PZPN

The Polish team started out like they had in Israel a few days before: with great vigor, going for high pressing, surprising their opponent. The Slovenians were flabbergasted, resorting to fouls and kicking the ball off the field. As early as in in the second minute, a good cross from Sebastian Szymański was deflected for a corner kick, and after the cross, it was the same young player who became a hero. The ball was first cleared out to the front of the penalty area by Jan Oblak, and it was there that the 20-year-old winger reached it and gave Poland the lead with a very good shot. During the same play, Kamil Glik suffered such a serious injury that Jerzy Brzęczek was forced to make his first substitution.

That's what... changed things. First of all, it stopped the smooth and fast play of the home team, who were now reorganising their defence, and gave the away team the opportunity to stabilise the situation. Hardly a quarter had passed before a longer play by the Slovenians ended with the ball being transferred to Ilicic in the penalty box, who passed Arkadiusz Reca way too easily and played the ball back to Tim Matavz, who made no mistake and tied the score.

The first half did not bring too many clear opportunities. The Polish players were attacking in waves, sometimes with two or three set-piece situations in a row, but they were mainly looking to counter-attack after interrupting the positional attacks of their rivals.  The hosts played defence with confidence, preventing shots from being fired, but on the other end, Oblak didn't have much work to do, either. At 35 minutes, he had to save a header from Robert Lewandowski following a corner kick; however, it proved an easy task for the goalkeeper. Szymański had an opportunity before half time, but shot off target.

Due to Glik's injury and the rivals staying on the ball longer, the most important substitution took place only at the end of the first half. At that moment, all the fans stood up and once again thanked Łukasz Piszczek for over a dozen years of his career that he had spent in the national team. Although he may not have been that visible during the match, he gave his team a sense of security in the right defensive wing for one last time, moving to attack on a few occasions.

The second half kicked off with an offensive from the home team: merely five minutes in, Grzegorz Krychowiak hit hard after yet another corner kick. However, it was Lewandowski's individual play at 55 minutes that took the fans' breath away: several dozen meters away from the goal, closer to the right side, with his back towards the goal and under pressure from the opponent, the striker received the ball in a way allowing him to pass the first Slovenian player and set off on an individual rally. He didn't let the defenders get close, sprinted off in a different direction, entered the penalty box and even from a less-than-perfect position, he made a brilliant, unsavable shot at the far post. Inspired by this flash of the captain's genius, the Poles rushed forward and, in a matter of seconds, Zieliński could have increased the lead, but after a very nice backward pass, he shot the ball too close to Oblak, allowing him to make a succesful save.

The scenario from the first half unfolded once again when the rivals responded. First, Verbić threatened the goal with a rally from the left wing to the centre and an accurate shot; in his next play, he chose to pass instead of shooting. The ball went to Matavz, who made a brilliant pass back to Ilicic and did his job at the seventh metre. The play showed that the Slovenians also had a lot to offer that day.

In the last part of the match, Lewandowski was first to have another opportunity to shoot from a distance, but he did not manage to defeat Oblak with the little space he had. The Poles took over the initiative and took shots from a distance, with the captain leading the game. Ten minutes before the final whistle, Lewandowski, already in the penalty box, moved the offensive to Grosicki, who made a head pass on an empty goal to... Jacek Góralski. It was that ubiquitous midfielder, a hard-working player excelling at exerting pressure and intercepting the ball, who turned out to be the hero that gave Poland victory in the last match of the UEFA EURO 2020 qualifiers.

Poland – Slovenia 3:2 (1:1)

Goals: Szymański 3., Lewandowski 55., Góralski 81. – Matavz 14., Ilicić 61.

Poland: 1. Wojciech Szczęsny - 20. Łukasz Piszczek (45, 16. Tomasz Kędziora), 15. Kamil Glik (7, 3. Artur Jędrzejczyk), 5. Jan Bednarek, 13. Arkadiusz Reca - 19. Sebastian Szymański (86, 18. Kamil Jóźwiak), 6. Jacek Góralski, 10. Grzegorz Krychowiak, 7. Piotr Zieliński, 11. Kamil Grosicki - 9. Robert Lewandowski.

Slovenia: 1. Jan Oblak - 20. Petar Stojanović, 4. Miha Blažič, 17. Miha Mevlja, 3. Jure Balkovec - 7. Josip Iličić, 6. Rene Krhin, 8. Jasmin Kurtič, 15. Jaka Bijol (72, 10. Miha Zajc), 21. Benjamin Verbič (86, 18. Rajko Rep) - 23. Tim Matavž (89, 11. Haris Vučkič).

Yellow cards: Reca, Krychowiak, Kędziora - Kurtič.

Red card: Jasmin Kurtič

Referee: Daniel Siebert (Germany).