Spain 1-1 Poland Sid Lowe’s match report has landed, so I’ll be off. Thanks for your company and emails - goodnight!
Robert Lewandowski’s masterful header has kept Poland in the tournament. They deserved a point against a Spain side who again flattered to deceive and looked a bit rudderless. Alvaro Morata had given them the lead, and Gerard Moreno hit the post with a penalty straight after Lewandowski’s goal, but that aside they struggled to create clear chances. If they don’t beat Slovakia on Wednesday, they could go out at the group stage.
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Full time: Spain 1-1 Poland
Peep peep!
90+4 min Rodri takes a yellow card with a tactical foul on Kozlowski, who nicked the ball on the edge of the area and was away on the counter.
90+4 min Lewandowski is booked for something or other.
90+4 min “Safe safe safe,” says the BBC co-commentator Danny Murphy in reference to Spain’s passing. If that isn’t a sly plea to join Goldie Lookin’ Chain, I don’t know what is.
90+3 min Tiki-taka-tiki-taka-tiki-taka-hoof clear.
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90+1 min “Pedri has been something of a mystery: beautifully accomplished, not a pass which doesn’t find its mark, as progressive as the circumstances allow, but discreet to the point of ineffectiveness,” says Charles Antaki. “Iniesta without, if one can use the word with Iniesta, the venom.”
That’s a great point, although don’t forget that Iniesta wasn’t oozing venom at 18. He went to the venom level at maybe 21 or 22.
90 min The 17-year-old Kozlowski runs at a backpedalling defence, with options either side, but then a poor touch ends the move. That was half a chance for Poland.
90 min Five minutes of added time. Spain still aren’t moving the ball quickly enough.
86 min And Spain bring on Mikel Oyarzabal for the goalscorer Morata.
85 min Two more changes for Poland: Karol Linetty and Pawel Dawidowicz replace Jan Bednarek and Jakub Moder.
84 min: Great save by Szczesny! Alba curled a gorgeous pass into the area towards Sarabia. He chested it square to Morata, who shot was smothered desperately by Szczesny and then half cleared by Bednarek. It went to Torres, who curled over from the edge of the area.
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83 min If it stays like this, Spain will need at least a draw against Slovakia, and probably a win, to qualify for the knockout stages.
81 min Pau Torres is booked for elbowing Lewandowski as they jumped for a high ball. We’ve just seen a replay of that Morata fall; that could have gone either way on the field, but again it wasn’t a clear and obvious error so VAR were right not get involved.
80 min Torres feeds a cross into Morata, back to goal on the six-yard line. He tries to turn and goes down - was that a foul by Bednarek - and the danger is cleared. Moments later, Rodri whistles a half-volley straight at Szczesny from 18 yards. It was a sweet strike with his left foot.
79 min Fabian Ruiz pushes the ball towards Morata in the area. It’s a poor pass that runs towards Szczesny... but then Ferran Torres appears from nowhere to poke the ball away from him. That leads to an impromptu scramble on the six-yard line until Szczesny grabs the ball.
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77 min Lewandowski charges forward from the halfway line and plays the ball through to Frankowski in the inside-right channel. He tries to return it to Lewandowski, who is desperate to get another chance, but the pass is blocked.
75 min It’s all Spain now, but still their tempo leaves a bit to be desired.
74 min “To my mind, that penalty is exactly what VAR is for,” says Matt Dony. “The referee would naturally have followed the ball, and so missed Moder standing on Moreno’s ankle well after the ball had gone. Danny Murphy gave it the old ‘Not all contact is a foul’, but standing on someone’s ankle while getting nowhere near the ball would be given anywhere else on the pitch (as the cliche goes). Was it the most heinous foul in the world? No. But it was still a foul, and VAR gave the ref a chance to evaluate it. (Saying that, as someone who learnt the game playing in defence, had that kind of thing been given more consistently, I would have given away a LOT of penalties.)”
Ugh, not for me, though I do see your point.
73 min: Chance for Torres! Spain work the ball nicely across the field to Marcos Llorente on the right. He stands up a cross that is headed wide of the near post by Torres, 10 yards out. That was quite a tricky chance because there no was pace on the ball.
72 min Spain are starting to put Poland under pressure again. Sarabia’s inswinging free-kick is punched away by Szczesny, a more convincing piece of goalkeeping than the last.
69 min A dangerous corner from Sarabia is missed by Szczesny, who punches fresh air with both hands, and hits the arm of the unsighted Laporte. Bednarek then boots it away.
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67 min A double change for Spain: Fabian Ruiz and Pablo Sarabia replace Gerard Moreno and Koke. And For Poland, Przemyslaw Frankowski comes on for Karol Swiderski.
