Greece Vs. Czech Republic: Greeks In Dire Straits After Loss

Greece Vs. Czech Republic, Euro 2012: Final Score, Czechs Hold On For 2-1 Win

The Czech Republic turned in a truly awful showing in their first match of Euro 2012, but they've recovered and given themselves an excellent chance to advance to the quarterfinals of the tournament. They were outplayed by Greece in the second half on Tuesday, but did enough to hold on to their early lead in a 2-1 win.

It took just eight minutes for the Czech Republic to take a 2-0 lead in the match, making them the fastest team to ever score two goals in the European Championships. Petr Jiracek netted the first goal in the 3rd minute, finishing off a fantastic through ball by defensive midfielder Tomas Hubschman. They added their second goal five minutes after that, with Vaclav Pilar turning in a pass that Gabriele Selassie cut back from the endline.

The Czechs dodged a couple of bullets before the halftime whistle to go into the break with a two-goal lead and 11 men. Tomas Rosicky was only shown a yellow card for a high boot to the head of Giorgos Karagounis, while Giorgios Fotakis had a goal narrowly disallowed for offside.

Greece had to bring off keeper Kostas Chalkias due to an injury in the first half, and made their second sub of the game at halftime, bringing on striker Theofanis Gekas for Fotakis. The Czech Republic made a halftime switch of their own, likely for fitness reasons, bringing on Daniel Kolar for Rosicky.

It took just eight minutes of play for Greece's substitution to pay off with a goal, though the chance was created much more by a Czech Republic error than any kind of brilliant play executed by Gekas. On a cross into the box that didn't look particularly dangerous, Petr Cech and Tomas Sivok had a bit of a miscommunication and clattered into each other as Cech tried to claim the ball. That left an empty net for Gekas to shoot the ball into, bringing Greece back into the match.

The Greeks looked decent going forward from then until the end of the match and played with much more ambition than they did in any of their previous three halves in the tournament, but failed to generate clear-cut chances. The Czech defense and Petr Cech played very well from their bad 53rd minute error until the end of the game, keeping their team's lead intact. Gekas' shot would be Greece's only shot on target in the match.

Both teams now await the result of the match between Russia and Poland to see what they will need to do in their final group stage match to advance to the quarterfinals. Greece will need a win over Russia no matter what, but the Czechs might only need a draw against Poland depending on what happens.

We'll have live coverage of the game in our Greece vs. Czech Republic, Euro 2012 StoryStream. For more on the entire world of football, follow @SBNationSoccer on twitter.

Greece Vs. Czech Republic, Euro 2012: Halftime Score, Czechs Lead 2-0 On Early Goals

Greece is without their two best central defenders, and in the first 10 minutes of their match against the Czech Republic, it was painfully obvious. Schalke youngster Kyriakos Papadopoulos has a bright future ahead of him, but he looked very much out of place in the Greek back line in the first half, and the Czech Republic hold a 2-0 halftime lead.

The first goal came just three minutes into the match. Papadopoulos attempted to step up and catch Petr Jiracek offside on a through ball, but Jiracek was on easily and placed the ball past Kostas Chalkias. Defensive midfielder Kostas Katsouranis moved back to the center of defense for this match and wasn't blameless for the goal at all. He was nowhere near Papadopoulos on the move and wasn't around to provide any cover. The assist was surprisingly applied by Tomas Hubschman -- who was brought into the team to solidify the team defensively -- with an impressive through ball.

Just five minutes later, the Czech Republic doubled their lead and became the fastest team to score two goals in a European Championship game, netting their second goal of the game in the 8th minute. Gabriele Selassie set up the goal with a great run by Jose Holebas on the right flank, as he got to the endline and cut the ball back towards the center of the penalty area. Vaclav Pilar was in the perfect spot and deflected the ball into the back of the net.

Though he wasn't completely at fault for either goal, Chalkias' positioning wasn't great on the goals either. He appeared to pull a hamstring midway through the half, and had to be replaced by Michalis Sifakis. So far, it's been a slight upgrade, with Sifakis looking comfortable in goal. He was forced into one tough save on a shot by Tomas Rosicky, which he made comfortably.

That shot happened just one minute after Rosicky narrowly avoided a sending off. He got caught putting a high boot into the head of Giorgos Karagounis while trying to win a 50-50 ball, and he was shown a yellow card. The Greeks didn't protest too much, but any time a player puts his studs into the head of another player, no matter how inadvertent the contact was, he's lucky if he avoids a red card.

