Preview: Greece and Czech Republic in UEFA EURO 2012

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Article ContentAuthor NameArticle TitleHomeSubmit ArticlesAuthor GuidelinesPublisher GuidelinesContent FeedsRSS FeedsFAQContact Us Preview: Greece and Czech Republic in UEFA EURO 2012   by Kapila Bhatiain Sports / Football    (submitted 2012-06-11)

June 12, 2012, Greece and Czech Republic will encounter in the football ground at Municipal Stadium, Wroclaw at 18.00 hours UTC. Both the teams are from Group A. This is again another match after eight long years where these two teams are confronting and Czech Republic still regrets the incident happened in 2004 Euro semi-final. Greece scored the Silver Goal which led them to the final pushing Czech Republic out of the tournament. So, this time while one team is heading to repeat history once more, another team is looking for a revenge of that mournful incident.
In the inaugural match this year, Greece and Poland from Group A faced each other where Greece ended the game in draw 1-1. However, this win will also not confirm their position in the final eight even if the result of the other match of the day is in Russia's favor. According to Greek squad, their 2004 spirit is still present in their team players. But there are some points against Greece which will act as an advantage for their opponents. In their previous match against Poland, their most dependable central defense, Sokratis Papastathopoulos has been suspended because of this offensive behavior in the field and another important striker, Avraam Papadopoulos is out of the team due to serious knee injury. Giorgos Fotakis is also out of the team because of a thigh injury. So, Coach Fernando Santos knows quite well that he has to do really hard work with rest of his boys to get through this group stage.
On the other side, after losing their first group league match against Russia in 4-1, Czech Republic is standing in an unstable position. So they really need to bounce back in this game to sustain the chance of being in the qualifying round. Moreover, a win in this match will also let them to take revenge of the 2004 bitter moment that they faced in the semi-final. Three players from 2004 squad are in this year's team. However, this team can take the advantage of the absence of the three top rated strikers of their opponent's team but Greece is also heading to make use of the defensive failures that Czech Republic have exposed in their first match. Coach Michal Bilek has very short period to fix up all the problems that were clearly revealed in their last day's match and he is heading to do so because one more loss will end all hope for his team to be in the final eight. About the Author

Kapila Bhatia is a keen blogger and contributes frequently to Bhavesh Bhatia's blog. Visit the blog for the latest international sports news and updates.

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Kapila Bhatia

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