Euro 2012 Preview - Poland

Jakub Blaszczykowski (2L) and team mates exercise during a Poland training session ahead of the UEFA EURO 2012 Group A match against Greece at National Stadium on June 7, 2012 in Warsaw, Poland.

Having only qualified for the Euros for the first time in 2008, the co-hosts represent one of the ‘new-wave’ forces in international football. Stoic organisation along with glimpses of individual flair will be the theme for a side who’s ultimate aim will surely be to creep through the group stages unscathed. Still, the European Championships have historically been a veritable hotbed of shocks and surprises down the years, and if you were to pick out one potential outside winner to follow Denmark in ’92 and Greece in ’04, then Poland may not be the worst shout.

Poland will set up to frustrate their opponents with typical Eastern European grit. Likely to play five across the middle, their goal-scoring hopes will fall on big front man Robert Lewandowski, with support from skipper Jakub Blasczczykowski and play-making midfielder Ludovic Obraniak. Arsenal shot-stopper Wojciech Szczesny will hope to take his club form into the tournament.

Manager – Franciszek Smuda – Smuda is a personality, make no mistake about it. The outspoken Pole is a veteran student of the game, having coached at no less than fifteen clubs, and relies on an ethic of hard work and strict organisation to achieve results. Expect a few outlandish soundbites to come from a man who once offered supporters a ‘special bonus’ if they could find a ‘class defender with a Polish passport’.

Key Man – Jakub Blaszczykowski – Poland captain, Blaszczykowski will bear most of the load in bridging the gap between Polish defence and attack. The Dortmund man fuses Smuda’s ideals of hard work and counter-attacking flair and enjoyed a successful season in the German side’s title-winning side, scoring seven goals in no less than fourty appearances. Expect Blaszczykowski, who thankfully for commentators around Europe also goes by the alias of ‘Kuba’, to shine in his home country, along with club team-mate and goal machine Robert Lewandowski.

Fixtures - Greece, 8th June 2012 (Warsaw), Russia, 12th June, (Warsaw), Czech Republic, 16th June (Wroclaw).

FIFA World Ranking - 65th (16th at Euro 2012)

Odds - 40-1

Verdict - Without doubt, home advantage looks set to play a huge part in Poland’s chances of emerging from a wide open group. In truth, the hosts could not have chosen a more favourable set of opponents themselves, and Smuda’s men will hope to get off to a flyer in the tournament opener against Greece on Friday. Expect them to rely heavily on a handful of useful German-based players going forward as they cruise to the quarter-finals, only to be sounded out by one of the qualifiers from Group B, the much talked about ‘group of death’.