Euro 2012 Preview: Group A - co-host Poland at disadvantage, Greece on the rise

By Ry Basham Mintz

June 8, 2012. A date fútbol lovers have been looking forward to since the conclusion of the biggest event in the fútbol world, the World Cup. Hosted in Poland and Ukraine, the UEFA Euro 2012 will see millions of fans flock to the various host stadiums to see their national team clash with some of the world’s greatest. The stage is set for what will surely be some of the best matches of the decade, with power houses like England, France, and Italy looking for redemption after embarrassing performances at the 2010 World Cup. However, dark horses Czech Republic, Republic of Ireland, and Ukraine will be looking to stop these premier squads in their own quest for glory.

Qualifying rounds for the tournament began in September of 2010, seeing 51 teams separate into 9 groups. Each team played a grand total of 10 matches, and the leader of the group along with the second place squad qualified for the contest. The 16 teams that qualified are all fairly familiar faces to the Euro landscape, besides Ukraine who is making its first appearance in the European championship contest. The teams that qualified are listed as follows: Czech Republic, Greece, Russia, Denmark, Germany, Netherlands, Portugal, Croatia, Italy, Ireland, Spain, England, France, and Sweden. Poland and Ukraine automatically qualified being the host countries, and therefore did not participate in the qualifying round.

I will be doing separate articles for each group in the tournament, and what better place to start than with Group A, which consists of Poland, Greece, Russia, and the Czech Republic.

Poland:

Jakub Blaszczykowski will need to step it up.

The co-hosts go into the tournament with a little optimism, but not much. While players like midfielders Ludovic Obraniak and the team’s captain Jakub Blaszczykowski, and goalkeeper Wojciech Szcesny have been performing excellently of late, the Polish national team has not been able to test themselves in a competitive environment since, like co-hosts Ukraine, they automatically qualified for the tournament. However, after a recent draw against Portugal in an international friendly, Poland’s hopes are up.

Greece:

Stefanos Kapino could be a breakout star in Euro 2012.

Although the Euro 2004 champions are heading into the contest with an unbeaten (7-3-0) qualifying campaign, their recent form has left many questions. Top choice goalkeeper Alexandros Tzorvas’ form has been horrendous of late, so coach Fernando Santos would be smart to look elsewhere for a shot-stopper. Panathinakos FC’s 17-year-old Stefanos Kapino, who made his debut for the men’s national team against Romania this past November, is a rising star between the posts, and already has attracted the attention of great European clubs such as f.c. Internazionale Milan, so skipper Santos would be wise to look to the youngster to provide a security blanket back at goal. The Greek side has also struggled putting the ball in the back of the net, only netting 14 goals during the qualifying round. Santos will probably look to Theofanis Gekas and Konstantinos Mitroglou to spearhead Greece’s attack, although the two will undoubtedly need to bond more in order to succeed at the international level. Attacking midfielder Sotiris Ninis’s recent knee injury doesn’t bode well for Greece, nor either is the callback of goal-scorer Angelos, 32, who has been a sort of international enigma for the past 8 years.

Russia:

Andrey Arshavin could improve upon his Euro 2008 4 goals.

Russia enters the tournament as a dark horse. While not performing well against softer nations like Armenia, Qatar, and Cameroon in international friendlies, Russia had an impressive qualifying campaign, going 7-2-1, with their only lose coming against Slovakia in a 1-0 squeaker. In addition, attacking-midfielder Andrey Arshavin, who was the spark in Russia’s attack in the Euro 2008 with 4 goals, who even though has experienced a drop-off in form with Arsenal and Zenit st. Petersburg, still remains an outstanding playmaker for his country, and will be looked to to spearhead the attack for Russia. CSKA Moscow’s Alan Dzagoev, who scored 4 goals for the Russian side during 8 qualifying matches, could be the difference maker when it comes to getting the ball past the goalkeeper, for Russia did experience many dry-spells during the qualifying round. However, Russia is not without concern. Star goalkeeper Igor Akinfeev, who is currently struggling to recover from a serious knee injury, could miss out on the tournament entirely if he deems himself not fit enough to play. Even so, with its both youthful and veteran depth, Russia will be a force to be reckoned with.

Czech Republic:

Petr Cech will be the difference for the Czechs.

After an embarrassing exit from Euro 2008, the Czech Republic will be looking for redemption, especially Chelsea goalkeeper Petr Cech, who played a key part in that unfortunate departure. He fumbled a routine cross in the 87^th minute of the last group match against Turkey, allowing striker Nihat Kahveci to equalize, and then moments later was beaten by Nihat again, thus eliminating the Czechs. There is plenty of optimism, though, since Cech is once again looking like his old self at Chelsea this season, and put several stunning performances together during the Euro qualifying stage. Cech is sure again to play a key part for the Czech Republic back between the posts. The Czech’s are also sitting pretty with prospects for both defense and midfield. Michal Kadlec, Zdenek Pospech and Roman Hubnik have all been thriving as fullbacks in the Bundesliga, while midfielders Petr Jiracek, Jaroslav Plasil, and Vaclav Pilar have cemented themselves as undisputed starters at their respective clubs. However, as what has been the theme in Group A, the Czech’s are shorthanded when it comes to candidates for attacking. CSKA Moscow striker Tomas Necid is still recovering from a knee injury that has seen him sidelined for the past seven months. Strikers Milan Baros and Tomas Pekhart have failed to impress so far in the Euro 2012 campaign. Besides these setbacks, the Czech squad is sure to be the envy of many when it comes to their selection for defense and midfield, but it will definitely be a challenge for skipper Michal Bileck when it comes to picking his strikers.

Group B analysis is next on the docket, so stay tuned!