2016 Euro Qualifying: 5 Takeaways From Poland’s Win Over Germany

In welcoming the World Champions to Warsaw for a big European Championship qualifier, many a soccer pundit would have predicted that Poland would eventually succumb to Germany's endeavor. In the end, they held on for a massively historic win — their very first in 18 encounters. With a team chock-full of hotshots such as Andre Schurrle, Toni Kroos and Julian Draxler, this was a result very few saw coming, but what a result it was.

Holding the ball up intelligently, Robert Lewandowski ensured he gave his teammates ample opportunity to catch their breath in between the otherwise incessant assaults launched by Joachim Low's charges. Set up expertly by Adam Nawalka, they not only intended to soak up the pressure, but also to use it as a weapon against them. Hitting them on the counter-attack for both goals, they sprung two perfect traps to seal the win.

Ireland and Scotland, both Poland's perceived rivals for second place, are sure to feel a pang of anxiety and frustration at seeing the final result of Saturday's match, because now they're fighting even more of an uphill battle than before thanks to goals from Arkadiusz Milik and Sebastian Mila. Can Poland now realistically top the group? That remains to be seen, but they've certainly made it interesting.

Make no mistake, this will go down as one of the best defensive displays on the international stage. Time and again, Die Mannschaft's attacks were repelled as Arsenal's No. 1 shot-stopper Wojiech Szczesny produced saved after save to help his side hold on. Of course, he had massive support from a back-line that never relented and refused to give in, despite how tired their bodies were. All in all, this was a result for the ages.

Much like the Holland-Kazakhstan match from Friday, it was easy to imagine that both sides would approach the tie the way they did. Still, Low couldn't have anticipated just how this one would go. In truth, they had their fair share of chances to take the lead; Lukas Podolski rattled the crossbar, Thomas Muller was inches away with a first-half effort and they dominated possession. And yet, it still wasn't enough.