Today, this summer’s Euro 2012 tournament kicked-off with a bang.
Co-hosts Poland began proceedings with an enthralling match against Greece. Before Russia completed a wonderful day opening day with a masterclass against the Czech Republic, to secure their place at the top of Group A.
Poland’s substitute goalkeeper Przemyslaw Tyton earned the hosts a draw in a dramatic opening match of the 2012 European Championships.
Tyton saved a penalty from Greece skipper Giorgos Karagounis after Arsenal keeper Wojciech Szczesny was sent off for bringing down Dimitris Salpingidis midway through the second half.
Poland had led 1-0 through Robert Lewandowski and Greece had Sokratis Papastathopoulos sent off for two yellow cards in four minutes at the end of a disastrous opening half.
But substitute Salpingidis equalised with his first touch after six minutes of the second half and the 2004 champions could have gone on to make it a winning start to the tournament but for Tyton’s heroics.
A dominant performance from Russia saw them outclass the Czech Republic to take a grip on Group A.
Arsenal winger Andrey Arshavin, had a hand in putting Russia 2-0 up, being involved in the build-up to Alan Dzagoev’s side-footed opener and then setting up Roman Shirokov to score.
The Czechs got one back from a neat finish by Vaclav Pilar but Roman Pavlyuchenko set up Dzagoev for his second and then the ex-Tottenham forward completed the scoring with a fine individual effort.
Arshavin was highly impressive in this match – his work-rate inspired his side’s performance. Whilst, player to watch Alan Dzagoev gave us a small taste of what to expect in the future with his two well-taken goals.
Below is at how these fixtures have effected Group A standings:
Other Euro 2012 news:
Uefa not looking into Dutch Racism Claims
Uefa has stated that it has no intention of launching an investigation into suspected racist chanting by a section of the crowd at an open training session in Krakow conducted by the Netherlands.
The squad were subjected to monkey chants from the stands during the session, which over 20,000 fans turned up to, with the side’s skipper Mark van Bommel later describing the unsavory incident as “a real disgrace”.
Uefa has since claimed that it is satisfied with the explanation that the reported chanting was in fact a protest from a small minority of fans who were making their displeasure known at Krakow not being selected as one of the hosts cities for the tournament.
M’Vila doubtful for England Clash
The Stade Rennais midfielder has been in a race against time to regain match fitness for the tournament after sustaining an ankle injury in France’s 2-0 friendly win over Serbia on May 31.
Bryand insists that M’Vila is recovering well from the injury but admits that the 21-year-old’s chances of making the match squad for the encounter against the Three Lions look slim.