Germany captain Bastian Schweinsteiger. (Photo : Getty Images)
World Cup 2014 winners Germany (1-0-0, 3 points) will look to continue to live up to expectations as one of the 2016 UEFA European Championship's favorites as they meet tough team Poland (1-0-0, 3 points) in a Group C match this Thursday, June 16 at the Stade de France in Saint-Denis.
FIFA's fourth-ranked team Germany overpowered world no. 19 Ukraine, 2-0, in their opening round clash last Sunday at the Stade Pierre-Mauroy in Villeneuve-d'Ascq, as per Goal.
Despite decreasing their invincible aura after a couple of warmup losses prior to the tournament, the Nationalelf were able to bring it back up again as they showcased their goalscoring, playmaking, and defensive capabilities during the match.
Defender Shkodran Mustafi of Valencia netted the first international goal of his career at the 19th minute to open the scoring for the Germans before team captain Bastian Schweinsteiger of Manchester United sealed the win in stoppage time.
Thomas Müller, Mesut Özil, Toni Kroos, and Mario Götze displayed their playmaking skills with Özil and Kroos providing the assist on both goals correspondingly.
Die Mannschaft had actually dominated more on defense with Bayern Munich's goalkeeper Manuel Neuer and defender Jerome Boateng leading the charge. Head coach Joachim Löw is said to be expecting a better performance from his goalscorers in their next game against Poland.
Meanwhile, Poland edged out Northern Ireland, 1-0, in their match at the Allianz Riviera in Nice also on Sunday, via BBC Sport.
Even when Lewandowski was present, the White Eagles' other striker, Arkadiusz Milik of Ajax, was the one who provided the winning goal for head coach Adam Nawalka's side six minutes after the restart.
It was a dominating performance for Biało-czerwoni even as they only led by one at the conclusion as they controlled ball possession almost the entire match as the Green and White Army had always been on the defensive.
Against Germany, the Polish eleven will face a much stronger defense and will have to defend more potent goalscorers as well. They may need a miracle to be able to prevail against the Germans and secure themselves a berth in the knockout stages.
The predicted result is another 2-0 rout for Germany.
Germany starting lineup (4-2-3-1 formation): Neuer; Howedes, Boateng, Mustafi, Hector; Khedira, Kroos; Müller, Özil, Draxler; Götze
Poland starting lineup (4-4-1-1 formation): Szczesny; Piszczek, Glik, Pazdan, Jedrzejczyk; Blaszczykowski, Krychowiak, Maczynski, Kapustka; Milik; Lewandowski
