The thread for discussing the teams and matches in Group A involving Poland, Greece, Russia and the Czech Republic, a very even looking group on paper.

Poland Preview and Squad Biographies

Greece Preview andSquad Biographies

Russia Preview and Squad Biographies

Czech Republic Preview and Squad Biographies

Interesting to read about Poland nationalizing some western European players with Polish roots. Germany took Klose and Podolski so why not have Poland get Boenisch and Polanski? And French born Obraniak and Perquis too. Many of us older guys remember stylish Polish teams, first with Lato and Deyna in the 70s then with Boniek in the 80s. Would be nice to see Poland return to a competitive level of play especially with their trio of players from Borussia Dortmund providing skill, experience and a winning attitude. There is no better time than this for Poland to make a move on the international stage.

Dortmund's Robert Lewandowski is a player to watch in this group. If Poland progresses out of the group, he will likely be a primary reason.

I'm also interested to see if Tomas Rosicky can inspire the Czechs. Once such a great player, injuries have unfortunately derailed his career in recent years. However, he has been healthy over the past several months and was a key player in Arsenal's late-season resurgence.

Old veterans Rosicky and Baros will carry the Czechs hopes. One player to watch, the Ethiopian decended Theodor Gebre Selassie at right back, the first black man I belief to represent the Czech Republic.

I think Russia are going to surprise people and play some good football in this tournament. Well after 4 years ago maybeihatt should not really surprise us.

Match day 1 results
Poland 1-1 Greece
Russia 4-1 Czech Republic

The Spanish referee screws up the Poland-Greece game with an unjust red card (2 yellows) for Greek defender Sokratis (don't expect me to spell his last name!) even though the 2nd yellow the Polish attacker had slipped and was not fouled by Sokratis. If UEFA has any sense of fair play, which they don't, they should rescind Sokratis red card. Anyway the game ended 1-1 even though Poland also had goalie Szczesny sent off for bringing a Greek attacker down but the resulting penalty was saved by backup goalie Tyton.

Poland began brightly and scored on a Lewandowski header but Greece adjusted and came into the game. In the end a tie I think was a just result.

In game 2 Russia powered past Czech Republic 4-1. It was 2-0 at the half and though the Czech's cut the score to 2-1 with a goal by Pilar, their best player, along with Rosicky, IMO, the Russians continually exploited holes in the Czech defense. Dzagoev with 2 goals, Shirokov and sub Pavlychenko, with the ebst of the bunch, also scored for Russia who played a nice passing game and were lethal on the counter. But did Russia look good because of their own play or because the Czechs did not seem to know how to defend? We'll find out in match day 2 when Russia play co hosts Poland.

Good question but credit to Russia for playing some attractive football. Nice passing by them, Arshavin looked like the Arshavin from Euro 2008 and Dzagoev showed why he was on that list somebody posted of unknown players to watch.

Man Greece are just one awkward team to play. They were not as defensive as Otto Rehhagel's Greek teams but they just do not go down easily. Poland started off very well and looked poised for an easy win as they were exploiting Greece's left side but Fernando Santos the Greek coach made some adjustments and evened the game up. Karagounis had a very good game in midfield too bad for him he missed the penalty but he telegraphed where he was going I thought with a long run up and opened his hips up to early. Still Tyton was, well a Titan in saving that PK just off the bench. A direct red for Szczesny, does that mean he is out for the next two games? If so his tourney is over unless Poland gets out of its group.

Russia ran a clinic on counter attacking play. But beyond that they also were really well organized, they never looked unbalanced even with the Czechs trying to attack them. An impressive start for last tournament's semifinalists.

It's astonishing that Greece could play that poorly and still pull a point. The fact that they would've won by converting that PK shows how wasteful Poland was. Still, if the White Eagles play like they did in the first half, they'll wipe out the Czechs, who have all kinds of problems.

The Czechs were so naive defensively and unlike Greece who suffered at he start vs Poland, the Czechs never adjusted to try and shut the Russian attack down. Great start for Arshavin and Dzagoev. They'll now have their local "derby" against the Poles next Tuesday, that won't be an easy game for either team. Meanwhile Greece should take advantage of the porous Czech defense unless the Czechs somehow make the needed defensive adjustments.

A preview of today's Poland-Russia match, a must win game for Poland. It has the makings of a tense and intriguing matchup.

Greece 1-2 Czech Republic
Poland 1-1 Russia

The Czechs scored twice in the first 6 minutes to take control of the game. Greece had a goal called back for offside (close but was right call) then Greece scored when cech and a defender crossed signals and Cech dropepd a ball which Greece then put in the net. A big win for the Czechs who defended much better than they did vs Russia.

In the 2nd game Dzagoev got his 3rd goal of the tournament as he headed in a Russian free kick. But Kuba, damn no way am I typing out his full name, which is why he is known as Kuba in Dortmund, with a great left footed curling shot to equalize for Poland. It was a tense game where each pressed the other well in midfield and in the end I think both were satisfied with the draw. Just as in World Cup 82 the Poland-Russia (Ok then it was Poland-USSR) match ended in a draw.

We always thought this was a group where any of the four could advance. That still applies with 2 of 3 games played. The table is:

Russia 4
Czech Rep. 3
Poland 2
Greece 1

On the final day Russia plays Greece and Poland vs Czech Rep. Each of the four control their fate, win and you advance while only Russia I believe auomatically advance with a last day tie.

I hope there were no further fan problems between Russian and Poland fans, I heard there were pre match arrests, plus there was the provocative march through Warsaw by Russian fans and then the giant tifo (banner) unfured at the match which read in English, "This is Russia."

