Poland vs. Greece: Euro 2012 Group A Preview, Team News, Projected Lineups

This Friday, the 8th of June, Poland and Greece will participate in the opening game of the Euro 2012 tournament.

Poland are tournament co-hosts and didn't have to go through the qualification process, while Greece qualified at the top of a group that included Croatia.

Both teams will want to get off to a good start in the tournament, as they will have to contend with both Russia and the Czech Republic as the group stages progress.

Poland only appeared in this tournament once before, in 2008, and had a record of one draw and two losses. Greece shockingly won the competition back in 2004 and the team will be looking to cause problems for their opponents again.

We'll take a look at some of the team news and possible lineups for the tournament's opening game.

Poland Team News

The Poles finished up preparations for the tournament with three wins against Latvia, Slovakia and Andorra.

With the Borussia Dortmund trio of Robert Lewandowski, Jakub Blaszczykowski and Lukasz Piszczek leading the way, the home nation will have high hopes of making a good impression in this tournament.

One other player to watch will be the highly-rated youngster Rafal Wolski.

Greece Team News

Greece finished up their preparations for the tournament by tying with Slovenia and defeating Armenia.

The Greeks will be counting on the midfield play of Giorgos Karagounis and Sotiris Ninis, as well as their very solid defense to get results.

Kostas Fortounis is one young talent on this team who may get to make his mark in the tournament.

Possible Lineups

Poland (4-2-3-1): Szczesny; Piszczek, Wasilewski, Perquis, Boenisch; Polanski, Murawski; Blaszczykowski, Obraniak, Rybus; Lewandowski

Greece (4-4-2): Chalkias; Maniatas, A. Papadopoulos, Papastathopoulos, Torosidis; Ninis, Katsouranis, Karagounis, Fetfatzidis; Samaras, Gekas