Euro 2012: Poland 1-1 Greece - Tyton gets Poles out of tight spot

SUSTITUTE goalkeeper Przemyslaw Tyton was the hero for Poland in a dramatic European Championship opener in Warsaw yesterday in which both sides finished with ten men.

Scorers: Poland - Lewandowski (17); Greece - Salpingidis (51)

Tyton came off the bench in the second half for the co-hosts after Arsenal goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny had been sent off for bringing down Greek substitute Dimitris Salpigidis.

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The reserve goalkeeper promptly saved the resulting spot-kick from Greece captain Giorgos Karagounis to ensure the points were shared in a wonderfully entertaining match in Group A at the National Stadium.

Co-hosts Poland will be kicking themselves, however, after throwing it away having gone in at half-time with a one-goal lead and with Greece down to ten men after defender Sokratis Papastathopoulos was sent off harshly for two innocuous yellow cards.

The Poles, who began the game with swaggering intent in front of their home fans, had dominated the first half.

It was no surprise when Robert Lewandowski gave them the perfect start after 17 minutes, although the goal had as much to do with the poor positioning of Greek goalkeeper Kostas Chalkias as the sharpness of Lewandowski.

Chalkias found himself flapping his arms in no man’s land to leave the Borussia Dortmund striker, who scored a hat-trick in the German cup final last month, to head home a swinging cross from Jakub Blaszczykowski.

It was no more than the Poles deserved.

They were hungrier, quicker to the ball and seemingly desperate to prove that while they are the lowest-ranked team in the tournament they have a realistic chance of reaching the quarter-finals at least.

In that 45 minutes the Greeks looked a shadow of the organised side who had gained a reputation for being tough to beat, having lost just one of 21 games under manager Fernando Santos. Indeed, Greece had qualified for the tournament by finishing top of Group F and going through the entire campaign unbeaten.

In fact, the Poles would have been kicking themselves that they were not further ahead at half-time after Rafal Murawski, Maciej Rybus and Lewandowski all missed clear-cut chances. Damien Perquis should also have scored when the ball fell to him in the penalty area but the Polish defender, in unfamiliar territory, drilled his shot wildly wide of the post.

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It looked as if the Greeks’ fortune had deserted them completely, however, when Papastathopoulos saw red just before half-time.

The Greek defender had become the first player to be booked in the tournament when he received the yellow card from Spanish referee Carlos Velasco Carballo for what appeared a harmless aerial challenge with a Polish attacker.

His second yellow was equally as harsh when he was adjudged to have brought down Murawski. The referee, however, produced red and Greece were down to ten men and seemingly heading to an opening defeat. Papastathopoulos protested for a good few minutes before eventually making his way up the tunnel.

Perhaps fired up by the injustice the Greeks – who had Celtic striker Georgios Samaras in their ranks – came out in the second half with more determination and resolve and it paid off, even in they did have Szczesny to thank for their equaliser.

Szczesny raced out of his goal attempting to collect Vassilis Torosidis’ right-wing cross but misjudged it totally, allowing substitute Salpigidis to score from close-range.

The drama, however, was far from finished and the teams were down to ten players each after 70 minutes when Szczesny endured a moment of madness, sticking out a leg to trip Salpigidis in the penalty area.

The resulting penalty was delayed while PSV Eindhoven goalkeeper Tyton came off the bench and Rybus went off, but Tyton’s first action was the most crucial of the match, saving the tame spot-kick of Karagounis.

It brought up an unhappy hat-trick of penalty misses for the Greeks after they also squandered two spot-kicks in their last warm-up match against Armenia. One was taken that night by Samaras, the other by Kostas Katsouranis.

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Salpigidis had been at the heart of everything after coming on at half-time for the Greeks. He had a goal ruled out as his team tried to grab a winner. He timed his run well, but Kostas Fortounis was ahead of the play before he crossed.

Poland, too, pressed for all three points. Lewandowski unleashed a stinging half-volley from the right corner of Greece’s penalty area, the ball swerving into the side netting. And Eugen Polanski tried his luck from 20 yards out.

Samaras worked hard for the Greeks but the Celtic man didn’t have many clear-cut chances. With 11 minutes remaining he had a shot from just inside the penalty box which cleared the bar. A point was probably a fair result. But what a dramatic way for Euro 2012 to begin.

Poland: Szczesny, Piszczek, Wasilewski, Perquis, Boenisch, Murawski, Polanski, Blaszczykowski, Obraniak, Rybus (Tyton 69), Lewandowski. Subs not used: Sandomierski, Wojtkowiak, Kaminski, Dudka, Matuszczyk, Wawrzyniak, Sobiech, Mierzejewski, Wolski, Grosicki, Brozek.

Greece: Chalkias, Torosidis, Papastathopoulos, Avraam Papadopoulos (Kyriakos Papadopoulos 36), Holebas, Maniatis, Katsouranis, Karagounis, Ninis (Salpigidis 46), Gekas (Fortounis 68), Samaras. Subs not used: Tzorvas, Tzavelas, Malezas, Makos, Liberopoulos, Mitroglou, Fotakis, Fetfatzidis, Sifakis.

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