Giorgios Fotakis appeared to haul one goal back in the 41st minute with a header, but he was flagged for offside. Replays showed that the linesman got the decision correct, but very narrowly.

Greece has a variety of problems, and they're going to have to do something in the second half. They've struggled with Tomas Rosicky, which isn't surprising. The moving of Katsouranis to defense has significantly weakened the Greece midfield. They need to solidify that area, but they're also going to be tempted to throw a striker into the game while they're trailing by two goals. There's no reason Greece should get back into this game, but the same thing was the case against Poland, and they managed to steal a draw.

We'll have live coverage of the game in our Greece vs. Czech Republic, Euro 2012 StoryStream. For more on the entire world of football, follow @SBNationSoccer on twitter.

Greece Vs. Czech Republic, Euro 2012: Czechs 2-0 Ahead After 10 Minutes

The narrative tells us that Greece are an ultra-defensive team. The narrative is wrong. Greece are an ultra bad team. You can tell because a) they can't defend worth beans and b) they play Georgios Samara in attack. The first point of the previous sentence has been demonstrated pretty thoroughly by the Czech Republic, who scored twice in the opening six minutes, banishing the memories of their humiliation by Russia in the process.

The first goal game exactly two minutes and twenty seconds in as a run from Petr Jirocek completely baffled the Greek defence, allowing Tomas Hubschman to play in an inch-perfect through ball that Jirocek finished past a stranded Kostas Chalkias. Tomas Rosicky obviously felt as though he was missing out on the through-ball party, because three minutes later her played in a brilliant pass to Theodor Gebre Selassie, who blitzed beyond Jose Holebas and crossed for Vaclav Pilar to scramble home.

So, yeah. 2-0. Good luck with that, Greece.

Greece Vs. Czech Republic, Euro 2012: Lineups

The Czech Republic could be eliminated from Group A of Euro 2012 by the end of this match. That's not how it's supposed to go, of course - they might have been hammered by Russia but should still have the quality to beat Greece - but their opponents have been tearing up the narrative by being really really pants at defending and looking quite neat on the attack. Both teams have made changes, with Greece having to reshuffle their centre back pairing and accommodate Dimitris Salpingidis up front, while the Czechs have dropped Jan Rezek and Roman Hubnik to the bench.

Greece (4-3-3): Kostas Chalkias; Jose Holebas, Kyriakos Papadopoulos, Kostas Katsouranis, Vasilis Torosidis; Giorgos Karagounis, Giannis Maniatis, Giorgos Fotakis; Georgios Samaras, Konstantinos Fortounis, Dimitris Salpingidis.

Czech Republic (4-2-3-1): Petr Cech; David Limbersky, Michal Kadlac, Tomas Sivok, Theodor Gebre Selassie; Jaroslav Plasil, Tomas Hubschman; Vaclav Pilar, Tomas Rosicky, Petr Jiracek; Milan Baros.

Greece Vs. Czech Republic, Euro 2012: Lines, Odds And Picks

Who is excited to watch two of the worst teams in the tournament do battle? Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?

At least gamble on it and give yourself a rooting interest if you must watch. Rent a team for 90 minutes.

Lines: Greece, +1/2 (-145). Czech Republic, -1/2 (+125).

Odds: Greece, +215. Czech Republic, +125. Draw, +225.

Over/Under: Over 2, -120. Under 2, +100.

The problem here is that betting on either of these teams is dumb. Do you really know what you're going to get out of an ultra-defensive team like Greece that is missing both of its starting central defenders? Do you really want to bet on the Czech Republic ever? The match-up does favor the Czech's, though, because Greece are without two center backs. You'll feel dumb putting the money down, but not winning it. Do it..

An inept team like the Czechs against a defensive team like Greece should be under the whole way, but with the Greeks missing defenders they could give up a goal, get stretched out chasing an equalizer and all hell will break loose. But then again, two center backs out? That spells over 100 times over.

We'll have live coverage of the game in our Greece vs. Czech Republic, Euro 2012 StoryStream. For more on the entire world of football, follow @SBNationSoccer on twitter.

Greece Vs. Czech Republic, 2012 European Championships: Will The Czechs Fail To Impress Once More?

The Czech Republic were disappointing in their opener, while Greece lost both starting central defenders. This could function as a virtual eliminator.

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