Poland 1-1 Greece
The first match of the European Championships took place in Warsaw on the 8th of June at 17.00 GMT. The game was kicked off by http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Greece-c2908, who overcame the Portuguese threat in the opening encounter of Euro 2004, the year in which they went on to
lift the trophy.
However, any such repeat was put to the test after the Polish team started with vigour and determination in front of their home fans, with a capacity crowd of 56,826. Franciszek Smuda’s men were enigmatic and creative in the opening exchanges of the match
and their persistence was rewarded when Jakub Blaszczykowski’s cross was expertly converted by http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Robert-Lewandowski-c31255.
Kostas Chalkias’s position was definitely under question, after he failed to judge Blaszczykowski’s cross into the area which made Lewandowski's task much easier.
The Greek’s life was not made any easier when their defender, Sokratis Papastathopoulos, was given the marching orders by the referee, http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Carlos-c8346 Velasco Carballo, when he received a second yellow card. Papastathopoulos was considered to have fouled the Polish
midfielder, Rafel Murawski.
Poland were on course of claiming all three points for their endeavours, however a goalkeeping howler by http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Wojciech-Szczesny-c36998 failed to collect a cross into the box, which effectively allowed Dimitrios Salpingidis to prod the ball in from close range.
Things were about to get worse for the co-hosts 20 minutes before the half-time, after the http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Przemyslaw-Tyton-c30175 was Poland’s saviour on the night as he saved the penalty by Giorgio
Karagounis while diving to the left.
Both teams ended the match with ten-men; however, the early jitters of playing in a major tournament were clearly showing with both teams having lapses in concentration.
http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Russia-c2991 4-1 Czech Republic
The second match of the European Cup was more enterprising and attacking, as Russia ripped apart an aging Czech outfit. The match was played before a crowd of 37,348 spectators in Wroclaw. http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Czech-Republic-c2882 never looked like imposing their presence in the match
and they were by far the inferior side on the night.
d**k Advocaat’s men took the lead in the opening fifteen minutes of the match when Alexandr Kerzhakov’s beautifully struck shot ricocheted off the post for Dzagoev to blast into an unprotected net. Russia’s captain, http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Andrei-Arshavin-c5771, was expertly pulling
the strings in midfield and gave an assist for Shirokov, who expertly finished over the advancing http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Petr-Cech-c29837.
The Russians went into the second-half with a lead of two goals; however, the Czech’s started brightly in the second half and were rewarded for their efforts with an exquisite finish from Pilar. However, the match was laid to rest after the Lokomotiv Moscow
striker, http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Roman-Pavlyuchenko-c31639 passed through to Dzagoev who shot an impeccably placed strike, leaving Cech with no chance.
Pavlyuchenko came on as a substitute for Kerzhakov, who had a night to forget with seven attempts on goal and none of them converted. However, the Moscow striker heavily influenced the proceedings of the match following his arrival on the field of play and
finished the match with a goal in the 81st minute.
A win in their next match against co-hosts http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Poland-c2983 would mean that the Russians progress to the next stage of the tournament.
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