Thankfully on the field both teams played a relatively clean game. But anybody else see the irony in a Poland-Russia game refereed by a German?

I'll give a shot at Kuba's last name without cheating and copying and pasting it, Jakub Blaszczykowski.It was a beautiful shot from him. Like Spain-Italy and France-England, and probably tomorrow's Germany-netherlands game, this was a tense derby like match with both teams closing the other down well. No freedom on the counters for Russia in this game like they had vs the Czechs.

Speaking of the Czechs, they got back on track with their win over Greece. Some major defensive mistakes by both teams leading to those goals, I think my money would be on Russia & Poland getting out of this group but we know all four teams have a legit chance on the final match day.

Yes it was a tense game and a tie was probably the right result between Poland and Russia. Similar styled teams who somewhat neutralized each other. Dzagoev's agent has to be happy man about now, he can smell a big transfer coming up!

A highly entertaining game with a beautiful goal by Kuba aka Jakub Blaszczykowski (you got the spelling right raconteur). Plenty of energy by both teams but especially by the Poles. It is good to have both co hosts doing well, look at the emotions brought forth from both Poland and Ukraine in their matches.

The French born Perquis has I think done a fine job in the centre of Poland's defence and Piszczek was great at right back, not only going forward but in his defending as I thought he did very well in marking Arshavin.

Some worries for the Czechs as Rosicky had to leave their match against the Greeks with an injury. They are struggling to get him ready for the decisive match against Poland.

Russia has been fined Euro 120,000 and given a suspended six point penalty for the next Euro qualifiers for their fans' antics in Warsaw.

They have three days to appeal.

I was under the impression the fine was for Russian fan's antics in their first game against the Czechs and not for anything which happened in the 2nd game versus Poland. The 6 point penalty was, as ursus wrote suspended, meaning it won't go into effect unless there are further trouble from Russian fans.

Reports I have read say it was Polish hooligans attacking the marching Russian fans yesterday which set off the pre match fights we saw but fortunately all of the trouble was contained and only happened before the game, there were no problems both during or after the match.

Don't think so, because the charge specifically mentioned bringing unauthorized banners into the stadium.

It may well have related to both matches, though.

There were also problems after the match, though they weren't as bad as some of us (including me) feared.

The Polish police are still arresting people.

This article seems to imply the suspension was for the Russian fans actions against the Czechs,

Russia are appealing the sentence.

Russia 0-1 Greece
Poland 0-1 Czech Republic

What a surprising day in Group A with Greece and the Czechs both winning and going through to the quarterfinals with the Czechs first and Greece 2nd. Some nervy times in both games, both games looked headed for 0-0 scores at the half despite Poland misisng some great chances, especially through Lewandowski who can't seem to miss when playing for Dortmund but after the group opener here can't seem to score for Poland. But Greece went on top over Russia in 1st half injury time after a poor headed clearance saw the ball drop to Karagounis who broke away and beat Malafeyev in Russia's goal.

At halftime if the scores remained Greece and Russia were going through. But the Czechs came out and were all over Poland in the 2nd half but were stopped by some more good goalkeeping by Tytan who started off as Poland's number 2 keeper but ended up having a good tournament. Eventually the Czechs finally broke through as a nice combo led to the Czechs going 1-0 in front. Meanwhile in the other game Karagounis was given a yellow card ostensibly for diving even though he looked to have been tripped. Karagounis would then be suspended if Greece advanced and he went on to have an onfield meltdown yelling at everyone in anguish before Fernando Santos, Greece's coach took him off to prevent him from being sent off.

Poland went looking for the goals they needed to qualify and had agoal bound shot cleared by a defender while Russia's attempts to score were stopped by a solid Greek defense. The matches ended as the two group favorites went out while the Czechs and Greeks who did not look good on day 1 of the group ended up qualifying. Meanwhile it can only be declared a massive failure for both Poland and Russia that each failed to get out of this group.

There was a lot of drama in these two games but I could not help but think both Russia and Poland choked tonight. Each had played much better earlier in the tournament but when the chips were down each team lacked ideas. And bad giveaways, a poor clearance by a Russian defender and a poor pass by Polish midfielder Murawski led to their opponents goal. Overall a big disappointment for Russia and Poland. If you had asked me after game 1 if the Czechs and Greeks would qualify out of this group I would have thought you mad.

The Czechs advanced even without playing with Tomas Rosicky. he left injured at halftime of their previous match versus Greece yet the Czechs went out and won both that match and last night's one without their supposed midfield leader. Good midfield play from the Czechs and that to me is where they won the game against Poland. But others wrote of Poland choking in this game and I think that is right as look what happened with both Lewandowski and Blascczykowski their two supposed stars, both were missing in action against Czech Republic.

Greece only had a couple of looks at goal but made the most of them. The same can't be said of the misfiring Russians. Russia went from one of the revelations of the tournament after day 1 to being eliminated after day 3!

I guess that "This is Russia" banner was not right after all!

Russia have some good players but they've often been very irregular in their play, their failure yesterday was not out of character.

They sure did and that should actually help some of the other teams, many are talking about, notably Spain and Germany, from also suffering letdowns in their final games.

Other than Dzagoev and Arshavin, and the latter did not play well yesterday, Russia's forwards were not effective in this tournament particularly Kerzakhov who couldn't seem to kick a ball into the ocean from the beach and Pavlychenko, who after his golazo off the bench in game 1, was very static and ineffective in his other appearances.

Where was Arshavin against Greece? When Russia needed him, their big star was AWOL.

As so often happens with Arshavin.