Finally, the European championships kick off with hosts http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Greece-c2908 at the National Stadium in Warsaw
The wait is over as the European Championships 2012 kickoff in Poland and http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Ukraine-c3032.
Today, Poland will kick-start their European adventure against surprise winners of the 2004 edition of the tournament, Greece. Not the most attractive game on paper in all fairness but it will promise a fresh and healthy dose of excitement for fans of one of the two host countries.
However, the Poles do have every reason to be cautious and wary. Playing the opening match of Euros is not necessarily a gift and in past has been a curse for many a nation.
Ask hosts of 2008 European Championships http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Switzerland-c3016 who got beaten 1-0 in the first game by Czech Republic. Same for Portugal who hosted Euros in 2004 and were defeated by Greece in the opening game. Ironically, Portugal lost the final to the same team a few weeks later.
Since 1984, the opening game of the Euros has been won just once by the host country and that was back in 2000 when http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Sweden-c3015 2-1.
Polish daily Prezglad Sportowy has sent the winds of caution to the national team by saying that the game against Greece will be a testing one. And manager Franciszek Smuda knows that despite having star players like http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Lukasz-Piszczek-c22920, Poland will have a big task on their hands to beat a Greek side that has always been a strong unit defensively.
And Poland don’t have a great record when it comes to opening day wins in mega tournaments either. The last time Poles actually won on the opening day was way back in the 1974 World Cup in West http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Argentina-c2841 3-2 at the Neckarstadion in Stuttgart.
Tonight’s second game would be played between http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Russia-c2991 and Czech Republic, two teams who will have a big say on who wins the group A this June.
Led by Andriy Arshavin, Russians impressed at the Euros in 2008 when they reached the semi-final of the competition. However, it remains to be seen if they will impress again this around considering that almost the same team has been retained that entertained everyone four years ago.
Like previous editions, the first game of the Euros will set tone for the rest of the tournament. Will fans be entitled to see quality football for a month or will they witness teams laying siege on opponents defence?
Tonight, Poland will see the host nation, Greece, http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Czech-Republic-c2882 and the Russians will be looking to kickoff their respective campaigns on a strong footing.
Though apart from Poles, there is a lot of parity between the other three sides in the group, one can expect a few relatively unknown stars to rise from the ashes.
In 2000 it was Hakan Şükür, in 2004 Milan Baros and http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Roman-Pavlyuchenko-c31639 made a name for themselves at the Euros.
This time, one can expect the likes of http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Sotiris-Ninis-c33835 rally the Greeks towards another surprise achievement.
Expect http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Roman-Shirokov-c31645 to pull the strings for the cocky Russians in the midfield. Marit Izmailov has come back from the wilderness after six years and could play an instrumental role in where the Russians end up this June.
Also expect Tomas to do what fellow countryman Milan Baros did all those years ago in http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Portugal-c2984.
Excitement begins today and for the sake of fans and for TV ratings, let’s hope that this year’s edition of the Euros turns out to be an unforgettable event full of upsets and twists and turns with a fairytale ending.
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