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The 2012 European Championships are one week in and things are certainly heating up. Expectations are being shattered one by one and the underdogs are showing the big guys what they're capable of.
Here's a recap on the first week and first match day of the group stages.
Group A
1. Poland 1-1 Greece
Co-host country Poland opened the competition in a match against Greece. Many expected Poland to sweep Greece off the field on this one but in the end, it wasn't meant to be. Despite being dealt an early blow through a 17th minute clinical goal by Lewandowski, as well as being reduced to ten men by half-time, Greece, with a stroke of luck, managed to take a point with a goal from Salpingidis in the 51st minute.
2. Russia 4-1 Czech Republic
Russia was a slight favorite coming in this match, but that certainly didn't prelude a dominating win. Russia shattered the Czech defense and found the net four times, with man of the match Dzagoev shooting a brace. Cech's form coming in to this match was nothing more than paper weight, resulting to a string of memes popping in the internet mocking him. Here's one example:
Image retrieved from 9gag.com
Group B
1. Netherlands 0-1 Denmark
Bets were certainly overflowing for a Dutch win on this game. Sadly, a lot of people also lost a lot of money after this game was declared over. Despite Dutch coach van Marwijk's move to bring in the full attacking armada of his squad - he brought in Robben, Kuyt, Van Persie, Huntelaar, van der Vaart, Sneijder and Afellay - he was still denied victory over the Danes with a single goal from Krohn-Delhi at the 24th minute of the first half. No amount of rally could give the Dutch the equalizer as they failed to pull a finish on their runs.
2. Germany 1-0 Portugal
Drama was a theme of the game on this fixture as both sides were on a deadlock for most of the game until fortune dealt the Germans an ace when Mario Gomez netted a fabulous header at the 72nd minute. Portugal rose up to the challenge and rallied the best they can, but even with Ronaldo's prowess, Portugal couldn't find an equalizer.
Group C
1. Spain 1-1 Italy
Spanish coach Del Bosque decided to do an experiment for this match against Italy being lining not a single striker. Iniesta, Fabregas and David Silva were his front three. Goals were absent until the 60th minute when Italy's Di Natale scored a brilliant goal. At this point, the experiment seemed to be a failure for Del Bosque until Fabregas replied for the defending champions with a cracking goal of his own three minutes later.
2. Croatia 3-1 Ireland
With 30,000 supporters in the stands, Ireland was poised to pull an upset win. A morale-shattering third minute goal from Mandzukic set the challenge for them. They did reply with a set-piece equalizer from St. Ledger. From then on, Given was tested again and again. Ultimately he did fail, with goals from Jelavic and another from Mandzukic coming in. The luck of the Irish just wasn't there.
Croatia's renown creative midfielder Luka Modric
Image retrieved from Soccerway.com
Group D
1. England 1-1 France
With star striker Rooney out due to a suspension, fellow Manchester United striker Welbeck filled in for him. But this match was all Manchester City it seems, when Joleon Lescott netted a header from a corner to bring England the lead. Minutes later, Samir Nasri, also from City, would score for France an equalizer. France made their rally but Joe Hart made sure none was to come.
2. Ukraine 2-1 Sweden
Many pundits have declared that this match was going to be another "Ibra show", with star scorer Zlatan Ibrahimovic in front and center of the Swedish attack force. It took a while for that show to begin, but it did start with Ibrahimovic finding the goal in the 52nd minute. Three minutes later, the show would be ended by veteran Andriy Shevchenko. Then the show was cancelled and put out of contract when Shevchenko finds the goal yet again just six minutes later. Sweden never recovered.
With many of the favorites drawing or losing points, the group stages of the Euros is far from over. The fates of many teams would be hanging until the last match day of the stage. Would be interesting to see how those teams, like Netherlands and Sweden, fight back.
Morgan Freeman's character Alex Cross in the movie Along Came A Spider once said, "It's just day one." But for this Euro 2012, the heat feels like the finals already.
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