The European Championships open Friday with matches from Group A, as Poland takes on Greece and the Czech Republic faces Russia. Group A is considered by many to be the weakest of the four groups, with not a single team being in the top 10 of FIFA's rankings. Compare that with Group B, in which every team is in the top 10. But even so, with so many evenly matched teams, Group A could prove to be the closest and most exciting.
Poland
As one of the host countries, Poland received an automatic birth into the tournament. Otherwise, the 65th ranked team in the world likely wouldn't have made it to Euros 2012. The Poles are certainly an underdog, having not played a competitive match since 2009. They did however, defeat Argentina 2-1 and tie Germany 2-2 in friendlies since that time.
Poland's best player is attacker Robert Lewandowski, who notched 30 goals in 46 games for Bundelisga champion Borussia Dortumund. He will be looking to cash in from a solid performance after being linked to a move to Manchester United.
Greece
The Greeks won this tournament in surprise fashion back in 2004 playing a conservative style of play that limited both risk and scoring opportunities. While goals may be hard to come by, don't expect Greece to play much different even under new coach Fernando Santos.
Greece's top players include young defender Kyriakos Papadopoulos and striker Giorgios Samaras.
Russia
Only Italy allowed fewer goals during qualifying than Russia, who will look to build off their run to the semifinals in 2008, but the team will have to play without central defensive anchor Vasili Berezutski who is out with a thigh injury. Watch out for attacking midfielder Alan Dzagoev who scored four goals during qualifying, as well as striker Pavel Pogrebnyak, who ended the season with Fulham on a scoring streak, netting six goals in eight appearances.
Czech Republic
The aging team is starting to show its wear, as the Czech Republic was forced to win a playoff against Montenegro just to earn a bid in the tournament. Tomas Rosicky, 31, and Milan Baros, 30, will be counted on to score goals and pick up the slack for a shaky defense. One bright spot for the Czechs is goalkeeper Petr Cech. The Chelsea legend is one of the best keepers in the world.
