Euro 2016: Portugal, Wales saved by late winners; Poland survives shootout

Portugal's Ricardo Quaresma celebrates after scoring during the Euro 2016 round of 16 soccer match between Croatia and Portugal at the Bollaert stadium in Lens, France, Saturday, June 25, 2016. (AP Photo/Frank Augstein)

The results of the first day of the European Championships knockout stage will show that Poland, Wales and Portugal won their Round of 16 matches to earn quarterfinal berths. Those facts cannot be denied.

But what the score lines won't tell you is that their passage through to the next round arguably was undeserved.

Perhaps that's too harsh. Maybe we should say that the opponents were unlucky not to win instead. Because Switzerland, Northern Ireland and Croatia all deserved a better fate on Saturday in France.

Here's how they were undone by the soccer gods.

 

POLAND PREVAILS ON PENALTIES

 

Despite the disappearance of star striker Robert Lewandowski (he was shown in uniform on the pitch in Saint-Etienne so there's video proof the Bayern Munich man was there), the Polish looked prime to capture another 1-0 win on Jakub Blaszczykowski's 39th-minute goal behind another stellar defensive performance.

But then Poland surrendered its first goal of the tournament. But it took a level of world-class skill to finally end the Polish shutout streak.

Xherdan Shaqiri's wonder strike off a blistering bicycle kick brought Switzerland level in the 82nd minute to force extra time, and suddenly the Poles were fighting for their Euro 2016 lives. And the Swiss should have ridden that late momentum to victory if it weren't for goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski, who made two game-saving saves on Eren Derdiyok in the 113th minute and again in the 119th minute. Fabianski's best save, however, was this 74th-minute finger-tip job on Ricardo Rodriguez's free kick toward the top right corner.

But the cruelty of a penalty shootout would decide who would move on. And that's where Poland definitely earned its right to advance by converting all five spot kicks to win 5-4. Switzerland's only miss came from new Arsenal signee Granit Xhaka, whose errant penalty was shockingly poor and may have landed somewhere in the Alps.

The Poles face Portugal on Thursday in the quarterfinals, but surely they can't expect to keep progressing if Lewandowski's scoring drought continues. The man who led Bayern last season with 44 goals in all competitions (and the Bundesliga with 30 league goals) has yet to score at the Euros and looked even more out of sorts on Saturday.

Poland coach Adam Nawalka doesn't share the same concern about his No. 9, however. "I'm confident and sure that he will get a break in the next match and then let our opponent be afraid," Nawalka told reporters afterward.

 

NORTHERN IRELAND BAILS OUT WALES

 

The next two games of Saturday's tripleheader were supposed to be the better matches. But they weren't. They were complete duds, and that's being kind.

Wales vs. Northern Ireland was unwatchable at times, as both sides took an ultra-conservative approach to avoid making the one costly defensive mistake. Neither team wanted to risk that fate, but ironically, a blunder along the backline is what determined the outcome.

And not surprisingly, Gareth Bale was involved.

Bale's hard cross from the left wing presented so much danger as it bounced through the Northern Ireland 6-yard box that defender Gareth McAuley had no choice but to attempt a last-second emergency clearance. He got his boot on the ball all right, but he knocked it into the net for a 75th-minute own goal, the only tally in the Welsh's 1-0 victory. Hal Robson-Canu was sliding in at the back post and likely would have scored anyway.

Wales next faces the winner of Sunday's Hungary-Belgium game in a quarterfinal on Friday.

 

THE BATTLE OF THE BA ... REALLY BAD SOCCER TEAMS

Billed as the best matched fixture of the Round of 16, Croatia vs. Portugal was supposed to save the day for soccer fans all over the field. Nope. Both teams were incredibly poor. So much so, that this game should've been decided by this ridiculous but sensible notion: first shot on goal wins.

The teams somehow played through regulation time without getting a shot on frame. And they almost went the entire extra time shot-on-goal-less until the 117th minute when Cristiano Ronaldo's shot off a quick-strike counterattack ignited by Renato Sanches was blocked by goalkeeper Danjiel Subasic. The ball fell in front of an oncoming Ricardo Quaresma who nodded home for a 1-0 Portugal victory.

The call by these Portuguese announcers, unlike the match itself, was entertaining.