Euro 2012 - Poland v Czechoslovakia

They say that tournaments are always better when the host nation does well and Poland can continue the fun by sealing a much deserved place in the quarter finals of Euro 2012 by beating the Czech Republic today. For Poland, the permutations are simple. Win and they go through, and if they fail to win then they’re out; While a draw takes the Cezechs through assuming that Russia don’t go behind to Greece.

It’s essentially a knockout encounter, but at the prices Francesk Smuda’s men make much more appeal than the visitors and a price of 5/4 looks well worth taking about them gaining what could be called an overdue victory. They were held to a 1-1 draw by Greece in their opening game when a lack of focus in the second half saw them drop two points but they should have been well clear by half time with both Blaszczykowski and Piszczek having good chances that were wasted before their opener while Perquis should also have scored, all in the first half. Their response to a Greek comeback probably wasn’t what it should have been but there’s no guessing that they had enough chances to win despite being “paralysed by pressure” according to their manager.

Their second game against Russia was expected to be much harder and so it proved, but after Dzagoev’s header Poland had created several good chances and Jacob Blascszkowski’s screamer and were the much more threatening side before the end in the 1-1 draw, with the second half seeing many Polish attacks seeing Robert Lewandkowski getting good chances. There’s a slight worry about them losing their focus for certain periods of the game, but with a little more luck they’re well capable of beating the Czechs.

Michael Bilek’s side looked good against Greece after going 2-0 up inside 6 minutes but they were made to look good by Greece’s appalling defending early on and there’s a feeling that they had the game in the bag from that point and it wasn’t a true reflection of their quality (Greece had a goal wrongly ruled out for offside before half time which would have made things far more interesting) . The same could be said for their 4-1 defeat against Russia, with the Czechs having decent chances at 2-1 down before being opened up late on by the Russians. That said, they were clearly far inferior to Dick Advoccat’s side, far more so than Poland (who could arguably have won the game with sharper shooting) and they could be going out against the Co – Hosts.

Advice

2 pts Poland (13/10 Paddy Power)