Greece Vs. Czech Republic: Greeks In Dire Straits After Loss

The Czech Republic turned in a truly awful showing in their first match of Euro 2012, but they’ve recovered and given themselves an excellent chance to advance to the quarterfinals of the tournament. They were outplayed by Greece in the second half on Tuesday, but did enough to hold on to their early lead in a 2-1 win.

It took just eight minutes for the Czech Republic to take a 2-0 lead in the match, making them the fastest team to ever score two goals in the European Championships. Petr Jiracek netted the first goal in the 3rd minute, finishing off a fantastic through ball by defensive midfielder Tomas Hubschman. They added their second goal five minutes after that, with Vaclav Pilar turning in a pass that Gabriele Selassie cut back from the endline.

Just five minutes later, the Czech Republic doubled their lead and became the fastest team to score two goals in a European Championship game, netting their second goal of the game in the 8th minute. Gabriele Selassie set up the goal with a great run by Jose Holebas on the right flank, as he got to the endline and cut the ball back towards the center of the penalty area. Vaclav Pilar was in the perfect spot and deflected the ball into the back of the net.

Giorgios Fotakis appeared to haul one goal back in the 41st minute with a header, but he was flagged for offside. Replays showed that the linesman got the decision correct, but very narrowly.

Who is excited to watch two of the worst teams in the tournament do battle? Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?

At least gamble on it and give yourself a rooting interest if you must watch. Rent a team for 90 minutes.

For the first half of the opening match of Euro 2012, Greece looked sort of like you’d expect them to. When a defensive team can’t defend, they’re in trouble, and Poland ran riot. Then, down to ten men and forced to attack, they found something deep inside themselves. Something that approximated a football team. Sure, they only earned a point and they probably should have won, but it was a point against the hosts and an impressive comeback, one which should give Fernando Santos’ side some confidence heading into their match against the Czech Republic.

Despite their issues against Russia, the Czechs are still probably the better team. But in a tournament like this, where Greece have already proved to themselves that they belong, it’s not clear that that will matter. If Greece can show the fight they did against Poland, anything can happen.