Published on 12:00 AM, June 12, 2016

Poland face test of patience

Poland's forward Arkadiusz Milik (C) celebrates his goal during the Euro 2016 group C football match. Photo: AFP

Poland face a test of patience and their nerves when they open their Euro 2016 campaign against a Northern Ireland side who want to make themselves "horrible" to play against.

Sunday's group C match will pit one of the most attack-minded of the 24 teams at Euro 2016 against a team who have made no bones about their intentions.

Spearheaded by the attacking duo of Robert Lewandowski and Arkadiusz Milik, Poland were the highest-scoring team in the qualifying competition with 33 goals, 13 of them coming from Bayern Munich's Lewandowski.

Coach Adam Nawalka has turned them from a counter-attacking side into one that keeps possession and build attacks carefully.

He has also bucked the trend of teams playing with a single, or no, striker, expressly to give Lewandowski more support, a tactic which has worked wonders so far.