Euro 2012: Poland vs Greece's Men of the Match

Welcome to Euro 2012! This is the first part of a tournament-long series in which I pick three players from each side, in each game of the tournament, who had Man of the Match qualities. The three players will be ranked third, runner-up and Man of the Match for each respective side. A Man of the Match for the whole game will then be picked.

Poland opened up their quest to impress in front of the home fans against Group A opponent Greece, the Euro 2004 champions.  

The Poles took an early lead in the 17th minute through a goal made by Borussia Dortmund—Jakub Błaszczykowski crossed from the right side of the pitch to a waiting Robert Lewandowski, who promptly headed the ball home under the outstretched form of Greek keeper Kostas Chalkias.

The Greeks struggled to get any sort of rhythm going in the first half, and a disappointing display in the first half was capped by an extremely controversial sending-off of defender Sokratis Papastathopoulis after getting shown a second yellow card. 

Poland absolutely dominated the first half, shaking off any pre-game jitters the squad may have been feeling. 

The second half saw Greece make a change as Dimitris Salpingidis came off the bench for Sotiris Ninis right after halftime, and in the 50th minute, the substitute capitalized on a communication error between Wojciech Szczęsny and Marcin Wasilewski—the two players missed a cross and Salpingidis rocketed the ball home to equalize the score at 1-1. 

In the 69th minute, Wojciech Szczęsny got sent off after taking down Salpingidis in the box.

Enter Przemysław Tytoń. 

The 25-year-old instantly made himself Poland's new hero as he saved the subsequent penalty from Giorgos Karagounis.

With each team down to 10 men, Poland and Greece struggled it out until the end of 90 minutes to end in a 1-1 draw. 

It was perhaps not the greatest opening match to a Euro tournament, but it definitely provided some controversy and drama fitting of an international tournament. 

Here are my picks for Poland vs. Greece's Men of the Match.

Third Place, Poland: Przemysław Tytoń

Przemysław Tytoń has got to be the most popular man in Poland right now. 

After watching first-choice goalkeeper Wojciech Szczęsny get sent off for a tackle on Dimitris Salpingidis and the referee point to the spot, Poland's hopes of winning their opening game fell. 

Tyton saved the subsequent penalty, and the National Stadium in Warsaw erupted. 

It takes a lot of cajones to make a save like that. 

Tyton's name, however unpronounceable, became household in an instant. 

Runner-Up, Poland: Robert Lewandowski

Robert Lewandowski showed why he is so highly rated—and why Poland's hopes lay heavily on his shoulders—when he scored Euro 2012's opening goal off a cross from Borussia Dortmund teammate Jakub Błaszczykowski's cross in the 17th minute. 

He displayed the quickness, hold-up play and strength that has made him such a hot commodity in world football. 

However, the reason he is not Poland's man of the match is that, while Lewandowski played well in the first half, he seemed to taper off in the second half and almost faded away by game's end. 

If Poland have true aspirations of getting out of the group stages, they will need a full 90 minutes from the young front man. 

Man of the Match, Poland: Jakub Błaszczykowski

Jakub Błaszczykowski displayed everything you want in a captain: Determination, grit, hard work and a fierce leadership.

Unfortunately, it wasn't enough to inspire a win for his Polish side.

Much like Lewandowski with the attacking third, Błaszczykowski bossed the right side of the field for large portions of the game, supplying the cross that led to Lewandowski's opening goal. 

And much like Lewandowski, Kuba faded from the end of the game.

Granted, this is largely due to fatigue—especially after going down to 10 men. 

The reason he takes the top spot over Lewandowski is because Kuba had a much larger impact on the game. Kuba supplied many of the passes that led to Poland's attacks and counter-attacks. He was a force on the right side of the pitch for Poland today. 

The partnership between Kuba and Lewandowski is going to be an integral part of Poland's success. 

Third Place, Greece: Giorgos Samaras

Okay, so Giorgos Samaras missed a bunch of chances, but he gets third place due to his ability to create those chances.

Throughout the game, especially in the first half in which Greece was playing horrible football, Samaras was finding space in the attacking third, holding the ball up waiting for support that never came. 

In the second half, he continued to find those pockets of space and created chances for his own. He missed every single one—badly—but he was a bright spot on an otherwise disappointing Greek squad. 

Runner-Up, Greece: Giorgos Karagounis

Captain Giorgos Karagounis did his best in the first half to try and keep his side in the game. Along with Sotiris Ninis, the captain attempted to play the ball to forwards Giorgos Samaras and Fanis Gekas, but the Polish defense seemed to be on top of its game. 

In the second half, Karagounis continued to play his role as the midfield maestro for Greece. 

Oh, and he missed a pivotal penalty kick that would have seen his team win (most likely), but that can't take away from his solid performance in the middle of the pitch. 

Man of the Match: Dimitris Salpingidis

Dimitris Salpingidis came on as a substitute at halftime for Greece.

The move turned out to be a game-changer.

Four minutes after coming on, with what was his first touch of the ball, Salpingidis capitalized on a match-up between Wojciech Szczęsny and Marcin Wasilewski to equalize at 1-1.

In the 69th minute, after revitalizing the disheveled Greek attack, Salpingidis latched onto a deep cross in Poland's box and looked to score, but he was taken down by Wojciech Szczęsny and earned a penalty. 

Salpingidis single-handedly carried Greece through the second half, scoring a goal and providing multiple opportunities for the winner. Greece was a completely different team with Salpingidis on the field. 

Fernando Santos will be hard pressed to not include him in the next match. 

His overwhelming command of the game and his lifting of Greece earns him my Man of the Match.

Your Thoughts?

So Dimitris Salpingidis is my Man of the Match for the opening match of Euro 2012.

Of course, that is my humble opinion. 

What do you think? Was there another player who you think deserved Man of the Match honors? 

Let me know in the comments section! 

Happy Euros, and cheers!