Group A runners-up Switzerland will meet their Group C counterparts Poland in the round-of-16 stage of the 2016 UEFA European Championship in a match set to be held at the Stade Geoffroy-Guichard in Saint-Étienne on Saturday, June 25.
Switzerland advanced in the knockouts by placing second to France in the first group as they remained unbeaten (one win and a draw) together with the tournament hosts after three rounds of competitions in the group stage.
Schweizer pati pulled off a 0-0 stalemate versus Les Bleus during the third round last Sunday at the Stade Pierre-Mauroy in Villeneuve-d’Ascq to seal their qualification, as per BBC Sport.
Head coach Vladimir Petkovic’s boys survived three close chances in the first half from the Frenchmen as Juventus midfielder Paul Pogba “hit the woodwork twice” and West Ham winger Dimitri Payet also “struck the crossbar” with a volley off a pass by Newcastle United midfielder Moussa Sissoko, according to the report.
The Swiss had their chance for a penalty kick during stoppage time, but Manchester City defender Bacary Sagna was not booked with a foul after he pulled the shirt of Genoa midfielder Blerim Dzemaili.
Switzerland actually played impressively as they took 58 percent of ball possession throughout the match. Still, they were not able to come away with the win.
Meanwhile, Poland also placed second in Group C behind tournament-favorite and reigning World Cup champions Germany. They are tied with the Germans in the group standings with two wins and a draw, but the Nationalelf had a superior goal difference of +3 to Poland’s +2 to earn the top spot.
Biało-czerwoni is coming off a 1-0 nipping of winless squad Ukraine on Tuesday at the Stade Vélodrome in Marseille to officially notch their place in the last 16, The Guardian reported.
Fiorentina winger Jakub Blaszczykowski provided the lone goal of the contest at the 54th minute for head coach Adam Nawalka’s side as they eliminated the hard-luck Yellow-Blues from the competitions.
Current world no. 27 Poland is favored to win over world no. 15 Switzerland in this contest as the latter team has not impressed in the group competitions while the former has yet to unleash a man called Robert Lewandowski to score a single goal for them, something that is bound to happen sooner or later.
The predicted result is a 1-0 win for Poland.
Switzerland starting lineup (4-2-3-1 formation): Sommer; Lichtsteiner, Schar, Djourou, Rodriguez; Behrami, Xhaka; Shaqiri, Dzemaili, Mehmedi; Embolo
Poland starting lineup (4-4-2 formation): Fabianski; Cionek, Glik, Pazdan, Jedrzejczyk; Zielinski, Krychowiak, Jodlowiec, Kapustka; Milik, Lewandowski
