“What have you done for Poland?”

Cholera! They had planned so much! With world footballer Robert Lewandowski in their own ranks, it should work out with a sensible European Championship start for the Polish footballers. But instead of starting a triumphal march through the European Championship, the Poles flew back to the European Championship quarters in Gdańsk as the big losers from St. Petersburg. It was 1: 2 (0: 1) on Monday evening after 90 bad minutes against Slovakia.

Lost! The numerous fans in white and red shivered, although there are white nights in Petersburg and the sun constantly sent its rays into the arena, which was filled with 12,000 people: against the European championship favorites Spain (on Saturday) and Sweden (June 23) It is now difficult for the »Biało-Czerwoni« to reach the round of 16.

In Poland, where the press takes everything national very seriously, the commentators were correspondingly horrified: How could that happen? “Own goal, red card, pale superstar Robert Lewandowski. If someone has to know how not to start the European Championship, here he has a role model “complained the largest national newspaper” Gazeta Wyborcza “:” Lewandowski was one of the weakest on the field. ” Poland’s iconic striker Grzegorz Lato brought all dreamers back to reality in the newspaper “Fakt”: “Only Pele and Maradona could win games alone.”

The defeat only had to do with Lewandowski to a limited extent: Sure, the 32-year-old had actually failed as the sole savior that evening. But in view of the remaining squad in the world rankings 21. It was at least quite clear to all those in the know outside Poland that it would not only depend on the Bayern star. The Bundesliga record striker ran a lot on Monday evening, he tried to stop his colleagues’ game with many gestures and shouts, but it didn’t help much. For example, he was not served a reasonably decent ball in the opponent’s penalty area.

The clever Slovaks, however, had in Ondrej Duda (formerly with Hertha, now with 1. FC Köln) the kind of dribbler and ball distributor that a team needs when an opponent appears technically and above all physically superior. Duda struck his hook, assisted by the fast outside players, which made Poland’s defense look awkward: In the 18th minute, Robert Mak passed the opponents Joswiak and Berezynski on the left at the same time, goalkeeper Wojciech Cesny Sczesny directed his shot into the near corner, otherwise employed at Juventus Turin, with his arm into his own network. 1-0 for Slovakia after 18 minutes. Poland looked dismayed.

Only after the change of sides could one hope again briefly: only half a minute after the kick-off of the second half, Karol Linetty scored to make it 1-1 (46th). Poland seemed to be on the path to success until captain Grzegorz Krychowiak saw a yellow-red in the 62nd minute. He had stepped on the foot of his opponent.

Another half hour of being outnumbered, and it didn’t take the Slovaks long to take the lead again. A corner from Robert Maks fell in front of Slovak Inter-Milan defender Milan Škriniar in the penalty area, who was unstoppable by a number of Polish players and pushed the ball past Szczęsny into the net. 2: 1 in the 69th minute. The Slovaks cheered.

Poland tried everything again in the closing stages, but the Slovaks, who were defending with their last bit of strength, kept their box tight. The overwhelming majority of Polish fans in the arena was silent, the few hundred Slovaks in the upper tier sang.

Lewandowski said after the game that you have to take responsibility now: “Of course we still have two games to go, but we lost the first with the theoretically weakest opponent. That’s why we’re in a difficult position. “

The newspaper “Rczeczpospolita” meanwhile increased the pressure on Tuesday – as usual with patriotism: “The sniper of FC Bayern Munich has set a monument for himself with his appearances at the club, but if he does not achieve any success with the national team, he will be up hear at the end of his life: What have you done for Poland? “