Coming into the European Championships, there was no real sense of how the host nations of Poland and Ukraine would fare in the tournament. Neither nation is a football powerhouse, and since they both qualified automatically, their only tune-ups for the competition were some friendlies, and it is always difficult to gage a team's performance based on those matches. With every team in the tournament ranked in the top 16 in Europe, the road looked like a very trickery one for the host nations.
Although it is nice to have the support from your home fans when hosting a competition, it is sometimes difficult to deal with the pressure from trying to perform in your home country. In the 2000 European Championships, Belgium was unable to make it to the knockout round. In Euro 2008, both Austria and Switzerland failed to make it out of the group stage.
However, both Poland and Ukraine have started off the tournament in fine fashion. Both nations have put themselves in a position where they could possibly advance onto the knockout stage, which is more than their fans could ask for.
In Poland's opening match against Greece, the Poles backup goalkeeper, Przemyslaw Tyton, made a diving save to his left on a penalty kick from to prevent the host nation from walking away with a terrible defeat. A loss would have been very disappointing for the Poles, as they played a very quality game and Greece were playing down a man after Sokratis Papastathopoulos picked up a red card right before halftime. However, the Poles almost blew the game when their goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny was sent off after fouling Dimitris Salpingidis in the box on a goal scoring opportunity. However, the crisis was averted with Tyton's save and Poland managed to pick up the draw.
Przemyslaw Tyton's penalty save proved to be vital in Poland's draw against 2004 European Champion Greece
Poland knew that they would have to play an even better game against a really good and hot Russian team, and they did just that. Although Russia went into halftime a goal up, the Poles didn't fret and they got the goal that they so thoroughly deserved with a crack of a shot from Jakub Blasczykowski. Although Russia had a good share of the ball during the game, Poland were actually the side that had the majority of the chances. Russian keeper Vyacheslav Malafeev needed to make several saves in order to keep the game at a level draw.
Poland played Russia to a wildly entertaining 1-1 tie in Warsaw
With two points through two games, the Poles are in contention to make it out of the group stage for the first time ever. In a muddled Group A, Poland is playing the Czech Republic in a must win game. If Poland can get a victory against the Czechs, they will be secured of at least a 2nd place finish in the group. If the Poles win and Russia losses to Greece, Poland would be atop the group at 5 points, while Russia, Greece, and the Czech Republic would all be sitting on 4 points. If the Poles win and Russia and Greece draw, Poland and Russia would both be sitting on 5 points each and group goal difference would ultimately determine which team would win the group and play the second place team from Group B in the quarterfinals.
Ukraine has also come out of the tournament gates very impressively. In their first ever European Championship as an independent nation (Ukraine was previously apart of the Soviet Union), Andriy Shevchenko led the side in front of their home fans in Kiev to an improbable 2-1 victory over Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Sweden. After Andriy Yarmolenko's failure to get a header out of the box led to a Swedish goal, the 35-year-old Shevchenko gave the home fans a blast from the past with his two headed goals in the following 9 minutes. The victory was well deserved for the Ukrainians, as their speedy wingers, Konoplyanka and Yarmolenko, created chances all game long.
Andriy Shevchenko's double gave Ukraine an inspiring 2-1 victory over Sweden.
In their second game of the competition, Ukraine was due up against France, who had been one of the hottest teams in all of international football entering the tournament. The Ukrainians stuck right with Les Blues through the first 45 minutes, but the French, who had been playing very well since they fired Raymond Domenech after the 2010 World Cup debacle and hired Laurent Blanc, were too much for the host nation to handle. Although Ukraine walked away from the Donbass Arena with a defeat, they did have some very nice moments during the match.
Although Ukraine fell to France 2-0, they still have a chance to make it out of the group stage.
Despite their loss to the French, Ukraine still has a chance to advance onto the knockout stage, as they have a crucial game against 1996 semifinalist England in their third match of the group stage. A tie against England would not be enough for the Ukrainians to advance, even if France still losses to Sweden. In that scenario, England would be on 5 points, while France and Ukraine would both be sitting on 4 points, but France would own the head-to-head tiebreaker over the Ukrainians and would secure second. However, if Ukraine is able to knock off England in Donetsk, they would guarantee a spot in the quarterfinals. In fact, Ukraine could top the group with a win and a France draw or loss to the already eliminated Swedish team.
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