Poland Greece Russia Czech Republic good draw for Poland, could have been a lot worse they still are one of the weakest teams in the EURO and will have a hard time finishing 2nd (not even hoping for first) in this group
Yes, Russia and Greece are both beatable at home. I hope Poland will snag second place, it will be good to see a host advance as I don't think Ukraine have much of a chance with England/France in their group.
I see Poland winning this group as long as two important things happen. 1. Win against Greece in the opening game. This will fire the team up, especially vs Russia....... motivation will be huge for this match, no doubt. I want to say that beating Greece is very much possible (as long as lessons from WC 2006 Ecaudor have been learned.... have they??? ) 2. Poland CAN'T start thinking that they are clear favorites and CHOKE due to pressure and.... limited skills while playing "positional attack." We all know Poland is much, much more dangerous playing "counter-attack." Well, it should still be done vs Russia and Czech Rep. But I don't see us counter-attacking Greece. So, first game will be huge.
Lucky bastards! If your team doesn't progress from this group (especially with the home advantage), Franz Smuda will probably have to beg for asylum in Franconia.
Gdansk sure got luck as far as venues go Spain playing all its games there: Italy, Ireland and Croatia
It seems that luck had nothing to do with it. Its almost as if Poland got awarded an easy group, an Ukraine got better teams, fans that spend more money (Holland, Germany) and more interesting matchups. Conjecture of course. But you are right about Smuda. If he doesn't produce with this cupcake group he is through in Poland, either as a NT or club coach.
this group is harder then Poland's last WC group that had Germany, Costa Rica and Ecuador, and Poland failed to take advantage then i'm afraid this will be a repeat performance i've no faith in Smuda, i don't think he has any idea what the Poland team will look like come EURO2012 and time is running out
I disagree. I feel that his "common man, no-nonsense" attitude suits him well to work under pressure - and there certainly will be pressure to advance. And even though the group is not a walk in the park, it is probably the best draw that we could hope for. I bet Smuda will have the team well prepared for the group stage, certainly better than Engel with his silly bombs toward supposed "target man" Kaluzny, Janas with his uncanny ability to destroy the team chemistry just before the finals, and Leo...who was just that, a mediocre coach coaching a weak team. Smuda's team is certainly better than Leo's or Janas', and on par with, if not better, than Engel's. I can see us make the QF, and then get totally destroyed out by a bigger and better team.
Not planning on it. I have a four year old who's never been to Gdansk or to a real soccer match, and would would love to introduce him to both. But this perfect opportunity to do so came a bit too early, since the kid won't be able to appreciate what he is seeing. I think it will be tv for us! What about you?
whole bunch of us are going... the wives and children are staying home my wife and I were gonna take our little boy once we found out about Poland hosting, but since then a second little one came and the trip became more complicated so this (just guys) trip is my b-day present (I expect it will be my b-day present for many and many b-days!!)
Some posters on the FSU forum and media members in Russia seem to think that there will be a hostile atmosphere against Russia and that it will work against us. I personally think that it's all very exaggerated.
first of all, the Russian media has already started to be 'hostile' toward the Polish team... did you hear what they asked Lato after the draw secondly of course there will be hostility toward the Russian team, i mean we gotta beat you to have hopes of advancing and whom do you think the Poles (most likely the majority of ticket holders at all the games) will cheer when Russia is playing? i'll put my money on the Czechs and the Greeks any day as to all the Polish-Russian stuff that is not related to soccer, i'm sure some of it will find its way into the stadiums too
No but I'm curious now. Maybe the Poles will start off cheering for the Czechs and Greeks but it won't be a big disadvantage as seem to think. In fact I think that a good number of Poles will go for slavic Russia over Greece.
Well sadly the historical problems will somehow find its way into the stadiums. Regardless, I will support all Slavic teams first, as always. Although I have a strong feeling the two which will advance will be Czech Rep (1st place) and Poland (2nd).