Poland 0:1 Armenia

Poland suffered another Finland-like setback against Armenia. Although Poland dominated the match they were unable to finish off the opportunities they had - which weren't plentiful as the wall that was the Armenian defense was difficult to penetrate. The goal scored by Armenia was off a free kick that was so well placed Boruc had little chance to stop.

With Poland struggling Beenhakker decided to put the struggling Zurawski up front while taking Smolarek off. Beenhakker has made some odd choices before, but this one was ridiculous. Zurawski hasn't been able to do much up front since he was separated from Frankowski, so to put him on at a time Poland was in desperate need for a goal was an odd choice to say the least.

Regardless of players though, the problems stemmed from the strategy. Beenhakker had the troops attempting to run through the Armenians who were simply waiting for them outside the box, and when confronted, resulted in wasted opportunities or turnovers. Had Poland tried to play more creatively on the wings or lobbed balls over the Armenia defense, more successful opportunities would have likely resulted. Alas, Poland was left scrambling and did not muster up much.

And when they did come up with glorious opportunities, they were wasted. Saganowski was the goat this game. With a wide open net all he had to do was connect with the ball and it could have changed the game. Instead he slipped and managed to waste a golden opportunity. He had another similar opportunity in the game that was stopped by the keeper, but for this one there was no excuse. And in the end it was the difference between Poland coming away with something and coming away with nothing.

Poland's lead in Euro has evaporated, as their lead is thanks to playing in more games than both Portugal and Serbia, as both teams have 2 games in hand and only 5 points back. Poland's road has got a lot tougher with most of the matches also away from home, including stints in Portugal, Finland, and Serbia. Instead of leading the pack, Poland may now find itself chasing it.