MARSEILLE, France — Ricardo Quaresma scored the winning penalty Thursday as Portugal beat Poland 5-3 in a shootout to reach the semifinals of the European Championship.

With the quarterfinal at 1-1 after extra time, Quaresma fired his spot kick past Lukasz Fabianski to line up a match against Wales or Belgium in Lyon, France, on Wednesday.

Having previously scored an extra-time winner in the Round of 16 against Croatia, Quaresma’s penalty sent Portugal into the semifinals for the fourth time in the last five European Championships.

Poland winger Jakub Blaszczykowski came into the match as his team’s top scorer, but had a poor game and saw his penalty saved one-handed by Rui Patricio, allowing Quaresma to finish the job with the next kick.

On a night when captain Cristiano Ronaldo turned in another disappointing performance, 18-year-old midfielder Renato Sanches stepped up to tie it for Portugal in the first half. Sanches was his team’s main threat for much of the game with his smart movement and passing in his first international start.

“It’s wonderful for the team, for me as well for scoring the goal,” he said. “People criticize us but we don’t care because in the end we’re in the semis.”

Advertisement

Portugal’s last six games at European Championships have been drawn after 90 minutes in a run dating to its loss to Spain on penalties in the 2012 semifinals.

Robert Lewandowski put Poland in front with the quickest goal of the tournament, scoring inside two minutes.

Portugal right-back Cedric Soares misjudged a cross-field ball, allowing Kamil Grosicki to break into space on the left flank and send in a low cross for Lewandowski to convert with a first-time shot.

Poland’s lead lasted until the 33rd minute, when Sanches tied it.

Poland had chances to win the game in the second half, notably when Patricio stopped a diving header from Lewandowski.

THE UNITED STATES will play Cuba in a friendly for the first time since 1947 on Oct. 7 in Havana.

Advertisement

It will be just the second visit to Cuba in the last 69 years for the American men, who won 1-0 on Sept. 6, 2008 in a World Cup qualifying match. The exhibition comes a month after the United States ends the semifinal round of CONCACAF qualifying for the World Cup with matches against St. Vincent and the Grenadines, then against Trinidad and Tobago.

ZLATAN IBRAHIMOVIC, a Swede who is one of the world’s top strickers, announced that he will be joining Manchester United.

Ibrahimovic willl be joining as a free agent, with his contract at Paris Saint-Germain expiring in the offseason.

VICENTE DEL BOSQUE said he’s standing down after eight years in charge of Spain, having guided the team to World Cup and European titles.

Del Bosque, 65, said he has “no intention of continuing” in the job after Spain’s European title defense ended Monday in the Round of 16 with a loss to Italy. His contract was due to expire next month.


Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.

Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.