66 min If it stays like this, the group will read: Sweden 4, Slovakia 3, Spain 2, Poland 1.
65 min Morata makes a good run through the inside-right channel and hits a decent cross shot that is pushed round the far post by Szczesny.
64 min “Penalty given was precisely the same as the one that was given against Alaba last week,” says Gene Salorio. “So consistent.”
But not against the Scotland defender whose name I forget last night.
63 min A draw keeps Poland alive. A win would make things exceedingly interesting.
62 min Ferran Torres comes on for Spain to replace Dani Olmo.
59 min Now Jozwiak is booked for a foul on Pedri.
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MORENO HITS THE POST!
58 min Oh my goodness. Moreno slid the penalty off the face of the left-hand post, and Morata somehow put the rebound wide. If anything Morata’s was the easier chance because, although it came at him quickly, Szcezesny was out of the game having dived to his right in an attempt to save the penalty.
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PENALTY GIVEN! That is so soft, embarrassingly so. Moder is booked as well.
56 min: VAR check for a Spain penalty! Moreno’s cross ricochets across the area and is cleared, but they have gone back to look at a potential foul on Moreno. Moder stood on his foot a split-second after he put the cross in, and I think this will be given.
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55 min A change for Poland: the 17-year-old Kaper Kozlowski replaces Mateusz Klich. He takes Jude Bellingham’s record as the youngest player in the history of this tournament.
55 min Spain thought there was a foul on Laporte by Lewandowski. You could certainly make the case, but it’s hard to argue it was a clear and obvious error.
That was a brilliant header. The move started with Moder, who turned elegantly away from Pedri and Morata before finding Klich. He moved the ball wide to Jozwiak, who swung a deep cross towards Lewandowski, six yards out. He bumped Laporte out of the way, strained his neck muscles and guided a superb header into the corner.
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GOAL! Spain 1-1 Poland (Lewandowski 54)
Robert Lewandowski equalises!
53 min Spain slow the game that with an extended spell of possession. Poland are now 37 minutes away from going out of the tournament with a game to spare.
50 min Morata elbows Glik in the jaw while trying to shield the ball. That looked exceedingly painful. There was no VAR check for a potential red card, but I’d like to watch a replay to see whether it was deliberate.
49 min Poland have started the second half aggressively, pressing high up the field. They did the same in the first but were slowly passed into submission by Spain.
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48 min “Regarding Wilson’s column…” says Kari Tulinius. “The main benefit of the 24-team format is that it’s rare to be eliminated after two games. The type of match I dislike the most at a major tournament is when an already eliminated team has to trudge back on the field. The absolute worst is when it’s two eliminated teams, a feel-bad version of the third-place playoff. The current format means these are few and far between.”
Ha, good point. Every World Cup seems to have a 23rd-place playoff.
47 min “Barney Ronay’s article was perfect,” writes Marz Waltz. “Especially his comparison of fanless football with mechanised sound to American Cheese (America’s most embarrassing product). During the shutdown I got used to it but he is right that it’s a football ‘product’, not the real thing. I am finding the Copa America almost impossible to watch without fans.”
46 min Peep peep! Spain begin the second half, with no changes on either side.
“How do you rate J Alba esq?” asks Henry C esq. “I could be wrong but he seems to have been around for ages. But usually plays well and provides great crosses. Not as fast as he used to be - watch his goal vs Italy in the final in 2012.”
I vividly recall being wowed by him during this game at Stamford Bridge in 2011, and have loved him ever since then. At his peak he was the perfect modern left-back.
“Are we sure that Glik is not a cockney?” says Ian Copestake. “He has the air of a top geezer.”
You what mate?
Originally flagged for offside, VAR intervened and allowed Morata's goal to stand!#ESP 1-0 #POL
— Match of the Day (@BBCMOTD) June 19, 2021
📺💻📲 Watch: https://t.co/gwX1m8wzvY#bbceuro2020 #euro2020 pic.twitter.com/2a18cGGw0T
Half-time reading
Half time: Spain 1-0 Poland
Peep peep! Spain lead through a goal from Alvaro Morata, who had a bit of help from the third, fourth and fifth letters of his first name.
Although Spain dominated, Poland had a decent penalty appeal turned down early on and hit the post just before half-time. If Poland don’t score in the second half, they will be out of the tournament.
45 min: Now Moreno misses a great chance! Jordi Alba breaks down the left in familiar style and slides an inviting low pass towards the six-yard box. Moreno gets in front of Szczesny at the near post but then flicks the ball into the side netting.
