Here’s David Hytner’s match report from the Stade de France:
Full-time: Germany 0-0 Poland
Let’s not beat about the bush, that was a harrowing watch. The fact that neither side really needed to win exposed a flaw in the format but the most obvious flaws were in the world champions, who are quite toothless in attack. Poland should have been better but Milik goofed repeatedly in front of goal when presented with the best chances of the game. Northern Ireland can still top the group. Ukraine are out.
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90+1 min: Germany apply a bit of late pressure. Poland are forced to defend in extremis. Ozil dinks in a cross from the left. Glik heads it to safety.
89 min: The ref can’t take it any more! He’s blown early for full-time! Oh no, sorry, it was just an offside.
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Poland substitution: Peszcko replaces Grosicki, hopefully because of that freekick in the 84th minute.
86 min: Let’s not abandon all hope just yet: there have been plenty of late goals already in this tournament. No, I haven’t been drinking.
84 min: Hold on, this could be interesting: a handball by Boateng Poland have a freekick at the corner of the box. It’s prime crossing territory so Poland pile men forward. Naturally, Grosicki decides to shoot. And believe it or not he fails to beat the worlds best goalkeeper from an acute angle. In fact, he didn’t even get his foolish effort on target.
83 min: A propos of nothing, anyone remember West Germany v Austria 1982?
Poland substitution: Kapustka - the 19-year-old midfield wonderboy - is introduced in place of the MBM writer’s tormentor-in-chief, Blaszczykowski.
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80 min: Höwedes tries to flight a delicate cross towards the back post. And he succeeds! Only one problem: no one is there.
78 min: Something could happen yet, I assure you. But for now, this about sums things up.
Poland substitution: Jodlowiec on for Maczynski to inject fresh energy into the Polish midfield.
73 min: Pazdan turns a dangerous cross by Hector behind for a corner. A chance to pick out Gomez? Yes. But the delivery is woeful and Poland clear easily.
70 min: Fabianski makes a flying save from a a fine blast from 20 yards by Ozil.
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Germany substitution: Gomez - an actual striker! - replaces Draxler, a disappointment.
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69 min: Lewandowski breaks surges forward from midfield and plays the ball wide to Grosicki. The winger sends a lovely low ball towards the penalty spot. Milik has a wonderful chance to sweep it into the net with his left foot .... but he misses the ball! That’s his third appalling miss of the match! He’s making Götze look deadly. Poland really should be in front by now.
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67 min: Boateng crunches late into Milik, blemishing a performance that had been flawless. And he gets a yellow card to go with the blot.
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Germany substitution: Schürrle on for Götze, who’ll not start again in the tournament, I’ll wager.
65 min: Kroos, as bored as the rest of us, decides to have a bash from 30 yards. It whizzes several yards over.
62 min: Perhaps someone has reminded the teams of the permutations for the next round? Because proceedings are slowing down again after a momentary outbreak of fun.
60 min: Boateng makes a vital last-ditch tackle at the edge of the area to close down Lewandowski, who was about to let fly after pouncing on a breaking ball.
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58 min: Milik curls a 20-yard freekick around the wall ... and a yard past the post! Decent effort.
56 min: The game has perked up a little in the second half. Perhaps the manager pointed out that while a draw would secure passage to the next round, there is a significant advantage in topping the group rather than finishing second or third. If they did, its not true. Because winning the group would mean meeting the third-placed side from Group A, B or F - so, perhaps, Albania, Wales or Iceland - whereas being runner-up would set up a duel with Switzerland, most likely.
54 min: Grosicki booked for another of those spoiler fouls, this time on Draxler.
51 min: Piszczek releases Milik down the left wing. The forward scampers towards the box as Lewandowski peels away to the far post. But Hummels gets back well and makes a sliding tackle to take the ball off Milik. Not often that Hummels catches someone else dithering.
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49 min: Ozil helps the ball on to Draxler on the left wing. The cross is too long, giving Poland a throw-in on the opposite flank.
47 min: Poland have made a bold start to the second period. They put Hummels in trouble with a fierce cross from the left, but Neuer tidied up after the centreback’s scruffy interception.
46 min: What a miss! Grosicki curls a sumptuous cross in from the right. Milik merely has to nod it into the net from five yards ... but he connects with his nose rather than his forehead and simply nudges the ball wide!
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46 min: Word is Löw has made some adjustments during the break. He hasn’t made any personnel or tactical changes, however.
If I thought any Northern Ireland fans were following this, rather than gallivanting around whatever town they happen to be in, I’d ask them how much more confident they feel about beating Germany after today’s action so far. Let me put words in their mouths while they’re offering up toasts and say: “much”. OK, so that was just one word.
