Poland hope opener is no Greek tragedy

Poles nationwide will hope their team get the Euro 2012 party started with a bang when they take on Greece in the impressive National Stadium in the tournament's opener on today.

Poles nationwide will hope their team get the Euro 2012 party started with a bang when they take on Greece in the impressive National Stadium in the tournament's opener on Friday (1600 GMT).

Like South Africa two years ago for the World Cup, an opening draw kept the nation hooked but interest dwindled when results started to go against them.

Poland's football enthusiasm stretches further than just their own team but an opening loss to their much higher-ranked opponents would be deflating.

Poland have every chance of progressing from a very open-looking Group A which also contains Russia and Czech Republic, who meet later on Friday in Wroclaw (1845).

Russia and the Czechs have only met once before at the 1996 European Championship in England, though the ex-Soviet Union and former Czechoslovakia contested 12 games, the Soviets claiming six victories to the Czechs' two.