43 min: Double chance for Poland! It should be 1-1. Swiderski cut inside on his left foot and hit a vicious low drive that thumped off the post. The ball rebounded to Lewandowski, who controlled it and smashed a close-range volley that was somehow blocked by Simon. It was a vital save but Lewandowski should have scored.
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42 min Spain have had 77 per cent pof the possession, it says here. Standards are slipping.
39 min “Seen a reasonable amount of Pedri for Barcelona this season,” writes Ben Kybett. “It’s really striking the amount of trust Messi has in him (not something that necessarily applies to all the current Barca squad), always seeking him out for little interchanges around the area. Footballing recommendations, you feel, do not come a lot higher. He’s the real deal; whether he can show it in this mildly creaky Spain team, we shall see.”
He’s been fairly quiet tonight but it’s obvious he’s a class act. On Messi, one of football’s unsung pleasures is trying to infer who the great players do or don’t rate in their team.
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37 min Klich is booked for a foul on someone or other.
35 min: Chance for Poland! Lewandowski breaks down the right and crosses towards the near post. It’s blocked but the ball comes to back to Lewandowski, who waits for some movement and then coaxes another cross towards Swiderski in the six-yard box. He twists his body and sidefoots an acrobatic volley over the bar. He was unable to get over the ball, and it’s a bit strange that he didn’t attack it with his head. He probably saw Simon in his peripheral vision; that’s all I can think of.
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34 min Moreno curls the free-kick fractionally wide of the left-hand post. On reflection, Szczesny probably had it covered.
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33 min Dani Olmo is fouled in the D by Glik. This is a really good chance for Spain to get a second.
32 min That goal should allow Spain to relax a bit more in possession. At the moment they are in complete control of the game.
30 min The quick, effective use of VAR has been one of the features of this tournament, and that goal was another example.
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29 min A reminder that if Poland lose tonight they will be out of the competition.
28 min “I pity the managers of both sides if they fail to win,” says Anis Aslaam. “Paulo Sousa will probably be feeling the heat if Poland lose this. Don’t forget, he was hired after qualification for the Euros was achieved and since day one, his only victory has been against David Nugent’s favourite opposition, Andorra. As for Luis Enrique, big jobs come with big expectations and one of those would be to conquer Group E.”
27 min Alvaro Morata has caught a much-needed break, and the first thing he does is run over to hug his manager Luis Enrique.
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GOAL! Spain 1-0 Poland (Morata 26)
It really was tight: the goal has been given! Morata was just being played onside by Bereszynski.
25 min: Morata has a goal disallowed for offside! Moreno came infield, hugging the ball on his left foot, and drove a mishit shot across goal. Morata reacted smartly to turn it in from six yards, but then the flag went up for offside. This is very tight actually.
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24 min The pace of the game is getting slower by the minute.
23 min “Monday, January 31st, 2011,” weeps Matt Dony. “Desperate for work after my cleaning business had seriously struggled, I had taken a nasty little job in a sales call centre. After my week’s training, I had just finished my first day on the phones. It had been hideous. I had spent three (increasingly frustrating) hours on the phone to HMRC due to some problems with my Self-Assessment submission.
“Mrs Dony was away, leaving me at home on my own. My dinner that night was Super Noodles and Carling. I didn’t have Sky Sports, so I was getting my updates from a live blog on Yahoo. It was one of the saddest, most depressing evenings of my life.
“Torres leaving had been signposted since the summer, but it hadn’t actually been confirmed before the 11pm deadline. In theory, at one point, Carroll, Suarez AND Torres were all on Liverpool’s books. But I knew it was over. And it hurt. Thanks for bringing it up. Why don’t you give me a paper cut and pour lemon juice on it?”
21 min Spain are well on top now, even if their domination has a whiff of sterility. Poland are struggling to get out.
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20 min “Hi Rob,” says Peter Oh. “What do you reckon Cristiano Ronaldo thinks of Koke?”
Not as much as he thinks of this fella.
19 min: Chance for Rodri! A Spain corner leads to a bit of a scramble until Rodri, eight yards out, has a fresh-air shot. That was a really good chance.
17 min The corner is played short to Koke, whose fast cross is headed away.
16 min Tiki-taka-tiki-taka-tiki-taka. Eventually Olmo swings a cross beyond the far post. He tries to hook it back across the face of goal and the ball goes behind off Puchacz. Corner to Spain...
14 min Poland’s tactics are interesting: 3-1-4-2 with the ball, 5-3-1-1 without. We’ve seen more of the latter in the last few minutes.
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13 min Spain are starting to fire up the passing carousel. After a long spell of possession, Pau Torres tries to score from 35 yards. No.
10 min Olmo steals the ball off Jozwiak, cuts inside and drives a low shot from the edge of the area. Szczesny crouches to make a comfortable save.
