Euro 2012 Group A: News & Analysis

I agree. The matches might actually be interesting because all the teams are on a very similar level, i.e. mediocre. So no blow outs, but a lot of hard-fought football.

 

Russia and Greece without question. Poland are still very much rebuilding and the Czech Republic are easily the worst team in this tournament.

 

A disappointing group in many ways. It means that at least one poor team is guaranteed to make it through to the KO stages.

Russia for me are certs to make it out of this group. They have enough quality to qualify even out of harder groups but with such opposition they will go through for sure.

The thing about this group is that any of the other 3 teams could go through which will make matters interesting.

I tip the Czechs to join the Russians. They are well past their glorious team of 2004 & 2006 but they still have some quality players like Cech and look slightly better than the other two teams. Rosicky & Baros sadly look past it.

Greece on the other hand are well past it. They still rely on old stars such as Charisteas, Katsouranis & Karagounis when they're past it. Further, they were the lowest scorers among the qualifiers and not even one striker has scored > 1 goal for them. The lack of goals is going to hurt them.

Poland on the other hand -- their manager has used 67 players in the last 2 years. This smacks of a very unsettled lineup (much like Maradona's Argentina, but at least they had quality). The home support means they might be harder to beat but I don't expect them to qualify at all. The fact that they are the lowest ranked team in the tournament says it all.

 

Geez, is there some rule that says Greece get an easy group every single time? Though some weight must be given to the fact that they did win their Euro Q group that included Croatia (I think).

I think it is kind of unfair to only judge Poland on their results of the last WCQ, though I understand not wanted to give weight to friendlies. In their case, I think it might be OK to at least give some results, and then let the reader decide. Didn't they have a win over Argentina fairly recently? This quarter, Poland: beat Belarus 2:0 (in Germany), lost to Italy 0:2, and beat Hungary 2:1 (both in Poland). Last quarter: they drew Germany 2-2, Mexico 1-1, and beat Georgia 1-0, all at home. Over the summer, they lost to France 1-0, but beat Argentina 2-1, both in Warsaw. Still, some nice results there in the last 9 months (draws against Germany & Mexico, and the win over Argentina).

To get some away fixtures, you have to go back to the beginning of the year. Poland played Greece in the winter, drawing 0-0 in Greece. They also lost away 0-2 @Lithuania. They beat Norway 1-0 in Faro, and beat Moldova 1-0 on a neutral field.

Anyway, I'll take the Poles at home, and, in somewhat of a shocker, a revitalized Czech Republic.

 

Greece always get easy groups?

2004: Russia, Spain, Portugal
2008: Russia, Spain, Sweeden
2010: Argentina, Nigeria and S.Korea

Compare that to england who had USA, Algeria and Slovenia(I think).

Also look at our qualifying group, when England had Croatia and Israel they didn't even qualify, we finished first.

Also Karagounis and Katsourani only get played because they basically control the whole team not because they're our best players. Charisteas was recalled for one game.

We rely on Ninis, Fetfatzidis, K. Papadopoulos, Sokraits and Tzavellas. We have some really good young players who are going to surprise a lot of you. Poland and Czech can easily be beaten and we played Russia the other week with most of our team missing and outplayed them.

I was just happy that we qualified but now I think we can actually make it out of the group. Good luck to everyone.

 

Revitalized? ermmm....


They're in this tournament because of:

A) a TERRIBLE refereeing decision in Glasgow; and
B) They were fortunate to end up with Montenegro in the playoffs.


hosts aside, name one of the other 13 qualified nations that are worse than the Czechs.

 

Very nice Analysis. I want to provide a little extra with an in depth look at POLAND in Group A:

BEST 5 Players

-Robert Lewandowski (Borussia Dortmund 24 years old) Striker

-Jakub Blaszykowski "Kuba" (Borussia Dortmund 26) Midfielder

-Lukasz Piszczek (Borussia Dortmund 26) Right-Back

-Wojciech Szczesny (Arsenal London 21) Goalkeeper

-Ludovic Obraniak (Lille 27) Midfielder

Others which are counted on: Eugen Polanski (Mainz 25), Ireneusz Jelen (Lille 31), Slawomir Peszko (FC Kolen 26), Sebastian Boesnich * (Werder Bremen 24), Artur Boruc **(Fiorentina 31)

*Injured, still hopes to play at Euro 2012
** Disliked by the national coach, likely to miss Euro 2012

I will argue that there is enough individual quality in this Poland team to win with Greece, Russia or the Czech Rep. Lots of key players are going to be in their prime. Such players like R. Lewandowski (Borussia Dortmund 24) and W. Szczesny (Arsenal 21) are on a very high note this season. They are just reaching their full potential and Euro 2012, could be their tournament.

