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They said that it was all cut-and-dry in Group A. But what “they” didn’t know was that UEFA’s upside down rules would play spoilsport. Russia who started their campaign with a scintillating 4 – 1 win against the Czech Republic were shocked by 2004 shock champions Greece who trumped them 1 – 0 in the last Group A encounter. Since the rules now say that in case of equal points the result of earlier head – to – head group games would decide the winner and not goal difference, Russia’s fate would hang on only their game or a Czech Republic loss. But it so happened that the Czech saw themselves through breaking Polish hearts 2 -1 in a rainy but abrasive encounter. The Czech Republic ended up with six points topping the group, Greece and Russia sharing 4 points each and Poland bringing up the rear with two points from two draws and a loss. Too bad for Russia who had to bow out despite scoring five goals with a two-goal positive goal difference, the highest in the group.
Russia controlled most of the game against the Greeks, falling all over the place and with Arshavin and Kerzakhov missing lots of chances. Russia kept the momentum of the game going while the Greeks sat back and defended in their usual boring style, and smartly attacked when the Russians committed a defensive mistake. 35 year old captain Girgos Karagounis took advantage of wrong footed defenders to wheel in a throw-in into the box before slamming it hard and low past Malafeev into the net, bringing Greece ahead. A shocked Russia never recovered, their faces in the end showing that they could not believe what had just happened to them. Also it is to be noticed that this was the very first Euro game that Greece won after their 2004 final victory, remaining in the Euro for now.
Poland on the other hand, knew that they had to win at any cost and could not hope on Mathematics to rescue them. However, despite the raucous support from the home crowd rallying behind them at Wroclaw, they played up a storm that matched the one that raging in the heavens, while the Czechs didn’t look all that great and found it difficult to find their footing. It looked sure as if we were going to see the co-hosts in Warsaw for the quarter-final. But as time progressed, the Czech regrouped and gradually wrested control of the game, the Polish suddenly looking exhausted. Then the inevitable happened in the 72nd minute Petr Jirá?ek put the Czech home on a Baros pass, originated by Tomáš Hübschman. The Poles seemed to wake up and almost reached till the goal line, but that was it.
If Football is all about scoring goals, shouldn’t those who score goals sent to the next rounds? This precedent which UEFA and the over-hyped Michel Platini have conjured with head-to-head results taking precedence above goal difference up will only encourage Greece-like “1 – 0 teams” churning out stale low-scoring matches and defensive game play. When traditionally till yesterday it was about goal differences, why this “creativity” suddenly? Greece who were languishing at the bottom of the table till the last game jumped into the quarterfinals having only won 2 games, while Russia having scored 5 goals face the frustration of elimination. Poland failed to fire when it mattered, burning out too quickly. The Czech also made a dramatic turnaround of their fortunes after having lost miserably to Russia in their opening encounter to win their other two games. We will need to see who faces whom after the games of Group “of Death” B.
