Poland

Michal Pol from Przegląd Sportowy says Poland’s surprise win was “a miracle, something that shouldn’t happen according to nature, physics and Murphy’s law”. Many pundits had suggested prior to the match it was better to lose against Germany and not waste too much stamina, and instead focus on the more important game against Scotland on Tuesday.

Poland, 70th in the Fifa rankings, had just four shots and conceded 22 attempts on their own goal, with many people in the Polish press lauding Wojciech Szczesny, who was awarded man of the match. However, Rzeczpospolita claimed that the best player on the pitch was Robert Lewandowski, “himself showing what to do, which others followed”.

Gazeta Wyborcza also pointed out that the Bayern Munich striker “finally played like captain”, tracking back all the way to his own penalty box to challenge Julian Draxler and set up a counter-attack, and also being very vocal in organising the team: shouting at Maciej Rybus to close down Mats Hummels. He was also fundamental in setting up Poland’s second goal, scored by Sebastian Mila, who has had his critics in Gazeta Wyborcza for being overweight but seemed to answer them on Saturday. The Gazeta also called Poland’s victory, their first in 19 attempts against Germany, as “the end of the biggest disgrace in Polish football”.

Having inflicted the first competitive defeat on Germany since their World Cup success in the summer, Rzeczpospolita joked that Poland should now be crowned world champions, and that the National Stadium in Warsaw had not shaken that much since Lewandowski opened the scoring against Greece in the Euro 2012 opener. The stadium is not a lucky one for Germany, hosting their Euro 2012 semi-final defeat byItaly.

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Germany

Bild highlighted the absence of Philipp Lahm, who retired from international football after their World Cup triumph. “The captain played in three positions (right- and left-back and as a defensive midfielder) and put in years of world-class performance – with his diversity, problems for Germany which were exposed against Poland.”

The same paper criticised the form of some of the players who did make it on to the pitch. “After the World Cup some stars are not yet in top form again. Example: Thomas Müller. The Bayern star lacks the determination in his actions. Lukas Podolski is currently most experienced of all German internationals with 119 caps and could help the team in this phase. But Poldi can’t get a game at Arsenal at the moment and has no rhythm. Mats Hummels has long been violated. He also lacks the rhythm, to rediscover his top form.”

Süeddeutsche praised the atmosphere in Warsaw. “Something special happened on Saturday night at the Warsaw National Stadium. Something historical, which had an effect on Germany-based players like Dortmund’s Lukasz Piszczek. The stadium shook. It glowed white and red. Around 57,000 organised a national rejoicing, as had never been seen in this young arena.”

France

L’Equipe criticised Löw’s insistence on playing with a false nine. “Löw’s decisions can be discussed. He continues to ignore real goalscorers such as Kiessling and Lasogga and continues to rely on half strikers like Götze and Müller. Without success.”