10 min “Got to admit, I’m glad Spain aren’t playing Ferran Torres,” writes Matt Dony. “Every time I see ‘F. Torres’, or I hear a commentator excitedly say ‘Torrrressss’, my heart hurts a little bit. I don’t think I’ve ever loved a footballer like I loved Fernando.”
I’d love to have seen your face when you found out he’d been sold to Chelsea and replaced by Andy Carroll.
9 min Moreno’s low cross is half blocked by Bednarek at the near post and then cleared properly by Klich. The tempo of this game is terrific.
6 min A lovely effort from Klich. He picks up a loose ball 30 yards out, moves forward and whips a dipping shot that lands on the roof the net. Simon was at full stretch, though I don’t think he had it covered.
5 min It’s been a busy, confident start from Poland, which has taken Spain a bit by surprise.
3 min: No penalty! That could have gone either way. Maybe it wasn’t a clear and obvious error, but I think that would have been given in the Premier League last season.
2 min: Big shout for a Poland penalty! Morata gives the ball away in a dangerous area, then tries to make up for his error with a clumsy challenge from behind on Zielinski. The referee looked set to blow his whistle, and then didn’t. I’m sure this will be checked.
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2 min It looks like the same 3-1-4-2 formation for Poland, with Jakub Moder replacing the suspended Krychowiak in front of the back four.
1 min Peep peep! Poland, in white, kick off from right to left. Spain are in their usual red strip.
The players line up for the anthems. It’s a gorgeous evening in Seville, sunny but with a pleasant breeze.
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“If I’m Pedri (which I’m a distance from being), I’m thinking: ‘How many gilt-edged chances to I have to create for Morata to finish one?’” says Bill Hargreaves. “I’m being mean, I know - all forwards suffer a level of missed chances - but is Morata less reliable than other big team strikers?”
He’s a strange player – at his best he’s a brilliant, modern No9, but his confidence is so fragile.
Poland will look, as usual, to Robert Lewandowski tonight. His record in big tournaments is modest, two goals in 12 games I think. This would be a good time to address that statistic.
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“Since the days of David Villa and Fernando Torres,” begins Charles Antaki, “the national team has tried (I looked it up) Álvaro Negredo, Roberto Soldado, Fernando Llorente, Iago Aspas, Paco Alcácer, Diego Costa, Lucas Vasquez, Rodrigo … Not one established himself, so it’s no surprise that there’s been a change today. After Moreno, Adama Traoré is presumably the next in line, and it’s maybe a bit surprising that he hasn’t been thrown on already.”
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Uh-oh
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Team news
And the scapegoat is... Ferran Torres, who has been replaced by Villarreal’s Gerard Moreno. That’s Spain’s only change from the draw against Sweden.
Poland make three changes from the team that lost to Slovakia. Brighton’s Jakub Moder, Tymoteusz Puchacz and Karol Swiderski replace Karol Linetty, Maciej Rybus and the suspended Grzegorz Krychowiak.
Spain (4-1-2-3) Simon; M Llorente, Laporte, P Torres, Alba; Rodri; Koke, Pedri; Moreno, Morata, Olmo.
Substitutes: de Gea, Sanchez, Azpilicueta, D Llorente, Thiago Alcantara, F Torres, Garcia, Gaya, Fabian Ruiz, Traore, Oyarzabal, Sarabia.
Poland (3-1-4-2) Szczesny; Bereszynski, Glik, Bednarek; Moder; Jozwiak, Klich, Zielinski, Puchacz; Lewandowski, Swiderski.
Substitutes: Skorupski, Fabianski, Dawidowicz, Kedziora, Kozlowski, Linetty, Rybus, Placheta, Frankowski, Kownacki, Swierczok, Helik.
Referee Daniele Orsato (Italy).
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Preamble
Hello and welcome to live coverage of Spain v Poland in Seville. This is the final game of Matchday 2, but the big picture isn’t getting much clearer. Italy, Belgium and the Netherlands are the only teams definitely through to the knockout stages; North Macedonia are the only ones to have been eliminated. But Poland will join them in the departure lounge if they are beaten in Seville.
Poland’s 2-1 defeat to Slovakia in the opening game means they need at least a point tonight. Spain’s start was underwhelming for different reasons. They redefined sterile domination in their 0-0 draw with Sweden, when some analysts credited them with 86 per cent possession. (Uefa had it at 75 per cent, and no I don’t know why there’s a disparity.) We’ll find out soon whether Alvaro Morata, or any of the other attackers, have lost their place as a result.
Kick off 9pm in Seville and Stockholm, 8pm in London.
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