Welcome to the first game of Euro 2012
Greece kicked off the tournament and in classic Greek fashion played it around the back four before losing possession.Poland dominated the early stages with Murawski forcing a save from Chalkias but settling for a corner.
First Greek chance of the half came from Gekas. A Karagounis freekick 50 yards from goal floated to the unmarked head of Gekas with pace and in 2004 it looked a certain goal. Unfortunately for Gekas it slid wide of Szczsny’s post. Samaras showed great movement right from the off and throughout the first 45 could be found all over the pitch.
First blood to Poland.
With 17 minutes on the clock the much talked about Robert Lewandowski brought the game to life. He fired a warning shot wide with a left footed volley before smashing home a header to bring the score to 1-0.
Greece looked like a Championship side not making the most of possession in the final third. Gekas had the ball stationary at his feet 8 yards from goal and was forced to pass it backwards. Boenisch ended the move by conceding a freekick. Greece had two chances to score from the resulting freekick the first was asked to be retaken and the second was cleared with ease.
The referee was incredibly lenient throughout the game and the first yellow card of the tournament was shown to Sokratis Papastathopoulos in uncharacteristic fashion. Papastathopoulos challenged for a header and picked up a yellow card for a 50/50 challenge. Then, out of nowhere on 44th minute Papastathopoulos was deemed to have denied a goal scoring opportunity and left the field after picking up a second yellow card.
At half time it’s 1-0.
Second half to follow...
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