St Petersburg: Slovakia started their first major tournament with a win after shocking an uninspired Poland 2-1 through Milan Skriniar’s second half winner in their Group E curtain raiser in Saint Petersburg on Monday.
Slovakia looked comfortable in the first half. They opened the scoring in the 18th minute after Robert Mak’s solo run and effort dropped off Wojciech Szczesny’s near post before bouncing off the goalkeeper’s right shoulder into the goal.
Poland needed some time to recover, and restored parity 27 seconds after the restart as Karol Linetty finished off Maciej Rybus’ build-up work.
The Polish team increased the pressure but suffered a setback at the hour mark when Grzegorz Krychowiak was shown his second yellow card and received the marching orders.
Slovakia showed no mercy and utilised their numerical advantage moments later as Poland failed to clear a corner, allowing Skriniar to drill the decider from 14 meters into the top left corner to stun Poland.
Poland pressed frenetically for the equaliser. Slovakia’s defines, however, stood firm and secured the top spot in Group E for the moment.
Meanwhile, the Czech Republic’s Patrik Schick scored one of the most remarkable goals in European Championship history as his side beat Scotland 2-0 here on Monday.
Schick, who had netted an excellent header in the first half, doubled his tally after the break. Having spotted home goalkeeper David Marshall far off his line, the 25-year-old forward unleashed a curling, looping effort from just inside the Scotland half. Scotland had battled gamely on its return to tournament football after a 23-year absence and spurned a number of excellent chances of its own, with Lyndon Dykes guilty of wasting two superb opportunities. Yet, Czech Republic was a worthy winner, soaking up Scottish pressure, and quieting a noisy Hampden Park crowd.
Schick had a snap shot palmed away by Marshall after 15 minutes, but made his mark just before half-time. Czech Republic earned a string of corners before the break and took advantage in the 42nd minute. Scotland cleared the initial ball into the box, but Vladimir Coufal curled a cross back into the danger area. Schick rose brilliantly to beat his marker and angle a header into the far corner.
The second half began with a flurry of activity and Schick’s astonishing finish in the 52nd minute crushed hopes of a Scottish revival.
Elsewhere, Denzel Dumfries picked a good time to score his first international goal. After missing an open chance in the first half, Dumfries helped set up two goals in the second and headed in an 85th-minute winner on Sunday to give the Netherlands a 3-2 win over Ukraine in Amsterdam.
The winning header came only minutes after Ukraine had scored two late goals to equalise. Stand-in Netherlands captain Georginio Wijnaldum put the 1988 European champion in the lead in the 52nd minute with a powerful shot.
Wout Weghorst made it 2-0 in the 59th minute. A cross from the right by Dumfries set up the first and his run into the box caused havoc in the Ukraine defence for Weghorst’s goal. But, the comfortable position was turned upside down by two defensive lapses. Ukraine captain Andriy Yarmolenko curled a left-footed shot over Maarten Stekelenburg in the 75th minute.
Roman Yaremchuk then dived in front of Weghorst to head in a free-kick from the left four minutes later.