Based on watching every Poland game for the last 2 years, since the Euro 2012 re-building phase started, the strengh and weakness of this team is as follows:

STRENGHT: Goalkeeping (world class, Szczesny), Midfield (Not world class, but is stronger than previous Poland teams with such players like Kuba, Obraniak and Polanski), Attack (very good striker in Lewandowski, with potential to be a star at Euro 2012)

WEAKNESS: Very bad center backs, which also aren't settled. Also left-back position, if Sebastian Boesnich (Werder Bremen 24) doesn't come back, this will cost Poland plenty of goals (especially if they play Germany or Holland in the Q-F)

Results from 2011 (Not in order)

Poland 1-0 Norway

Poland 2-2 Germany (this game tells the whole story. Good attack, world class goalkeeping and very poor defending. Would have lost this game without Wojciech Szczesny)

Poland 2-1 Argentina (to be fair, this was Argentina "C")

Poland 1-1 Mexico

Poland 2-1 Hungary

Poland 2-0 Belarus

Greece 0-0 Poland

Poland 0-1 France (France's physical defense closed down Poland's attack, a little too easily)

Poland 0-2 Italy (Poland deserved a goal, maybe even a tie, but lacked football intelligence. Good lesson, but also exposed the inexperience of this team).

Lithuania 2-0 Poland (very poor result, but only one like this per year)


MY PREDICTION: Poland will qualify from this group, becasue teams like Greece, Russia or Czech Rep don't have enough firepower to expose Poland's weakness, which is at the back. Poland will also score a few goals with the talent they have upfront.

 

I personally think Russia will finish last or 3rd in this group due to undervaluing/disrespecting the opposition. We always perform like shit against weaker teams, but beat stronger ones. The group looks easy, but it is in fact the worst for Russia. They'd better off having at least Holland or Germany in the group.

Dick Advocaat has got to be one of this most stubborn and idiotic coaches on this planet.

Akinfeev is currently out for 6 months and i'm not sure if he has enough time to come back for the tournament. Malafeev, although he's won the UEFA Cup with Zenit and played well for us in qualifying, always lets in bad goals at worst moments.

Our backline has aged dramatically. Me being a CSKA fan, I know all about Berezutski brothers and Ignasevic. Although they sometimes display positional brilliance and are usually dominant in the air, often enough they are too slow to stop quick and nifty wingers and Strikers. I guess it's good that neither Czech, Poland or Greece has such players, except for maybe Kadlec and Ninis.

Our midfield has aged. Semshov will be 34 at the time of the tournament, so will Zyrianov. That has got to be the oldest midfield in the tourney. Although Semshov had his career year at 33 this year, scoring 11 goals (impressive and a top ranking for a midfielder in RPL) and assisting on 8 in 30 Russian league games with Dinamo Moscow.

I guess Ziryanov will be on the bench, as Shirokov and Denisov are still reliable.

Our attack has got to be the worst in Russia/USSR's history. There is simply no striking talent in Russia. Arshavin is now useless, so is Pavlyuchenko. The entire hope is on Kerzhakov to be in form. Dzagoev is the lone bright spot in attack.

The players I wouldn't worry about whatsoever are: Berezutski's brothers, Ignashevich on defense, Arshavin, Pavlychenko up front. All 5 are washed up and slow.

Players I would watch out for: Dzagoev, Glushakov. I reckon they should be our top 2 attacking mids. All offense should be coming from them.

Players that could surprise: Anyukov. Despite being 31, he's still quite a dominant right back who plays the entire pitch and often contributes to attacks down the wing. He's our little Danni Alves. Schennikov - best up coming left back in Russia, plays for CSKA but he's still 20 and I'm not sure Advocaat will include him in the team.

Players that should provide stability: Shirokov, Denisov. They can play DM, CM and AM but Denisov usually plays down low, in a Yaya Toure sort of role. If they hold down the fort, we should be ok.

Players that should still perform as well as Euro 2008: Zhirkov. After a not so successful 3 year stint at Chelsea, he's getting regular play time with Anzhi, playing on the same team with Dzudzak, Eto'o, Boussufa and doing really well.

Known player that should be back as he was injured in 2008: Kerzhakov. He's a talented little midget. If he's in the zone, he is a dangerous striker.

Well, there you have Russia


My prediction: if Russia plays to their potential, they should be running away with 3 wins and causing another headache for the Dutch in the Quarterfinals. if the lazy, unmotivated, "bleh, this game is easy" Russia shows up...they'll tie all 3 games 0-0 or 1-1 and drop out. The question is, which Russia will show up?

