Euro 2016: Sturridge, England beat Wales at the death, Poland stifles Germany

England, collectively, prepared itself for the firestorm.

This was supposed to be the tournament of diminished expectations for the Three Lions. But as Roy Hodgson's side trotted out of the dressing room trailing its neighbor, Wales, 1-0 at halftime of its second group game at Euro 2016, even those expectations weren't being met. Anger seemed set to be unleashed. An inquest was readied.

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Then up popped Jamie Vardy to equalize. And finally, at the death, there was Daniel Sturridge, whose snapshot gave England its first win at a major tournament when trailing at halftime.

Sturridge's goal sent England soaring to the top of Group B, and sent its fans into delirium.

Elsewhere at Euro 2016 on Thursday, Poland stifled Germany. Their 0-0 draw officially eliminated Ukraine, which fell 2-0 to a boisterous Northern Ireland.

But let's begin by dissecting England 2, Wales 1.

IN DEFENSE OF JOE HART

Perhaps it was the general irritation with England's first-half performance. Perhaps it was the need for a scapegoat for an unsatisfactory game-and-a-half overall. But when Joe Hart parried Gareth Bale's swerving free kick into the side netting, unable to push it around the post, he was vilified by soccer Twitter and England fans all over.

There are many reasons why the condemnations of Hart are unfair.

Let's start by looking at the trajectory of the ball. Bale hits it with his knuckling technique to Hart's side of the wall – not over the wall, but rather around it. In fact, 10 yards into its flight, the position of this ball is almost identical to the one Bale hit Saturday against Slovakia.

On that occasion, Slovakian keeper Matus Kozacic was pummeled with criticism for an oft-ridiculed move. As Bale strode towards the ball, Kozacic hopped towards the near side of the goal – the one supposedly protected by the wall – in anticipation. He was then beat to his side by the dipping drive.

If Hart had done similarly on Thursday, he would've had Bale's free kick covered. Keepers look foolish when they cheat to one side and get beat to the other, but there's a reason they cheat in the first place. The majority of on-target free kicks go up and over, or around the wall to the near post.

Pundits will lambaste keepers when they guess and guess wrong, but nobody ever recognizes the countless examples when guessing makes a diving save at the near post possible. It's even fair to wonder whether Hart's decision not to guess was affected by the reprimands of Kozacic less than a week earlier.

But to debate the merits of guessing is to ignore the common thread here – and the reason Hart isn't totally at fault: Gareth Bale.

Back to the trajectory of the ball. Ten or 15 yards in, it's headed right down Hart's throat. It's unclear at exactly what point Hart recognizes the swerve to his left-hand post, or at what point it's even possible to recognize that, but that recognition undoubtedly comes later than it would versus a non-Bale free kick.

So not only can Hart not guess, but he's also frozen to the spot because he's clueless as to the direction in which the ball will knuckle. Will it curl like a traditional left-footed free kick? Will it slice? Will it dip straight down? Or not at all? Hart can't react until he's reasonably certain, for fear of looking foolish.

And once he does begin his dive? He has to get all the way down to the ground. To the eye, it always looks worse when a goalkeeper gets beat low than high, but it's actually far easier to reach a shot in the upper corner than the bottom corner. And once a low dive is initiated, there's no going back.

So by the time Hart knew where he had to go to keep Bale's laser out of the net, it was difficult to get there in time. That's not to say Hart isn't at fault. He could've done better. But it's by no means an awful error.

TACTICS TALK

Throughout a fairly cagey first half, England tried, and failed, to jam the ball down the throat of the Wales defense. With Adam Lallana and Raheem Sterling preferring to come infield, England didn't even try to stretch the field horizontally before attacking centrally. It went right for the heart.

On the other side, Wales set up in a 5-2-3 that often transformed into a 5-3-2 without the ball – Bale, one of the more withdrawn forwards, would stay high, while Aaron Ramsey would slot in beside Joe Allen and Joe Ledley. Ramsey's defensive positioning gave Wales two banks of three – three center backs, three central midfielders – and there were rarely more than 10 or 15 yards between the two lines.

That, along with the fact that England's lack of width allowed Wales' wing backs to defend even more narrowly, rendered England's attack ineffective. Kyle Walker occasionally provided width when he bombed up the right, and Wales often left him 1-on-1 with left wing back Neil Taylor, but Walker and Danny Rose had to be wary of the threat of Bale. With Bale often eschewing defensive responsibility, Walker and Rose had to be on the lookout of his attacking threat even when England had the ball, for fear of leaving Bale and Hal Robson-Kanu 2-v-2 or 2-v-3 on the counter.

Bale's free kick right before halftime did away with that concern in the second half. After the break, Rose and especially Walker were free to charge forward with reckless abandon, which gave England more vigor going forward.

With Rose and Walker now providing more width, manager Roy Hodgson threw on Jamie Vardy, Daniel Sturridge and, eventually, Marcus Rashford, effectively going with three strikers in front of Dele Alli and Wayne Rooney. And finally, at the death, England forced its way through a taut Wales backline.

TEARS OF THE DAY

OH WAIT … HE'S TRYING TO FIGHT BACK.

YES. HE'S DONE IT.

POLAND VS. GERMANY

It wasn't the most entertaining of games. But Germany-Poland was an intriguing battle that probably told us more about the underdog than the favorite. Poland spent nearly the entire first half on the proverbial back foot, with Germany's counterpress buzzing. But the Poles never looked shaky. They managed to keep the Germans at bay while also offering at least something going forward.

The second half was more of a two-way street.

MISS OF THE DAY

Straight from the second-half kickoff, Poland attacked, and Kamil Grosicki's cross couldn't have been much better.

That's Arkadiusz Milik, who scored and generally impressed in Poland's 1-0 win over Northern Ireland. He seemed caught in between a lunging volley and a header. Milik whiffed on another fantastic chance several minutes later as well.

A draw was the deserved result, though, and Poland will be dangerous come the knockout round.

BEAUTIFUL SUMMER WEATHER OF THE DAY

Um … oh.

The above picture is from Lyon, the site of Northern Ireland-Ukraine. The match was actually suspended for a few minutes in the second half. But not even hail, nor anything else, could ruin a glorious day for Northern Ireland, who won its first ever game at the European Championships and won its first game at a major competition since 1982.

Gareth McAuley headed Northern Ireland into the lead early in the second half. Niall McGinn's 96th minute rebound goal could prove to be crucial as well, though. Northern Ireland, who faces Germany in its final group game, looks likely to finish third in Group C, and whether it finishes third on three or four points, goal difference could be the decider. The top four third-place teams advance to the Round of 16.