EURO 2012 - DAY ONE

Hi

Live @ http://www.ja606.co.uk/articles/viewLiveArticle/125447

Today's games -

Poland v Greece, National Stadium Warsaw, BBC One 5pm Kick off

Russia v Czech Republic, Municipal Stadium Wroclaw, ITV 7:45pm Kick off

Starting XIs, Poland v Greece

Manager - Franciszek Smuda, outspoken manager, who got the job in 2009 after managing 15 clubs, winning 3 Polish titles

(4-2-3-1)

Szczesny
Piszczek - Wasilewski - Perquis - Boenisch
Polanski - Murawski,
Blaszczykowski - Obraniak - Rybus
Lewandowski

An unsettled defence has lead to 5 in midfield to try and combat the issue

Greece -

Manager - Fernando Santos, boss since 2010, appointed the Greek Leagues Coach of the Decade award

(4-3-3)

Chalkias
Torosidis - Papastathopolous - Avraam - Holebas
Maniatis - Katsouranis - Karagounis
Ninis - Samaras - Gekas

It may look like like an offensive attacking formation, but expect Greece to sit back and leave the forwards on their own

Injury News

Poland defender Damien Perquis remains a fitness doubt ahead of Friday's Group A opener against Greece in Warsaw.

The Sochaux centre-back fractured his elbow in March and while he played in the friendly win over Andorra last weekend he is not yet fully fit.

Greece full-back Vassilis Torosidis is a doubt after suffering a knee injury in a friendly against Slovenia.

Stats

The sides have never previously met at a major international tournament, and last contested a competitive game 25 years ago, when the Greeks beat Poland 1-0 in a European Championship qualifier in Athens on 29 April 1987.

Poland have conceded just 9 in 10 games, playing teams such as France, Germany, Italy and Portugal in that run in.

Greece have lost only one of 21 games since Fernando Santos took charge in 2010 (a 3-1 friendly loss to Romania in November 2011).


Goals and Bookings -

Lewandowski '17
Papastathopolous 35'
Papastathopolous 44'
Holebas 45'
Salpingidis '50
Karagounis 53'
Szczesny 70'
Karagounis pen saved

FULL TIME - POLAND 1 - 1 GREECE

Possible XIs, Russia v Czech Republic

Manager, Dck Advocaat, got the job in May 2010, and stayed unbeaten for the rest of Russias qualifying games

(4-5-1)

Malafeev
Anyukov - V Berezutskiy - Ignashevich - Zhrikov
Shirokov - Denisov - Zyryanov
Dzagoev - Arshavin
Kerzhakov

Nota as fluent as the 2008 team, but the defence and midfield are a strong and experienced unit, with Dzagoev looking to be pulling the strings up top

Czech Republic

Manager - Michal Bilek, Came through the ranks to become manager in 2009 after failing to qualify for the World Cup

(4-2-3-1)

Cech
Selassie - Hubnik - Sivok - Kadlec
Plasil - Jiracek
Pilar - Rosicky - Rezek
Baros

May struggle to score goals, with their defensive set up highlighting their lack of choice up front

Injury News

Russia are expected to have a fully-fit squad for their Group A opener.

Goalkeeper Igor Akinfeev, right-back Aleksandr Anyukov and striker Roman Pavlyuchenko all emerged from their final training session unscathed following knocks.

Czech striker Milan Baros returned to training on Thursday after recovering from the thigh strain that sidelined him earlier in the week.

Tomas Rosicky had been a concern but is now fit after a calf problem.

Stats

The only previous meeting between the two nations under their current guises was in the group stages of Euro 1996. The Czechs surrendered a 2-0 lead and needed a Vladimir Smicer goal two-minutes from time to force a 3-3 draw at Anfield.

Dck Advocaat's men enter Euro 2012 off the back of a 14-match unbeaten run. The last country to beat them were Iran in February 2011.


Excluding the play-offs the Czech Republic scored only 12 goals during qualifying (including three penalties) - the fewest of all the qualifying nations - albeit from a group of only five nations, losing 3 games, the most in the tournament

Goals and Bookings -

Dzagoev 15'
Shirokov 24'
Pilar 52'
Dzagoev 78'
Pavlyuchenko 82'

FULL TIME RUSSIA 4-1 CZECH REPUBLIC

Talk of the Tournament -

Racism at Holland training session

Yann M'Vila set to miss England game