 

Interesting group this... after the first three were drawn I absolutely knew it had to be Russia to fit in there. While many are saying this is a boring group, it could be fascinating in its own way as it's so hard to call, I could see anyone progressing from this group.

My pick is...

1. Greece
2. Poland
3. Russia
4. Czech

... but it could easily turn upside down.

 

im a little bit gutted by this group..i was hoping for some better teams since were based in warsaw for the tournament.

i think its a fairly even tournament and if Poland can pull their finger out they should be able to get out of the group.

Poland v Russia will be an awesome game as theres a lot of national pride riding on this one.

i suspect that this group will go down to the wire and be decided in the 3rd group games with Russia v Greece being a decider.

 

I just read an article in the Polish press that Poland NEVER lost to or even tied any of our Group A opponents at home. I am sure this is incorrect as per FIFA legacy standards with Czechoslovakia and the USSR, but that bodes very well for Poland based on recent post-commie results.

My analysis will come later, once the squads are known. But, looking at CURRENT form, none of the teams in the group have as good of a striker or goalkeeper as Poland. with the rest being about even,plus home crowd support, I am now starting to think that Poland can win all three matches....

 

Let's hope Lewandowski will demonstrate his scoring abilities tonight. Dortmund needs a miracle...

 

while i agree with you with crowd support and home adrenalin, i don't agree wiht you on the striker or goalie.

kerzhakov > any polish striker
akinfeev, cech > sczeczny

 

anyone who watches the BL will tell you that Lewandowski, when "on", is unstoppable. Kerzhakov has tons of intl experience which will be to his advantage, which Lewandowski lacks, but other than that Robert wins hands down. No comparison to anyone else in the group. And Szczesny will soon equal Cech in his prime. But I was talking NOW. Lewandowski can get streaky, Szczesny is still young. We will see how they react come game time.

 

it's hard to judge Lewandovsky vs Kerzhakov. Kerzhakov plays in the Russian League, which isn't that far behind..and he's 2nd goal scoring leader in the entire league. He also played in Spain, and currently plays for Zenit, a team that just qualified for CL playoffs ahead of Porto and Shaktar, both recent Europa League winners. Dortmund, although in a group with Arsenal, had Olympiacos and Marseille, two teams weaker than Porto and Shaktar imo.

Szcezny may be better than Cech in his prime, but until that happens, it's all speculation. Cech won the English league, FA Cup, has been in Euro finals once and constantly features quarters/semis/finals of champions league.

Akinfeev won a UEFA Cup, several Russian titles and bronze at Euros

Also, Kadlec and Necid on Czech Republic are quality strikers and can surprise just as much as Lewandowski.

 

My prediction....
1 Russia
2 Greece
3 Poland
4 Czech Rep.

If you fail to qualify out of this group, you have absolutely no business being in the knockout stages.

 

lool. you mean no business being in the tournament.

 

I was really hoping to get Russia in Poland's group. It will be an interesting game with goals and Poland will probably win In Warsaw, with the home crowd behind them, they just cannot lose to Russia.

 

If you think Poland is likely to win, you should bet on it. I am sure it is going to be an exciting game. Hopefully they have oversized parking spots for my t-34.

 

T-34 ??? Lets hope you have a western passport, cause your chances of getting a visa are going down....

 

a t-34? we already got one!

 

LOL. I think we have a few more of those. Didn't know they turned pink....

 

FACT:
Poland has never lost a game at home to either of the three teams. What's more in 12 games they've played they have won all of them!

Czech Rep: 3 games played, 3 games won (6:2)
(They're record against Czechoslovakia isn't as good, as they have lost 3 times at home, but the last time was in 1950 and have won each game since 1964 - 6 game winning streak).

Russia: 1 game played, 1 game won (3:1)
(If you take into ZSSR they have played 6 times with 3 draws and 3 wins for Poland with goals scored/conceded 8:4).

Greece: 8 games played, 8 games won (22:4)

Summarizing: Whilst playing at home Poland has only lost to Czechoslovakia and the last time that happened was in 1950. Against the current states in their current form they have won all their games!

ERGO: Poland must be a clear favourite to win this group due to such a home advantage history. Especially Greece looks vulnerable against Poland.

 

Didn't you know we do that we all those who invade our country? Make them think they have their way for a few years and then make them wear pink panties!

All kidding and good-natured ribbing aside (and I hope that the mods will see my comment as "good-natured ribbing" and not "hate speech") the Russian team can expect a huge turnout from Polish fans, who will, despite their hatred of the Polish FA create a quite a scene at that game. The dislike of the PZPN is nothing compared to the outright disdain felt towards the Soviets and their progeny. Anything other than a win will be a huge blow to the individual pride of every player and every fan.