EURO 2012: SO FAR, SO GOOD

First day of Euro 2012 behind us. Despite small glitches, the atmosphere at the National Stadium in Warsaw, as well as in Wroclaw Municipal Stadium, was as expected, great. The new stadiums looked impressive and were crowded to their full capacity by enthusiastic fans. Except for the incident of Russian fans beating up four Polish stewards in Wroclaw Municipal Stadium, none of the BBC Panorama doctored predictions of racial abuse were fulfilled. The Polish police did not have to intervene. The fan zones in Polish cities, even though enormously crowded, did not produce any incidents of racial nature. However, some problems were reported in Krakow, one day before kick-off of Euro 2012. But despite initial report of racist noises directed at the Dutch black players, during their training session at Wisla Krakow stadium, being a training ground of Holland's national team, (which reports were denied by Dutch coach Bert Van Marwijk), the Dutch officials did not file any official complaint. The claims that Wisla Krakow supporters were rather protesting to UEFA that Krakow was not granted any games than racially abusing the Dutch players, were rejected by Mark Van Bommel. Strangely, Van Bommel's father-in-law, coach Bert Van Marwijk, disagreed with claims of racial abuse voiced by his son-in-law. Go figure.
In any case, Euro 2012 kicked off in good fashion. Even the initial match was an eventful one, as opposed to typical boring first game of major football (or soccer, as footbal is strangely called in the US) tournaments, having it all: great start by Polish team and a goal well taken by impressive Robert Lewandowski, after brilliant pass from Kuba Blaszczykowski, Greek come-back in second half, two red cards (one undeserved) and a saved penalty by Polish substitute goalkeeper, Przemyslaw Tyton, on his first touch on the pitch. The 1:1 draw was a just result, even though Poland could have wrapped up the game in the first half, had they converted their opportunities. It seems, that had the Greek player was not red-carded (unjustly), Poland would have easily won the game. Playing against weakened team, the young Poles lost their focus and were punished by Greek veterans.  The second game of the day, Russia v. Czech Republic, played in Wroclaw, was even more impressive, and it ended with Russian lopsided victory: 4:1. Arshavin and his passes were impressive. Apparently, English football does not allow him to show his creativity so well as the biggest stages of international football. Petr Cech's performance was on the other hand quite abysmal. Will the Russians be as much impressive against Poland at National Stadium in Warsaw on June 12, 2012? Come to Warsaw, and see for yourself!

Janusz Andrzejewski

The author of this post is a New York based attorney and a publisher of his own blog on legal and various community subjects. You can contact him by telephone  (732-527-2195) or through his website: www.adwokatandrzejewski.com