(Photo by Shaun Botterill/Getty Images)
By Toby Dunkelberg
The 2016 UEFA European Championships Round of 16 kicks off Saturday with a matchup between Switzerland and Poland. Neither team is accustomed to the knockout stages each making their first appearance past the group stage. The similarities go further though as defense will be the name of the game. Poland is one of just two teams to not have allowed a goal, and Switzerland is right behind them having only allowed one goal – a penalty in their match against Romania.
These stalwart defenses face off against offenses that are struggling. Both sides only scored two goals in the group stages. Switzerland managed to steal their goals off of corners which occurred largely against he run of play. Against a back line as stingy as Poland’s they’ll need to do more than just rely on set pieces.
Meanwhile Poland have been rather underwhelming offensively. They were outshot more than two to one by Ukraine and failed to convert their chances against Northern Ireland. A large part of their lack of scoring has to do with the inability of Bayern Munich’s star striker Robert Lewandowski to make an impact. The superstar’s gone 523 minutes at the EURO’s without scoring and gone all 270 minutes of EURO 2016 without registering a single shot. Needless to say he’ll need to do better if Poland want to break through a tough Swiss defense that held France scoreless.
And yet Poland has the edge going in. They have the better roster talent wise from starting eleven all the way down to their last bench player. And while the Swiss may have only given up one goal they faced worse competition in Albania, Romania and a French team that was already assured a spot in the next round. Meanwhile Poland’s ability to hold Germany scoreless doesn’t bode well for the Swiss.
Even still, both teams enter the match unbeaten and having proved that they can grind out a result when needed. This game almost seems destined to go to extra time with penalties being far from out of the questions.
