It’s difficult to get to an elite tournament without your most effective man. Colombia tried it in the round of 16 of the 2018 World Cup in Russia, without James against England. And they have just suffered it now in Euro 2024.
Poland arrived with its scorer Lewandowski injured, did not have him in the debut and now says goodbye to the Eurocup after losing 3-1 against Austria, which paid for each failure with a goal.
The account was soon opened with Trauner’s goal at 9 minutes, a play that started from a side kick in the face of inexplicable Polish passivity.
But at 30 minutes Piatek appeared to equalize the score in one of Poland’s first approaches, which already in the second half jumped into the water and made use of a touched Lewandowski to avoid what would be inevitable.
Because the forward alone would not work miracles, he was not supplied by his teammates, already exhausted, and Austria took advantage of that with two similar goals, the product of quick projections into the open field: they punished the Baumgartners in the 66th and then, after a foul in the area, Arnautovic scored a penalty in the 78th to make the final 3-1.
Poland depends on a miracle now in group D, which will be clarified with the classic between Portugal and the Netherlands.
