Poland Steals A Point In Lisbon

Many people marked this day as one of the biggest in Poland's qualifying campaign, especially since a win could have really put Poland in the clear while taking all 6 unlikely points from one of the best teams in Europe. This was a match I was expecting Poland to lose but still hoping they would somehow come out with a point. After all, Portugal would be home with all the pressure in the world to beat a team they weren't supposed to have lost to in the first place. No one would have blamed Poland if they came out of Portugal without a point under such difficult circumstances. That's why I didn't consider this to be the big match for Poland, not as big as the one on Wednesday anyway.

The first half was surprising in the sense Poland did not stick to what worked the first time around against Portugal - taking the play to their opponents. Instead Poland was sitting on its heels for most of the half and of the match (with possession usually hovering around 65% for Portugal, and even that seemed a little low). Despite all this possession Portugal was not able to create much in the half aside from a free kick by Ronaldo that had Boruc fooled, only to be saved by the crossbar.

Poland although not the aggressor in this match did find a couple of holes in Portugal's defense - one of which sprang Smolarek in all alone on what would have been a goal identical to one he scored the last time these two teams met. Unfortunately this time it was not as good a day for him as he would miss the top corner by mere inches. Just before the break Poland would get another opportunity when Blaszczykowski hammered a shot that Ricardo stopped, only to allow for a massive rebound that Lewandowski got enough of to shock the home crowd just before the break.

With Poland up 1-0 at the break things looked pretty promising for a team that usually saved its best play for after the break. But Beenhakker did not abandon the passive game plan and Poland were on its heels again to start the second half. Unfortunately they were not as lucky as only minutes into the half Portugal were able to equalize after Zewlakow was unable to get much on a loose ball, leaving Boruc helpless at any attempt to stop Maniche's easy finish.

Even the equalizer was not enough to wake Poland from its coma. Instead, they fell further in it giving up chance after chance after chance only to see luck go their way each and every time - until the 73rd minute when Ronaldo showed his class by beating Boruc on an excellent strike while even having a defender in front of him. It seemed imminent that the floodgates would soon follow if this kept up.

Luckily though, Poland was poised to respond as they began finally taking the play to Portugal and pressured them into submission when Jacek Krzynowek got them back on even terms in the late stages of the match when he drilled a rocket in past Ricardo. That would have been a better story than what actually happened. Poland didn't make an effort, they were in fact barely able to hang on to the tight game that was looking to escape them. But again, Poland had luck on its side this game, the proof was in the equalizer when Krzynowek sent what looked like a very harmless shot (that I doubt he himself would have expected to go in, without the aid of one of his teammates anyway) that hit the goalpost only to bounce off Ricardo's back and into the net. It was quite a break for a team that really did nothing to earn one at all.

Usually one team plays better than the other and upsets do happen, but in this case Poland didn't even show up for the second half (aside from Krzynowek) and still managed to walk away with a point in Lisbon. I'm not sure what's more disturbing - the fact that Poland could play so poorly after getting all the momentum going into the break or Portugal failing to convert on as many chances as they had and coming out with only one point to show for.

Nonetheless this was a very pleasant surprise to see that finally Poland was not the one getting all the unlucky breaks and bounces. With some of the bad fortunes that Poland has had this qualifying I guess they were due to get some going their way. But clearly, Poland did not deserve a point, they deserved to be embarrassed the way they were 5 years ago in Korea. Fortunately though, Poland can move from this qualifying group saying they were able to take 4 out of 6 points against one of the top teams in Europe. It's a good thing though that the scoreboard never says how you got the result.