Real Football Man All of the Football, All of the time
World Champions Germany go up against Poland Tonight in what is always a feisty encounter. Both teams opened their Euro 2016 accounts with a win on Sunday and both sides know that a win would secure a spot in the Round of 16. Germany looked shaky at the back at times in their win against Ukraine while Poland broke down a resolute Northern Ireland
Robert Lewandowski is the scourge of many a Bundesliga defence so he will very much fancy his chances of getting on the scoresheet and opening his account for the tournament after drawing a blank on Sunday. Jonny Evans was equal to everything that Lewandowski threw at him and Lewandowski will hope he gets more opportunities to get off the mark this evening.
With Germany being more expansive you would imagine that to be the case, although whether Lewandowski can take those chances remains to be seen as even if he does get half a chance he still has to get it past club teammate Manuel Neuer. Neuer was called upon at crucial times in their win against Ukraine although it will be Jerome Boateng who will get the plaudits after his fantastic goal line clearance kept the Germans ahead
Germany did look susceptible at the back against Ukraine and a better team would have punished them, whether Poland are that better team remains to be seen. But like England vs Wales this has the air of a derby so you can imagine both teams will be up for his one and Poland would love nothing more to get one over their neighbours and book their own place in the first knockout round
They created many chances against Northern Ireland and it’s only because of such a good defensive performance especially in the first half by Michael O’Neill’s side that the score wasn’t more than 1-0. With Fiorentina’s Jakub Blaszczykowski and Sevilla’s Grzegorz Krychowiak then they will create chances while Lukasz Piszczek will look to supplement the attack with his surging runs from deep
For Germany and all their potential defensive worries they have an embarrassment of riches in Midfield and Attack. Toni Kroos was at the heart of pretty much everything that they created on Sunday night against Ukraine well Mesut Ozil was on hand to once again provide an assist to seal the win late on thanks to Bastian Schweinsteiger’s close range strike. You would imagine Joachim Low won’t be looking to make too many changes from the side that beat Ukraine
You would certainly make Germany the favourites going into this game but Ukraine have shown that there is a weakness, if Poland do exploit that then will definitely have a game on our hands. I fancy both teams to score but Germany to edge this one 2-1.