Half-time: Germany 0-0 Poland
It’s been tactical, it’s had some tidy passing by toothless Germany, and it’s been terribly boring. Poland to win with a devastating counter-attack still looks a reasonable bet.
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45 min: Maczynski booked for pulling back Müller as Germany tries to make quick gains when a Poland move breaks down. All three bookings so far have been for something similar. Good to see the ref clamping down on offences that do not hurt players but absolutely kill attacks.
44 min: Glick heads away yet another cross from the left. Khedira runs on to the bouncing ball about 20 yards out, takes a touch and then shanks a volley way wide. Weltmeister.
43 min: Hector with a low cross from the left after a dinky enough German build-up. Pazdan clears behind for a corner, which Piszczek then heads away.
41 min: Germany are still dominant in terms of possession but they’re getting slower and slower with it. You can almost see the ideas seeping out of their ears and leaving ugly think-stains on their nice white shirts.
38 min: After lots of patient passing, Germany zip the ball wide to the Hector. The left-back is finding plenty of space, probably because Poland are relatively happy for him to have it, as the chances of Germany scoring against them from a cross seem low.
36 min: Germany are probing. Sounds ominous, eh? But Poland are dealing with it quite comfortably at the moment.
33 min: Krychowiak breaks up a German attack and bursts forward. Ozil tries to slow him down with what Joi Löw might call a little tug (of the shirt, yes), and that’s a serious enough offence for a booking, in the eyes of the ref.
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30 min: Kroos and Khedira are trying to regain control of midfield. They stroke the ball about a bit and then decide to let Boateng play. The defender decides to attack more directly, clipping a long diagonal pass into the left-hand side of the box. Müller wins it and loops a high ball into the six-yard box, but that’s as far as it goes, as Poland clear easily. Götze wasn’t about to stop them.
27 min: Germany clear a Poland corner. No need to elaborate, to be frank. “Enough about the football, Paul, has anyone checked the German technical area?” wonders Justin Kavanagh. “Are both Joachim Lowe’s hands visible?” It’s all very well mocking Löw for scratching his crotch but, in fairness, have you stopped to think how much grief he’s get if he employed someone else to do it?
25 min: Good defending by Hummels to dispossession Milik as the forward tore into the box. All Poland get is a throw-in. But at least they’re spending a lot of time down the right end now, having seen off Germany’s early pressure quit tidily.
23 min: Hector cuts the ball back from the byline to Ozil just inside the Polish box. A first-time shot might cause Fabianski some bother! But Ozil tries to take a touch, of course, and perhaps contemplate a pass, allowing a defender to poke the ball away from him.
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21 min: Poland’s fearsome duo combine well, Milik dropping deep to collect the ball before pinging it into Lewandowski near the edge of the box. The striker takes a touch and then tries to lash it goalwards but Höwedes makes an important block.
18 min: Poland occupy the German half for a bit, relieving the pressure on their defence rather than creating a chance. Grosicki eventually tries to make a breakthrough by dribbling down the left wing. But he can’t beat Höwedes and his token cross goes into the sidenetting.
16 min: Müller waddles down the left, looks up and slides the ball into the path of Kroos, who’s running at speed into the box. But the ball is ever so slightly too far in front of the midfielder, who loses precision as he stretches to reach it and ends up stabbing it wide from 16 yards.
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15 min: Hummels is caught being too casual - surprise, surprise - and Lewandowski nicks the ball off him and dashes down the left. But without support he’s unable to turn a typical Hummels error into a goalscoring chance.
13 min: Poland are having to defend much more than they are accustomed to but they are doing so with discipline and vigilance. Germany have had most of the ball but just the one clear chance to so far.
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11 min: Fine play by Krychowiak, who’s very much the strong man in Poland’s midfield. He demonstrates that by winning possession for his country and skipping past two opponents in an effort to instigate an attack. His ensuing pass under pressure foiled his own plan, however.
8 min: Poland and the ball are barely on speaking terms at the moment. The Poles are too standoffish. And the Germans too dang good. Early days, though.
6 min: It’s been an enterprising start by Germany. Lots of zippy passing and ghostly movement. Hector tries to cap a quick and cutting move with by banging one into the net from the corner of the box, Josimar-style. But it’s way off target.
4 min: Draxler skitters down the left and then cuts back on to his right foot to deliver a fine in-swinging cross. But it’s Götze who gets on the end of it and his finishing is seldom reliable (World Cup finals excepted), and he proves the point by prodding over from seven yards. If Poland get a chance like that, they’ll take it. Getting it is the tricky part, of course.
