Poland
How'd they get here: Automatically qualified as co-hosts
Last Appearance: Euro 2008
Best Appearance: Euro 2008 (Group Stage)
Schedule:
June 8 vs Greece
June
12 vs Russia
June
16 vs Czech Republic
The Story:
The other co-host of this year's competition finds itself at #14 in this Euro 2012 Countdown. The Poles come into the tournament with an unproven squad hoping to give the home faithful something to cheer about. The benefit of automatically qualifying for the tournament as a co-host might prove to be detrimental to Poland's chances as this team has not played a meaningful game as a country for quite some time (they completely missed out on the qualifying process and have only played friendlies in preparation for the tournament). However the fact that they lucked out in the draw ending up in Group A puts them in a much better position than fellow co-host Ukraine to actually get out of the Group Stage.
Poland's Euro 2012 team will be coached by Franciszek Smuda in his first foray in coaching the national team. Smuda will hope his team can gel quickly and effectively as they will be under pressure to succeed at home despite outsiders rating Poland as one of the weakest countries in the tournament. This edition of the team will most likely go as far as its trio of Borussia Dortmund (this season's Bundesliga winners) stars can take them. Right back Łukasz Piszczek (considered to be one of the top right backs in all of Europe), captain Jakub Błaszczykowski (also known as "Kuba"), and main attacking threat Robert Lewandowski will look to propel Poland to the same lofty heights they achieved at the club level this year.
Based on their recent friendlies it appears Poland will look to play disciplined at the back and wait for the proper counter-attacking opportunity before going forward. This probably means a lot of the ball possession will be taking place in Poland's end which will place added pressure on their goalkeeper. Luckily with Arsenal FC starter Wojciech Szczęsny in net, the Poles look to have a goalie capable of dealing with such a task. Despite a fairly up and down season from Szczesny this year at Arsenal, the young keeper (he's only 22) appeared to find a comfort level near the end of the season and will need to continue this in the tournament because if Poland hopes to shock anyone in the competition, they will need him playing at a high level.
The completely unpredictable (unwatchable) Group A gives Poland hope in advancing to the quarters. For this to happen they will need to beat probable Group basement dweller Greece in the tournament's opening match (BTW this is like the NBA season opening with the Charlotte Bobcats against the Washington Wizards...Just terrible). This match will be an interesting (probably not entertaining) one to watch as both teams look to play defensively. I predict that Poland will be the attacking side in the opening match as the home support will egg them on against the defending Greeks. If they earn a victory against Greece, the quarterfinals (and a sure loss against a Group B member) will follow. If however the Poles don't manage a win in the opening match, they will need to go undefeated in the next 2 against the Czech Republic and Russia, both teams that look to be more talented therefore making a berth in the next round harder to attain.
#1 Song in Poland at the moment
I'm sad I've had to post this twice in the last 4 days. Moving on.
Reasons to Cheer for Poland:
If you're a Borussia Dortmund fan, if you refer to ugly girls in clubs/bars as "John Terry", if you've ever spent any time telling people that 'Gretzky' is a Polish last name, if your favorite astronomer of all time is Nicolaus Copernicus, if you prefer horses over tanks, if you knew Steve Javie (the NBA ref) was Polish without checking, if 25% of your closet consists of Marcin "The Polish Hammer" Gortat's jerseys, if your favorite season of 'The Wire' is season two, if you're Polish.
Previous Teams
Team #13 Tomorrow!
Luka Milanovic
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