Poland v Greece: Bittersweet result gets Greek Euro campaign rolling

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Giorgos Karagounis had a chance to win the match from the spot.REUTERS/Pascal Lauener

The dramatic turn of events in Greece’s Euro 2012 curtain-raising clash with tournament co-hosts Poland resulted in both teams scratching their heads over the result.

Both had a chance to win the match, especially Greece as the Ethniki were left to rue a missed penalty from Giorgos Karagounis.

Greece took their time getting into the game; not even a Robert Lewandowski opener could wake the 2004 European Champions in the opening 25 minutes. The traditionally organised Greek defense was out of sorts, particularly in the left-back position where Jose Holebas, with no help from team-mate and left-winger Giorgos Samaras, had difficulty containing Lukasz Piszczek and Jakob Blaszczkowski.

While Greece settled down just before the half-hour mark, things got a whole lot worse for Fernando Santos’ men before they got any better: Avraam Papadopoulos went down to an injury that will keep out of action for the next seven months, and Sokratis Papastathopoulos was harshly sent off after two controversial bookings.

Ironically, as much as it seemed that the referee had done a number on Greece, the dismissal of Papastathopoulos resulted in Greece playing much better football in the second frame. Dimitris Salpingidis was an impact substitution at the interval with a quick equaliser almost immediately after coming on to replace the nervous-looking Sotiris Ninis.

It was the combination of Salpingidis and another substitute, Kostas Fortounis, that helped Greece secure a chance to win the game.

Fortounis’ lob into Poland box found Salpingidis, only for the latter to be brought down by Wojciech Sczesny; the Arsenal ’keeper rightfully sent off as a result. Facing the cold Przemyslaw Tyton, Karagounis was expected to put Greece in the lead from the spot; however, he painfully extended Greece’s misery from the spot by stretching a streak of missed penalties to three.

The result is certainly bittersweet. On a positive note, Greece can be flattered that even with a poor start in which they went down a goal and down a man, they still had the quality to fight-back and crash Poland’s big party. On the flipside, Greece will be left frustrated with the result as they certainly showed they had enough quality to win the match in the second half – either through the missed penalty or the impact Salpingidis had on the game.

It will be up to manager Fernando Santos to address the weaker points of his team and indeed his tactics heading into his side’s meeting with the Czech Republic. With two of his top centre-backs unavailable through injury and/or suspension, Santos’ reassessment could put a new-look Greece on display in Wroclaw on Tuesday night.

Peter Katsiris is the editor of Football Hellas. Follow him on Twitter.

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