Poland captain Robert Lewandowski and striker Karol Swiderski were in doubt for the European Championship after being injured during a 2-1 warmup victory over Turkey on Monday. Lewandowski assisted Swiderski for the opening goal in the 12th minute. However, Swiderski came off the field shortly thereafter. Lewandowski, Poland’s all-time leading goal-scorer, played until the 32nd minute when he was injured and replaced. The two have till Sunday to recover before Poland begins its Euros campaign against the Netherlands in Hamburg.
Turkey threatened an equalizer in the second half. Arda Guler and Orkun Koktocu were saved, but goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny was powerless as halftime substitute Baris Alper Yilmaz’s drive from the edge of the box deflected in. After Turkey’s Kerem Akturkoglu struck the crossbar from long range, Poland prevailed in the 90th minute with a masterpiece from Nicola Zalewski, who danced past two players to score his first international goal. Turkey meets Georgia in its first match on Tuesday in Dortmund, while Poland will be concerned about its forwards. Nothing was wrong with the Dutch onslaught. They have warmed up with two consecutive 4-0 victories.
Iceland was hammered in Rotterdam, with Virgil van Dijk and Wout Weghorst scoring, exactly like they did against Canada last Thursday at De Kuip. Denzel Dumfries’ header set up Xavi Simons’ first goal for the Netherlands in the first half, followed by Nathan Ake’s header for Van Dijk. Substitute Donyell Malen scored thanks to Memphis Depay, but Depay’s goal was ruled out by VAR moments later due to an earlier handball.
However, VAR overruled another on-field judgment, allowing Weghorst’s goal in extra time. The Czech Republic fought to defeat North Macedonia 2-1, requiring two second-half penalties in Hradec Kralove. Following Malta’s 7-1 defeat last Friday, the Czechs made nine changes to give their likely Euro lineup a test before meeting Portugal in Leipzig in a week.
No one scored until the 60th minute when Patrik Shick converted a penalty kick for a foul on Tomas Soucek. Just five minutes later, North Macedonia equalized when Isnik Alimi headed in a rebound of Aleksandar Trajkovski’s shot off the right post. Antonin Barak’s penalty kick gave the Czechs the winning goal in the final seven minutes of overtime. They suffered a setback over the weekend when midfielder Michal Sadilek, who captained the team against Malta, pulled out of the Euro 2024 squad after injuring his leg when falling off a bike.
