Poland played a pretty good Round of 16 match against Switzerland, and were only forced into extra time by a timely wonder strike off the boot of Shaqiri. The sublime bicycle kick was surely the goal of the tournament to this point. Extra time was quite tepid, and Poland eventually emerged victorious in a shootout. The game, however, was strikingly exciting when contrasted with whatever the hell the Portugal vs. Croatia game was. I do not recall a game since the turn of the century where two teams played so poorly, ineffectually, and frankly, scared. Neither Portugal nor Croatia really dared to try and enter the opposition half until the last two minutes of extra time, when they suddenly gave a shit about winning. To be fair, I thought Croatia were going to score when they had their offensive foray, but then Portugal broke on the counter and a perfect outside of the foot through ball was played to Ronaldo and Quaresma capitalized on the rebound. For this match, I really do expect Portugal to revert to Ronaldo in the middle of the pitch. He was so isolated on the wing and barely touched the ball. I think the Polish actually have a pretty good shot here tonight. Both teams have been really disappointing during the tournament, and neither have offered much going forward, but I do think the Polish are the better "team". Either way, I've never seen the Polish play an extremely conservative game unless they are playing a superior side (like Germany). Whenever they play teams that they have the ability to beat, they are willing to trade chances. The Portuguese are definitely a team the Polish can have a run at.
Picks for the Match:
I'm taking **Over 2 Goals @ 2.28**
I'm also taking **Poland +.5 Goals Asian Handicap @ 1.70**