June 8, 2012 5:00 PM BST
Stadion Narodowy — Warszawa
Referee: Carlos Velasco Carballo
Team News
Poland
Poland have no new injury concerns ahead of the curtain raiser at Euro
2012 and will be looking to make an instant impression on the
competition in front of their own fans.
Star man Robert Lewandowski will lead the line, providing the Poles'
main goal threat ahead of Ludovic Obraniak, who has had an impressive
season in Ligue 1.
Lukasz Piszczek was highest rated right-back in the top 5
European leagues this season, contributing with 4 goals and 7 assists
in the Bundesliga. He likes to get forwards and will certainly do so for
his country.
Greece
There will be competition at centre-back between the two Papadopoulos's,
Kyriakos and Avraam. Kyriakos has youth on his side and has had a
decent season at Schalke this year. He also picked up the winning goal
in last week's 1-0 friendly win over Armenia.
The main problem for Greece in recent weeks has been the lack of an out
and out goal scorer - in their two warm-up friendlies in recent weeks
they scored 2 goals, with both goals coming from defenders. That is
something that they will need to improve on if they are to make headway
in Group A at Euro 2012.
They do not, though, concede many goals and will be typically difficult
to break down. When they won the competition in 2004, their team was
built on a solid defence and things will be the same this time around.
Probable Lineups
Poland (4-2-3-1) : Szczesny, Boenisch, Wasilewski, Perquis, Piszczek, Murawski, Polanski, Rybus, Obraniak, Blaszczykowski, Lewandowski.
Greece (4-3-3) : Chalkias, Torosidis, Papastathopoulos, Papadopoulos, Holebas, Maniatis, Katsouranis, Karagounis, Ninis, Salpingidis, Samaras.
Match Facts
Greece have won 7 of their last 8 matches in EURO Cup.
Poland have kept a clean sheet in their last 3 matches against Greece in all competitions.
There have been under 2.5 goals scored in Poland's last 3 games in EURO Cup.
Poland have seen under 2.5 goals in their last 3 matches against Greece in all competitions.
Prediction
Euro 2012 begins here with what some might describe as one of the
lower-profile matches this tournament will host. However, that will in
no way detract from the occasion, with two nations with fantastic
support come together. In European club competition, both Poland and
Greece are difficult places to go to due to the passionate crowds, and
this will be a typically noisy affair.
Both teams have prepared for the competition in positive yet understated
manners in friendlies - although neither team lost any of those games,
they were largely played against teams that will not provide the same
challenge as any of the games they will play at Euro 2012. The only game
in which either team scored more than once was in Poland's 4-0 win over
lowly Andorra last weekend, and not much at all can be drawn from that
result.
Further, the last time these sides met was in a goalless draw in a
friendly in March 2011, and that may well set the precedent for this
match. Both sides pride themselves on solid defensive displays, whilst
trying to catch their opponents out when they get drawn forward. With
the added fact that this is the first game of the competition, nerves
and tensions will be high, and this could be a cagey affair, decided by
the odd goal.
Poland 1 - 0 Greece
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