Euro 2012 Preview: Group A: Poland vs Greece

The fourteenth European Championship gets underway in Poland and the Ukraine on Friday with co-hosts Poland entertaining 2004 winners Greece in the capital Warsaw. The opening game of any international tournament is all about colour, passion and excitement and Friday’s clash at the Stadion Narodowy will be no different, given that both the teams need to make a good start in a group also featuring Russia and the Czech Republic to have genuine hopes of progressing into the next round.

Pedigree

Poland

The co-hosts have a dismal pedigree in the European championships having appeared in 2008 only, with a record of one draw and two losses. Franciszek Smuda’s side would not be concerned about past records one bit as they attempt to showcase their talent in front of passionate home support, come June 8. Given Poland’s inability to produce satisfactory home grown talents, the German speaking coach has put forward a team comprising mostly of foreign based players who are either born in Germany or France, amidst a lot of tension as few players do not even know how to speak Polish. Yet their inclusions have produced good results and all will be forgiven if the Bialo-Czerwoni can make it to the next round.

Greece

The Greeks surprised Europe and the whole world by triumphing against all odds at Euro 2004 and also participated in that opening game against hosts Portugal in Porto. Fernando Santos‘ side does boast of a valuable experience apart from winning the Henri Delauney trophy itself, by playing in the opening game against a much powerful hosts in 2004 and winning it 2-1. Although it was eight years back under Otto Rehhagel, yet there are few senior pros in the side who will pass on that experience to the younger lot come the D-day, as Greece hope to recall that great summer of 2004 to begin Euro 2012 with full points.

Head to Head

Pedigree wise Poland are a no match to the Greeks. Yet, when it comes to head to head statistics, the former eclipses the latter by a long way. The Poles have recorded a staggering ten victories in fifteen matches against the Greeks and the record reads 10 wins 2 draws and 3 losses. The last match between the two ended in a goalless draw in a March 2011 friendly in Piraeus. More importantly, Greece have a horrendous record in Poland with eight visits fetching eight losses, giving the home side much belief ahead of the opening clash. Poland have won four of the teams’ last five meetings and are unbeaten in the last six games.

Current form

Poland were not required to qualify for the tournament along with the Ukraine as co-hosts, so they last played a competitive game in 2009. But under Franciszek Smuda, the team has gelled well in the last two years and results have shown that the home side could be in contention for a knockout berth. All the foreign based players have performed to the nation’s expectations and the backline has stood firm under the astute leadership of goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny.

Last five matches

Poland- W W W D W
Jun 2, 2012	Poland 4- Andorra 0	INF
May 26, 2012	Poland 1- Slovakia 0	INF
May 22, 2012	Poland 1- Latvia 0	INF
Feb 29, 2012	Poland 0- Portugal 0	INF
Nov 15, 2011	Poland 2- Hungary 1	INF

Greece have emerged a strong nation after two poor tournaments since winning Euro 2004 and came on top of their qualifying group seeing off Croatia, Israel and Latvia. Fernando Santos has built his side based on a firm defensive approach that has seen the team concede just five goals in the qualifying campaign. This is a team that do not concede many, but also play with three strikers who are a handful at poaching goals when they really matter.

Last five matches

Greece- W D D L D
May 31, 2012	Greece 1- Armenia 0	INF
May 26, 2012	Greece 1- Slovenia 1	INF
Feb 29, 2012	Greece 1- Belgium 1	INF
Nov 15, 2011	Greece 1- Romania 3	INF
Nov 11, 2011	Greece 1- Russia 1	INF

Possible Team Line ups

Poland

Robert Lewandowski would be the player to watch out for

Franciszek Smuda will use a 4-2-3-1 formation with Borussia Dortmund trio of Robert Lewandowski, Jakub Blaszczykowski and Lukasz Piszczek the main centres of attraction in the forward, midfield and defensive positions respectively. Arsenal goalkeeper Szczesny is the obvious choice in goal with Lukasz Piszczek (one of the best right backs in the world) marauding down the right to provide services for an attacking midfield and especially club mate Lewandowski. The coach experimented with his defence over the past couple of years and it looks like Werder Bremen’s Sebastian Boenisch, Marcin Wasilewski, Damien Perquis and Lukasz Piszczek would be filling up the final defensive posts. Highly rated striker Robert Lewandowski would be banking on the services of his midfield that would like having captain Jakub Blaszczykowski, Dariusz Dudka/Kamil Grosicki, Ludovic Obraniak, Maciej Rybus, Eugen Polanski/Adrian Mierzejewski.

Greece

Fernando Santos would employ a 4-3-3 strategy, with extra care taken on the defensive side of the game. The Portuguese coach has a headache in the form of finalising his defensive line up. He has three top class central defenders in the form of Avraam Papadopoulos, Kyriakos Papadopoulos and Sokratis Papastathopoulos while he needs just two. But given the talents and fine performance over the course of the qualifying, all are likely to feature in the starting line up with Papastathopoulos being employed in the right back position. The other spot would likely be used by either Olympiakos’ Jose Holebas or Vassilis Torosidis. The midfield would feature 32-year old Kostas Katsouranis, Giannis Maniatis and the hugely experienced Giorgos Karagounis. This defensive-minded midfield would be responsible to cut down the Polish midfield influence with extra support from a three pronged attacking set up, comprising of the talented 22-year old Sotiris Ninis, the experienced Georgios Samaras and the free scoring Theofanis Gekas.

Match Prediction

Poland will be more attacking against Greece as the onus will be on the co-hosts to take the game to the opposition in front of home support in the capital, Warsaw. But given Greece’s ability to absorb pressure with their fantastic back four, as was evident in the qualification campaign, and with a 4-3-3 formation, there is every chance that the 2004 winners would hit the Poles on the break or on the set piece. This match has all the makings of either an entertaining goalless draw or a 1-1 scoreline, although European teams tend to throw the odd predictions out of the window.