Within the first 10 minutes, there weren't many chances at all. Greece were playing a high pressing game and the Polish were happy to soak it all up.

The next 10 minutes saw some beautiful combo-play from Poland on the right side with Lewandowski missing the first time. However, a few minutes later they combined again on the same side with Chalkias producing a grave error to allow the big Lewandowski to capitalize and make it 1-0.

Not much was happening for the Greeks over the following 15 minutes or so, notably because they were much unorganized in their attacking midfield areas. They were content with launching long balls forward that lacked creativity and panache!

Shortly afterwards, Pyrquis missed a huge chance to make it 2-0 for Poland, only before Avraam going off with an injury.

A mildly intense opening 45 minutes to this Euro 2012 campaign for both sides. Greece were much unorganized and resourceless, while Poland played very vibrant and robust counter-attacking football; their biggest threat always coming down that right flank.

Salpingidis came on for Ninis at the start of the second half and within 5 minutes he was a Greek hero! Greece combined well on the right side and finished it off with a neat cross into the box, only for Szczęsny to mistakengly abandon his post to allow Salpingidis to finish. Talk about an "impact" substitution!

Another 10 minutes flew by and it was that man again, Salpingidis, who played his way into the box only for Szczęsny to go down on him and the referee rightly pointed to the spot for a penalty and produced a red card for the Polish goalkeeper!

Karagounis was the man to take the penalty but he was denied by a brilliant save by the subbed-on Przemysław Tytoń. This truly was a "game of substitutes" so far!


I do not know what coach Fernando Santos told the Greek players during half-time but they have been absolutely phenomenal ever since the break, especially Salpingidis!

The game faded away during the last quarter of an hour or so with both sides seemingly worn-out after what has been a very interesting opening game to this Euro campaign.

Poland played considerably better in the first half but take nothing away from Greece's great performance in the second half, mainly thanks to Salpingidis' huge impact! All-in-all Poland did have more chances and should've killed the game before half-time; but on such a day, it was both goalkeepers who made a grave error (in Szczęsny's case 2 errors!) which lead to both goals. Will the Greek's rue that missed penalty come next week?!

Man of the match: Dimitris Salpingidis: Absolutely phenomenal display since coming off the bench, a shame that he didn't start from the first place!