3 min: Perhaps the whistling did get to the Germans! They cough up possession on mid-way and suddenly Milik goes galloping forward. Khedira sheds all scruples and chops down the Pole. That’s a richly deserved yellow card ensues.
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2 min: The Polish fans are trying to put the German players off their passing by whistling loudly. Has that ever worked?
1 min: Off we go. Germany take tip and begin their possession-play.
Here comes the Polish national anthem, Mazurek Dąbrowskiego, which can be best translated, at least for footballing purposes, as”Poland aren’t beaten yet”. It’s a short but rousing mazurk. It’s followed by the German number, sung heartily by the players: there’s no Doro Pesch amongst them but they seem happy enough with their efforts, all the same.
The teams are in the tunnel, all looking ominously pally. Lewandowski is chatting amiably with all his Bayern Munich team-mates. Lulling them into a false sense of security no doubt.
As we wait for the teams to present themselves, let’s have a gander at some footage of Ernst Wilimowski, the striker who scored these four goals for Poland against Brazil at the World Cup. He later switched to play for Germany. There’s quite a story behind all that but, um, let’s not go into it now.
Teams:
Germany: Neuer; Hector, Hummels, Boateng, Höwedes; Kroos, Khedira; Müller, Ozil, Draxler; Götze
Subs: Leno, Ter Stegen, Mustafi, Kimmich, Tah, Can, Sané, Schweinsteiger, Weigl, Gomez, Podolski, Schürrle
Poland: Fabianksi; Piszczek, Glik, Pazdan, Jedrzejczyk; Blaszczykowski, Krychowiak, Maczynski, Grosicki; Milik, Lewandowski
Subs: Boruk, Cionek, Salamon, Kaputska, Jodlowiec, Linetty, Peszko, Starzynski, Wawrzyniak, Zielinski, Stepinski
Referee: B Kuipers (Ned)
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Preamble:
Hello and welcome. Get ready for the world champions’ sternest test since they became world champions and one that could give us a fair indication as to how likely they, or indeed Poland, are to become European champions. OK, so after that big build-up we also have to admit that since both countries’ won their first group matches and will be confident of winning their third despite Northern Ireland’s exploit earlier today so they could, in theory, settle for sharing the points at the Stade de France and serve up a dud, but there’s be no fun in that and neither country could claim the satisfaction that comes with putting one over powerful neighbours. That’s not a feeling to be blasé about, especially not for Poland, who have only ever beaten Germany once. That victory was back at the start of this qualifying campaign – 2-0 in Warsaw – and even though they subsequently lost 3-1 in Berlin, their chances of winning again here look lean and fit.
Poland really do have the air of a rising power. And Germany might be on the wane. Relatively speaking. Of course, the countries started from very different perches so Germany still seem stronger and have to be the favourites going into this game. They did, after all, finish ahead of Poland in the qualifiers despite that defeat in Warsaw and several other recent stutters during which they have often exuded a stereotype-shredding skittishness. They will probably have the bully’s share of possession tonight but persistent doubts about their defence and also their efficiency in front of goal mean Joachim Löw has plenty to chew over even before rummaging around his trousers. Poland have similar concerns in defence but tend to be more deadly going forward - and not only thanks to Robert Lewandowski: any team that concentrates on shackling him risks letting loose hot attacking talents such as Arkadiusz Milik and Kamil Groiscki, who retruns to the starting lineup tonight in place of Bartosz Kaputska, the splendid 19-year-old.
The first great Poland team – “Gorski’s Eagles” - were denied what they believed to be their just deserts when they were beaten in what was effectively the semi-final of the 1974 World Cup by West Germany, natürlich. The hosts won that match 1-0 thanks to a goal by Gerd Müller and on a pitch that resembled a paddy field because of untimely rain and also, according to suspicious Poles, because Germany pumped extra water on to it to drown out Poland’s free-flowing attacking groove. The countries met again in 1978 and played out a 0-0 draw but events still conspired for Poland to come off worse, as their reward for topping the group was to be pitted against three South American teams in the next round: Brazil, Peru and General Videla’s Argentina. Even Poland’s second greatest team, the one sprinkled with Zibi Boniek’s stardust, was downed by the Germans, albeit only in a 2-0 friendly defeat in 1981. It is too early to proclaim Adam Nawalka’s side Poland’s third great team, but beating Germany early in their development was a highly promising sign. Repeating it tonight would be the best possible way to announce that, yes, the Poles are on the up.
On the flip side, if Germany win, we’re probably set for more business as usual. Vorsprung durch Müller.
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