Poland seized the last European Championship ticket on Tuesday evening after a penalty shootout and will be in the group of the Dutch national team. After 120 minutes against Wales the score was still on the board, the Poles were the better from the spot.
Wales played this final match at home and were therefore allowed to play in Cardiff. The team from the United Kingdom is mainly a collective, with some players active in the Premier League, such as Harry Wilson (Fulham), Neco Williams (Nottingham Forest), Ben Davies (Spurs) and Chris Mepham (Bournemouth). Poland has more stars: Robert Lewandowksi plays for FC Barcelona, Wojciech Szczesny is the goalkeeper of Juventus and Piotr Zielinski plays for Napoli. Defender Jakub Kiwior is now also a basic player for Premier League leader Arsenal. Former Feyenoord player Sebastian Szymanski started on the bench and would come on later.
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There were few chances in the first half. Both teams had 50% possession of the ball and did not have a single shot on target. Until a moment just before half-time, when Williams’ cross reached tall striker Kieffer Moore. The latter nodded the ball back past the goal, where Davies finished. However, the celebration was canceled: the Spurs defender was offside.
In the second half the home team tried to press for their own crowd. Shortly after the break, Szczesny had to take action by neatly tapping Moore’s header out of the intersection. Poland got a good chance around minute 65, when Kiwior suddenly got the ball at his feet after a corner. The defender could not aim. Moore’s header a few minutes later also failed to score the opening goal. Extra time was needed to decide this important match.
Both teams created few chances in added time. One minute before the end, Mepham received his second yellow card, which meant he was allowed to withdraw. The match would be decided via penalties. Poland came out on top in this regard. With the score at 5-4, goalkeeper Szczesny took a penalty from Daniel James. Poland will therefore be in the group of the Dutch national team, France and Austria next summer.
Ukraine – Iceland
Ukraine also qualified for the European Championships in Germany next summer on Tuesday evening. Mykhaylo Mudryk and Viktor Tsygankov scored the goals, but Albert Gudmunsson’s Icelandic goal was not enough for the away team (2-1).
Although on paper Ukraine was playing at home, the match took place in Poland due to the current war. The team that won this match would immediately receive a ticket for the upcoming European Championship. Iceland started the game strongly and broke the game open after thirty minutes. Genoa’s Gudmundsson shot in after a pass from Hákon Haraldsson. A goal by Ukrainian Roman Yaremchuk was disallowed for offside a few minutes ago.
In the second half, Ukraine straightened out and quickly scored the equalizer. Tsygankov scored from distance. The ‘home team’ then became stronger and clearly looked for the winning goal. That important goal came six minutes before the end: attacker Mudryk scored from outside the box. The Chelsea left winger does not play much for his team, but was worth gold for his country with this goal, as no more goals were scored.
Ukraine can therefore participate in the European Championships in Germany in June and July this year. The Eastern European country will play against Belgium, Slovakia and Romania in the group stage.
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