Poland will want to win the opening match of Euro 2012 in front of a passionate home crowd, but they might find it tough to score against Greece.
GAME INFO
Game Date/Time: Friday, 12 p.m. ET, 6 p.m. Local
Venue: National Stadium, Warsaw, Poland
TV: ESPN (U.S. – English), ESPN Deportes (U.S. – Spanish), BBC One (U.K.), TSN (Canada)
Online: (Links will be added 10Mins b4 the match)
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GREECEPoland put together a strong run from 2002 through 2008, qualifying for three out of four major tournaments and missing out on just Euro 2004. They failed to qualify for the 2010 World Cup, and if one feels like being obnoxiously technical, they still haven’t qualified for a major final since 2008, but they return to the world stage as hosts of Euro 2012.
Hosts get the benefit going into Pot 1 for the draw, and Poland got the additional benefit of drawing arguably the weakest team in each of the three other pots. Group A is about as weak as a group can possibly be at a major final. It’s actually quite remarkable.
However, this is the European Championships, and every team that’s here except for Poland and Ukraine had to get through qualifying. That means that no one is actually bad, and Poland will have a very hard time getting out of their group and into the knockout stages of the tournament, even though they’re playing three home games in one of the easiest groups a major final has seen in a long time. Their first opponent is Greece, who has managed to qualify for three consecutive major finals.
Most of the team that got Greece to Euro 2008 and the 2010 World Cup still remains in place, led by captain Giorgos Karagounis. He’s the perfect midfielder for a Greece team that plays a conservative and hard-nosed style, but needs a bit of creativity from someone. He strikes the perfect balance between defensive aptitude and technical skill, and even though he’s 35 years old, he might be the best player between the two midfields.
Poland’s captain is “Kuba,” Jakub Blaszczykowski, but while his skill on the wing will be key for his country, the real pressure is on his club teammate. Robert Lewandowski is the best striker that Poland has had since the 1980s, and he’s coming off of an absolutely brilliant season for Borussia Dortmund. He has the talent to create goal-scoring opportunities by himself, but since Greece likes to sit back quite a bit, his teammates should have the ball enough to attempt to create some for him.
Lineup
Poland Lineup (4-2-3-1): Wojciech Szczesny; Sebastian Boenisch, Damien Perquis, Marcin Wasilewski, Lukasz Piszczek; Rafal Murawski, Eugen Polanski; Adrian Mierzejewski, Ludovic Obraniak, Jakub Blaszczykowski; Robert Lewandowski
Greece Lineup (4-3-3): Kostas Chalkias; Jose Holebas, Avraam Papadopoulos, Sokratis Papastathopoulos, Vasilis Torosidis; Grigoris Makos, Kostas Katsouranis, Giorgos Karagounis; Georgios Samaras, Theofanis Gekas, Sotiris Ninis
