2) Poland will see this as a missed opportunity
Simply put, this is a match Poland could have won and that is something which will haunt them for a while.
Sure, they should take great pride in the way they managed to reach the quarter-finals of a European Championship for the first time in their history but Adam Nawalka’s men could have made their debut in the semi-finals of a major tournament, too.
They mustered five shots on target (the same as Portugal), enjoyed a marginally greater share of possession and were effective at shutting down nearly every threat which came their way at the back. Their defensive strength is not a new development either because they had only conceded just once before that in this competition when Xherdan Shaqiri netted his wonder goal in their last 16 clash.
Having taken such an early lead through Lewandowski’s second-minute goal, they will certainly be devastated to have conceded after the half hour mark before going on to lose on penalties because they were arguably the better side. Unfortunately, they didn’t quite have the invention or the bravery to take the tie by the scruff of the neck and will have to content themselves with making history instead of making their opponents pay.
Much like Blaszczykowski’s penalty, then, this was a missed opportunity.
