Greece and Poland Fight to 1-1 Draw in Raucous Euro 2012 Opener

Portuguese-born Greece manager Fernando Santos struck a resigned figure in the dugout for much of his side's Friday match against co-hosts Poland.

Each time cameras cut to him on the sidelines, the man with the grey-streaked hair seemed to have slumped lower into his seat.

He had every reason to be. Everything that could have gone wrong, did, in that first half.

Poland, bolstered by a raucous following at the glistening National Stadium in Warsaw (all but 4,000 of the fans in attendance—the Greek traveling contingent—were sporting red-and-white), found themselves ahead within 17 minutes after in-form Borussia Dortmund striker Robert Lewandowski headed home past a flailing charge from Greek keeper Kostas Chalkias.

The Grecian defense looked hardly assured during the opening portions of the match, and saw their task go from difficult to likely impossible when Werder Bremen defender Sokratis Papastrathopoulos was sent off for a harsh second yellow card on the stroke of halftime (44'). (He'd earned the first yellow card for what appeared to be a clean header on Lewandowski, as well.)

Chances had come few and far between for Santos's side in that first half, with dead-ball situations looking like their best bet to nab an unlikely equalizer against the enthralling attacking play of the Poles.

But this is Greece, and as Euro 2004 showed us, they can never be counted out of the proceedings.

A couple of brilliant substitutions—Dimitrios Salpingidis (45'), Konstantinos Fortounis (68')—brought them back into the game, and it was Salpingidis who scored the equalizer on a poor piece of goalkeeping from Wojciech Szczesny.

The Arsenal keeper, making his first start in a competitive match for his country, showed his inexperience when his bottled clearance from a cross fell right into Salpingidis's path. The No. 14 could do no more than smash his shot into the back of the net.

That goal seemed to set Poland back on their heels, and the sublime bits of attacking link-up play from the first half evaporated into the crippling humidity (a quick Google search showed that Warsaw humidity levels were at a lung-heaving 88 percent level) along with their collective confidence.

Even with 10 men, Greece had become the stronger side in the encounter, and began peppering the Polish penalty area with relish.

Drama ensued in the 70th minute when Szczesny saw a straight red card for clipping Salpingidis, who had been sent in on goal after a sublime chipped effort from Fortounis picked out the midfielder's run.

As David Wall would note on Twitter, Salpingidis lent credence to the "impact substitute" adage, scoring a goal, winning a penalty and completing all seven of his passes during the 45 minutes he spent on the pitch.

Przemyslaw Tyton, the expulsed Szczesny's replacement in goal, made himself a hero however when he saved well from Giorgos Karagounis's tame side-footed effort.

Greece, 1-0 down and seemingly out of the match, had nearly put themselves in position to take all three points on the night in the most improbable of circumstances.

Buoyed by Tyton's heroics, Poland threatened intermittently from that point forward, but Greece did their best to slow down the game and hold on for the draw. When the final whistle went, the look of disbelief on Poland manager Franciszek Smuda's face said it all.

It was a vital point for Santos, and a terribly disappointing one for Smuda, who had spoken confidently of his side's chances in the run-up to the competition.

Smuda's work is now cut out for him, as Poland must deal with Russia and the Czech Republic in their next two matches. Emerging from this group has become an awfully difficult task indeed.