Fixtures: Friday 8 June
Poland v Greece. 5:00 pm. National Stadium, Warsaw
Russia v Czech Republic. 7:45 pm. Municipal Stadium, Wroclaw
Tuesday 12 June
Greece v Czech Republic. 5:00pm. Municipal Stadium, Wroclaw
Poland v Russia. 7:45pm. National Stadium, Warsaw.
Saturday 16 June:
Greece v Russia. 7:45pm. National Stadium, Warsaw
Czech Republic v Poland. 7:45pm. Municipal Stadium, Wroclaw
Poland
Co-hosts with Ukraine meant the Poles automatically qualified for Euro 2012. As build-up, they have played some high profile friendles and faired reasonably well. They held Portugal and Germany to draws, and lost by one goal to France. They won't face that sort of calibre in Group A, being handed a reasonable draw with teams of a similar quality. Home advantage should help them, as should a solid goalkeeper in Arsenal's Wojciech Szczesny. Don't let their FIFA ranking of 65th, the lowest of all the teams in the tournament, mislead you.
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| Lewandowski: This seasons Bundesliga Player of the Year. |
Key Player: Robert Lewandowski. Likely to play as a lone striker, the Borussia Dortmund player is in the form of his career. He helped Dortmund to a German double, scoring a hat-trick in the cup final against Bayern Munich. In all competitions he scored 30 goals and picked up the Bundesliga Player of the Year. The 23 year-old is so important to any hopes the hosts have of reaching the quarter finals.
Likely line-up:
Szczesny
Piszczek Glowacki Perquis Wamrzyniak
Murawski Dudka
Blaszczykowski Obraniak Mierzejewski
Lewandowski
Odds: Win the tournament: 33/1
Win Group A: 5/2
Robert Lewandowski Top Goalscorer: 16/1
Matt Says: Home advantage and an in form striker should see them win the group.
Russia
After failing to qualify for the 2010 World Cup, Russia qualified for Euro 2012 in comfortable fashion, conceding only four goals on the way in topping Group B. During Euro 2008, the Russians lit up the tournament with their attacking strength as they reached the semi finals. The nucleus of their forwards remain, with Andrei Arshavin and Roman Pavlyuchenko the two stand out names to fans in England. However, both players had limited opportunites in the Premier League and both returned to Russia in January to try and find some form. Arshavin inparticular is a far cry from the player we saw terrifying defences at Euro 2008 which is a big blow to Russia's hopes of replicating their form of four years ago.
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| Dzagoev: Playing in the Premier League soon? |
Likely line-up:
Akinfeev
Anyukov A.Berezutski Ignashevich Zhirkov
Shirokov Denisov Zyryanov
Dzagoev
Arshavin Pavlyuchenko
Odds: Win the tournament: 25/1
Win Group A: 6/4
Roman Pavlyuchenko Top Goalscorer: 40/1
Matt Says: A stingy defence and emerging attacking talent will see them qualify.
Greece
In 2004 all was well in Greece. Their economy appeared stable, they were about to host the Olympic Games in its spiritual home and defied all odds by winning the European Championships, albeit in a very dull and defensive manner. Eight years later their economy is on the brink of collapse, but the football philosophy of the national football team remains the same. They topped their qualifying group ahead of Croatia but only scored 14 goals in ten games. Their tactics are simple. Defend for long periods with eight men behind the ball and try and nick a goal from either a set piece or a slice of luck. It worked effectively in 2004, but miracles only tend to happen once.
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| Papadopoulos: Despite his young age, a key player for Greece. |
Key Player: Kyriakos Papadopoulos. The central defender will be key to Greece's chances, despite only being 20. He has been a big player for his club side Schalke 04, particularly in their runs in Europe over the past two seasons. He was also in the top five for tackles, interceptions and blocked shots in the Bundesliga this season.
Likely line-up:
Tzorvas
Torosidis Papastathopoulos K Papadopoulos Holebas
Katsourais Maniatis Karagounis
Ninis Gekas Samaras
Odds: Win the tournament: 80/1
Win Group A: 9/2
Theofanis Gekas Top Goalscorer: 100/1
Matt Says: A repeat of Euro 2004 won't happen. Will do well to get out of the group.
Czech Republic
Since the likes of Pavel Nedved and Karel Poborsky retired, the Czechs have lacked a creative spark to go far in a major tournament like they did in 1996 and 2004. That was shown in qualifying for this tournament, scoring only 11 times in 8 games. They lack a proven goalscorer, with Milan Baros the man likely to start up front on his own. They beat Montenegro 3-0 on aggregate in the playoffs to reach Poland and Ukraine and it was here where the Czech Republic of old began to surface as Tomas Rosicky proved instrumental. An injury to Rosicky in the last Premier League game of the season against West Borm could be critical as without him, creating chances are few and far between.
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| Rosicky: Can he recover from injury in time to inspire the Czech's? |
Key Player: Tomas Rosicky. Form and fitness returned for Rosicky as he helped Arsenal to a third place finish in the Premier League at the end of last season. If he can recover from the injury picked up at the end of last season, then he could guide the team out of the group.
Likely line-up: Cech
Selassie Hubnik Sivok M Kadlec
Plasil Jiracek
Rezek Rosicky Pilar
Baros
Odds: Win the tournament: 66/1
Win Group A: 4/1
Milan Baros Top Goalscorer: 100/1
Matt Says: Lack of cutting edge up front means they will fall short.
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