EURO 2012 Kicks off in Warsaw Today
EURO 2012 begins this morning, and the opening game features Poland v. Greece at the newly constructed National Stadium in Warsaw. Kickoff is at 11:00 a.m. Central Daylight Time and is available in the United States on ESPN, ESPN Deportes, ESPN3 broadband, and the WatchESPN app.
This will be only the second time Poland has played in the Euros. The other appearance was Euro 2008. Poland was eliminated in the group stage after placing fourth. Since 1986, Poland has only appeared in the World Cup twice, including 2002 and 2006. Poland was also eliminated in the group stages for both of these tournaments.
Greece became European champions at Euro 2004 in their second trip to the tournament. They failed to qualify for the 2006 World Cup, and were eliminated during the group stage of both Euro 2008 and the 2010 World Cup.
After a strong showing during qualifying, where they won their group, Greece is now ranked 15th in the world according to FIFA. Poland is ranked 62nd.
But never underestimate the home team in cup tournaments and history favors the Poles — Poland has defeated Greece in all eight games at home.
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JAZDA JAZDA JAZDA BIALO CZERWONI!!!
This will go Poland’s way as the squad from Greece will tank in the same manner as their economy.
Green Side Up! Green Side Up! Green Side Up! I think this a Polish National Cheer as I recall fondly as a young boy the neighbors cheering for the Polish gardeners as they laid sod next door.
In spite of the racist comments being made today, this should be a very exciting series of games!
If the racist chants from the crowd persists, I would be in support of those teams that walk off the field.
Oh yee of little tolerance, there is not an ounce of racial injustice in that post.
Please don’t confuse race with nationality.
Get off your PC pedistal – As a Norwegian I’m suppose to stick with Ole & Leana jokes?
Apply some good old Garage Logic and laugh a little
How about Lego7 and Bart were laying sod one day and constantly had to be reminded Green Side Up, Green Side Up
The comments aren’t the big problem, it’s the racist chants that made headlines on BBC dot com today: “Euro 2012: Uefa confirms ‘isolated racist chanting’ towards Dutch” during a training session.
THAT’S a problem, and I would also support teams walking off the pitch.
Poland wins today, and Lewandoski nets one for sure. In the other game I’m expecting a tie as I’m not as enthralled with the Russians as some people seem to be based on articles I’ve read in different places. Then tomorrow the real fun begins! Germany vs. Portugal is going to be great as the Germans will flex their muscles and pin an early loss on Ronaldo. What a great soccer weekend!
Thanks Gumby Grrl – I didn’t connect the dots -
@tomASS, that’s because you’ve got your head stuck in “Garage Logic” :p
Yes, I was referring to that incident with the Dutch team. And it was just a training session too, which is even more pathetic. Mark von Bommel stood up for his teammates and threaten they will walk out if it occurs in a match.
@ Brian – who would think that a 53 yr. old man would be flexible enough to still insert one, if not two, feet into his mouth ….who needs yoga classes
Come on Polski – one more goal and the dagger is in the heart of the Greeks!
poor decisions on the yellow card by the referee in both instances – Yikes!
So far I’m on target. Lewandoski goal – check. Greece being down to 10 men makes my Polish win prediction look pretty good too. Damn, I need a re-invite to Soccer Boy’s afternoon worktime viewing party authorized by the boss! LOL
Strikers Return – a few of us picked the Polacks to win
in the first match… it could’ve been better, could’ve been worse… for both sides lol
the weather should make for an interesting 2nd match
well my dark horse for golden boot, kerzhakov had plenty of chances today… i think they showed a stat of 7 shots, 0 on target. so they were there, he simply blew all of them lol. well at least dzagoev has a shot to prove my russian darkhorse for golden boot.
time to see what the big boys can do tomorrow, with my favorite to win the golden boot, in Gomez. all in all, 2 good matches today. i was worried i would be bored to death with the style of play in this group, but was pleasantly surprised with czech & greek teams willing to open up. should make group A all the more interesting for that 2nd spot, i lean slightly toward poland still
As far as racist comments the head coach of Netherlands said he didn’t hear anything.
You can find racist rants everywhere.
@Strikers Return (and tomASS), you guys can get back on the invite list as long as you bring the adult beverages that are craft brewed.
I got involved for the first time and did a Euro pool. I picked up the Dutch, Russia, Ireland and Czech Republic. This is great stuff!
“As far as racist comments the head coach of Netherlands said he didn’t hear anything.” – WSW
Maybe he did, maybe he didn’t. You really think a coach of his skin tone would be on the receiving end of monkey chants? Yeah. It was coach Bert van Marwijk who took his team to the other side of the pitch when it happened. They all heard it.
I don’t mean to change the subject of the article since I’m excited for the tournament, but sweeping away situations like this under the rug will never help clean the sport.
From my understanding the referees have been instructed to stop the matches if they detect any racial chants or slurs. Lets hope they enforce that better and with more severe harshness than the trifling way they threw around the yellow and red cards today.
@soccerboy – if it’s cold and in a bottle, I consider that a craft beer. If one of them evades me then it is a crafty beer.
It isn’t just chants. English and Russian speaking fans have been attacked at pubs.
@ Daniel Blod…something – if they would just pay their tab there would not be a problem
racism, idiocy, and ignorance can happen just about anywhere… yesterday some russian supporters attacked stewards in the stadium and were chanting racial slurs about the wingback from the czech republic (of ethiopian descent). today some croatian supporters attacked police in poznan, where their national team beat ireland. this isn’t a poland or ukraine specific thing, this is a racism/idiocy/ignorance thing
russian fans attack stewards
http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/soccer-dirty-tackle/russian-fans-attack-stewards-czech-republic-match-160158255–sow.html
croatia fans clash with police
http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/10062012/58/euro-2012-croatia-fans-held-poznan-fighting.html
The best game of the tournament has been Spain v Italy both aesthetically and tactically. I can certainly appreciate Spain’s false nine and Italy’s 3-5-2. I’ve seen Juventus and Udinese use that formation recently, and thus Di Natale looked very comfortable upfront today. I’m looking forward to watching these two teams again on Thursday.
@Rudy – agreed, best game for the fans so far