HEAD STRONG
Overtime volley sends Portugal to quarters
Cristiano Ronaldo helped create a rare chance and substitute Ricardo Quaresma finished it off, helping Portugal to beat Croatia, 1-0, Saturday in Lens, France, and advance to the European Championship quarterfinals.
Portugal settled a poor game in the 117th minute with its only serious attack, when Ronaldo’s one shot all match was parried by goalkeeper Danijel Subasic across the goalmouth in the second half of extra time. Quaresma stooped to head the ball into an unguarded net from close range.
The goal came from a fast counter attack just after Croatia forward Ivan Perisic had struck the post with a shot.
Portugal will play Poland in the quarterfinals on Thursday in Marseille. It is clearly in the weaker half of the bracket, avoiding Spain, Italy, Germany and France until the final on July 10.
Somehow, Portugal and 31-yearold Ronaldo have a chance to win an elusive first title after three draws in the group stage and looking incapable of scoring in a cautious, mistake-filled match in the round of 16.
Poland 1, Switzerland 1
(Poland 5-4 PKs)
Poland qualified for the quarterfinals for the first time after it converted all its penalties to beat Switzerland, 5-4, in a shootout in Saint-Etienne.
Following a 1-1 draw Saturday that Switzerland had dominated for long periods, Grzegorz Krychowiak stepped up to score the winning penalty into the top left corner. Poland will play either Croatia or Portugal in the quarterfinals on Thursday in Marseille.
Krychowiak’s winning penalty capped an impressive display by Poland’s players during the shootout. The only player to miss was Switzerland midfielder Granit Xhaka, who fired his kick wide of the left post.
Jakub Blaszczykowski scored his second goal of the tournament to give Poland the lead in the 39th minute and Switzerland equalized with an 82nd-minute bicycle kick from Xherdan Shaqiri.
Wales 1, Northern Ireland 0
Gareth Bale was the creator of the only goal — an own-goal — to put Wales into quarterfinals with a 1-0 win over Northern Ireland in Paris.
Bale’s cross was aimed at teammate Hal Robson-Kanu, but it was inadvertently tipped into the net by Northern Ireland defender Gareth McAuley in the 75th minute.
The only goal threat by the Welsh before the slightly fortuitous breakthrough came from a free kick from Bale, the tournament’s co-leading scorer with three goals.