Arsenal goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny will be the sole Premier League star on show in the opening match.
In a matter of hours Euro 2012 kicks off, and the opening match will pit the co-hosts against the 2004 champions.
When Otto Rehhagel’s Greece shocked Europe, and indeed the watching world by triumphing in Portugal in 2004, Poland were not even at the tournament.
They finished third in a qualification group behind Sweden and Latvia, and were left to reflect on a thoroughly disappointing campaign.
There were no such issues of qualifying to negotiate this time around, gaining entry to the tournament automatically as co-hosts, and being awarded a top seed spot to boot.
This earned them an easily negotiable group with Greece, Russia, and Czech Republic, which they are favourites to progress from along with Russia.
Greece though will relish their role as party-poopers, back in 2004 they stunned a star studded Portugal side, complete with Cristiano Ronaldo and Luis Figo to beat the hosts 1-0 in the opening match.
This time around Poland are a different proposition, filled with hard workers rather than star names.
Of Poland’s likely starting XI, two will stand out. Arsenal goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny and Borussia Dortmund striker Robert Lewandowski, whose 30 goal season has attracted interest from Manchester United.
His fellow Dortmund teammate Jakub Blaszczykowski is less heralded, but has just an important role in this Polish team, as the captain of the side. The midfielder is a two-two Polish footballer of the year and at 26 could be a star of the tournament.
The opening match will be a big test for Poland, who have not played any competitive football for two years, and will want to get off to an impressive start in front of their home crowd, but as England proved against Switzerland at Euro 1996, dealing with both of these issues can be tricky.
They have won their last three friendlies, keeping three clean sheets, by an aggregate of 6-0, against Latvia, Slovakia, and Andorra, and they drew 0-0 with Portugal in February.
Opponents Greece drew 1-1 with Slovenia a fortnight ago, and beat Armenia 1-0 in their last friendly, and will hope to provide a stern test. At World Cup 2010 we saw plenty of cagey opening encounters, with no teams wanting to lose their opening games, and we could see the same here in a very open group.
Greece are expected to start former Manchester City forward Samaras up front, which says a lot about their lack of cutting edge in attack, but the exciting Ninis in midfield could provide some invention. Karagounis, scorer against Portugal in 2004 is still a part of the team, and is expected to start in midfield.
Former Portsmouth goalkeeper Kostas Chalkias could start in goal, he was a part of the Euro 2004 squad although spend most of his time on the bench. Right-back Torossidis is highly-rated and was linked with a move to Manchester United back in January.
Overall I believe we will see a cagey opening encounter, but the form book suggests Poland will be hard to break down. With home support behind them, they should have enough to break down a Greece side who are not expected to progress beyond the group stages, and the lethal Lewandowski in attack should provide the cutting edge required.
Prediction: 2-0 to Poland.
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image: © PolandMFA
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