Poland 1 Greece 1: The perfect appetizer

A game that was decided by dubious refereeing decisions and a few moments of magic from the players out there. All this made for a splendid start to the EURO 2012 competition.

Starting Lineups

First Half: Show of Intent from the Hosts…

The first half kicked off with much buzz in the atmosphere, and it really started with that quick, fast flowing football that football fans love. Although that was quelled slightly by the Greeks, it was an exciting way to kick off the tournament.

It showed the clash of styles. The more patient and physical passing side that was Greece against a hardworking and excited host nation. The opening passages were exciting, with Robert Lewandowski having a few chances, narrowly missing with a header after a great cross, missing out on the opening goal by mere inches.

But Poland were not to be hard done by that, and they closed Greece down with a neat pressing game, limiting them to only a few peeks at Szczesny’s goal. Lewadowski then came back and netter the opening goal of the tournament, with a header directed at the ground before bouncing into the back of the net.

… and Hard Luck for Greece

If that was not enough for Greece, they were dealt 3 blows in the following minutes. An injury to A. Papadopoulos meant that he had to be replaced by his namesake, K. Papadopoulos, who is also a centerback for the Greek nation. The EURO 2004 champions were then subject to a really debatable decision from the referee, with the Spanish referee Carlos Velasco sending Papastathopoulos off with a second yellow card following a nudge on Murawski.

To make matters worse, the referee decided to deny Greece a clear penalty following a handball inside the Polish penalty box. The final blow came when the clearance led to a breakaway for Poland, however Lewandowski was brought down by Greek defender Holebas, earning himself (Holebas) a yellow card.

Second Half: Luck for Greece…

It was clear what Greece manager Fernando Santos wanted to do in the second half. His side needed that equalizer. To do that, he needed his side to attack, and he made a half time switch, bringing off the fairly ineffective right winger Ninis for Salpingidis, who operated ‘in the hole’ when he got on.

Call it deserved luck given their misfortune in the first half, Greece came back into the game with that inspired substitution, with half time substitute Salpingidis getting really lucky following a rebound off a shot on Szczesny, and he simply had to slot it into an empty Polish net to net the equalizer. Szczesny made a hash out of the situation and gifted the Greeks an oppourtunity to tie the game on the 51st minute mark.

..then returns the bad luck

A fantastic pass set up Salpingidis through on goal with a one-on-one against Szczesny, and the Polish keeper could only manage to get one foot out to bring the substitute down to the ground, before seeing the red card himself.

Tyton came on to replace him, and in through host nation fashion, the goalkeeper made himself an instant hero with the Polish supporters, stopping a Kyragounis penalty to keep the scores level at 1-1. This was followed by a short video clip of Szczesny celebrating the penalty save in from inside the tunnel. Pure elation.

The next few exchanges prove eventful but not decisive, with neither side managing to notch another goal until the end of the 90 minutes of football.

Quite simply, a match that was decided by small moments of brilliance, coupled with moments of madness on behalf of the referee, has really set a positive tone for the rest of the tournament.

And An Interesting FourFourTwo Statzone Diagram

Dominant Poland

It is also worth noting that Greece’s only shot on target from open play was in fact their goal.