Euro 2012 got off to a thrilling start as hosts Poland and http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Greece-c2908 played out a nail-biting 1-1 draw at the National Stadium in Warsaw, in a game which witnessed two red cards and a saved penalty kick.
The home team opened the scoring through http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Robert-Lewandowski-c31255 in the 17th minute, and had a massive advantage of an extra man throughout the second period, as Sokratis Papastathopoulos was sent off during the closes stages of the first half. However,
the 2004 title winners somehow managed to squeeze an equalizer after the break, to deny the hosts a perfect start to their campaign.
Things could have gone from bad to worse for http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Przemyslaw-Tyton-c30175 stepped
up to the occasion and saved the ensuing spot kick from http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Giorgos-Karagounis-c14970.
With tumultuous and boisterous support of the home fans cheering them on, Poland started the game on a positive note and looked the better of the two teams in the preliminary stages.
A decent cross from http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Rafal-Murawski-c30404, whose thunderous shot was kept out
by http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Kostas-Chalkias-c21345.
The Greeks came close of breaking the shackles in the 12th minute through http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Theofanis-Gekas-c34884, who failed to hit the target from a free header with the Polish defenders standing as mere spectators.
However, with the hosts continuously flirting with the ball outside the opposition’s 18-yard box, their aggressive ploy was rewarded in the 17th minute as Lewandowski sent the home crowd into raptures by netting the opening goal.
http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Jakub-Blaszczykowski-c17616 delivered a swinging cross inside the area from the wing, which was met by the Borussia Dortmund striker who blasted a powerful header past a charging Chalkias into the net, posing question marks over the goalkeeper’s poor positioning.
With Poland stepping up their game after claiming the lead, things became even gloomier for http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Santos-c32532 who saw his side get reduced to ten men, after Papastathopoulos picked up a second yellow card in the 44th minute.
With the task of salvaging a result seemingly looking improbable, Greeks nevertheless began the second half on a positive frame of mind. Against all the odds Salpingidis, who came on as a substitute after the break, went on to level things up, as he made
the most out of a horrendous mix up between Szczesny and defender http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Marcin-Wasilewski-c23636.
With the hosts taken aback by the equalizer, Greece started to play more fluently and had a golden opportunity to grab the lead close to the hour mark, but http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Georgios-Samaras-c14641 skied a volley from inside the six yards box.
However, there was still more drama to come as Poland were shell-shocked after Szczesny was shown a straight red card for illegitimately denying Salpingidis a goal scoring opportunity. However, the ensuing penalty kick was saved by Tyton.
Despite a couple of late sparring from both the sides, the game ended in a 1-1 draw.
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