Grosicki to come onto on the left and his centre was fluffed by Milik with the goal at his mercy. His two misses proving the difference between a win and the solitary point they got.
Germany moved upfield and drew the best from Fabianski as he tipped over Ozil’s effort from distance. Neither side could make the breakthrough though and they remained deadlocked at the conclusion of the game and now in the group on four points.
Germany: Manuel Neuer ©; Benedikt Howedes, Jerome Boateng, Mats Hummels, Jonas Hector; Toni Kroos, Sami Khedira; Thomas Muller, Mesut Ozil, Julian Draxler (Mario Gomez 72); Mario Gotze (Andre Schurrle 66).
Subs not used: Marc-Andre ter Stegen (GK), Bernd Leno (GK), Emre Can, Shkodran Mustafi Joshua Kimmich, Lukas Podolski, Antonio Rudiger, Leroy Sané, Julian Weigl.
Yellow Cards: Sami Khedira (3), Mesut Ozil (35).
Poland: Lukasz Fabianski; Lukasz Piszczek, Kamil Glik, Michal Pazden, Artur Jedrzejczyk; Jakub Blaszczykowski © (Bartosz Kapustka 80), Grzegorz Krychowiak, Krzysztof Maczynski (Tomasz Jodlowiec 76), Kamil Grosicki (Slawomir Peszko 87); Arkadiusz Milik, Robert Lewandowski.
Subs not used: Artur Boruc (GK), Wojciech Szczesny (GK), Piotr Zielinski, Jakub Wawrzyniak, Mariusz Stepinski, Filip Starzynski, Bartosz Salamon, Karol Linetty, Thiago Cionek.
Yellow Cards: Krzysztof Maczynski (45), Kamil Grosicki (55), Slawomir Peszko (90+2).
Referee: Bjorn Kuipers (Netherlands).
Attendance: 73,648.
Extratime.ie Player of the Match: Toni Kroos (Germany).
