The European Championship has seen its first goalless draw of the tournament after Germany and Poland shared the spoils at the Stade de France in Saint-Denis earlier today.
The tensions between both countries were high since 1939 and both sets of fans were passionately singing and cheering their respective teams on from the streets of Paris into the fifth largest stadium in Europe. Joachim Löw, who was criticized by the media for publicly scratching and sniffing his private region during the Ukraine game, made one change from the opening group stage game as he opted to start Mats Hummels instead of Shkodran Mustafi. Adam Nawalka surprisingly left Bartosz Kapustka out of his starting eleven and preferred to play Arkadiusz Milik alongside Robert Lewandowski in a 4-4-2 formation.
The reigning world champions controlled the encounter with an average of 66% possession and managed only 12 shots throughout the entire match. The Polish were dominant in winning the first ball and produced 20 tackles against the Germans. The closest anyone came to scoring was in the early parts of the game when Mario Gotze’s header flew wide.
This scoreline resulted in the elimination of Ukraine from the tournament.
Despite the dull draw, three players consistently played an important role during the match.
Michal Pazdan
The Legia Warsaw centre-back was one of the best players for Poland tonight as he was rock solid in the heart of defence alongside Kamil Glik. He was forced to be involved in the game a number of times and made seven important interceptions and five key blocks in 90 minutes.
Grzegorz Krychowiak
The two-time UEFA Europa League winner played an integral part to earn a valuable point for his country. He was the anchorman of his side and made a number of interceptions. The Sevilla player was the only driving force of his team and completed 92% of his 64 passes.
Jerome Boateng
The Bayern Munich defender had an easy job winning balls in mid-air and was always comfortable with the ball at his feet. He covered Mats Hummels well and made an important goal-scoring block on club teammate Robert Lewandowski towards the end of the game.
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