Russian fans beat up EURO 2012 stewards

The game, the excitement, the brotherhood, the win - and the Russians beating up stewards inside the Municipal Stadium in Wroclaw after the Russia-Czech Republic game on Friday.

It was an outrageous show of violence by Russian hooligans after their team won 4-1.  The video below shows the Russians attacking the stewards in a walkway after the game.  All injured men were released from the short hospital stay.  Polish police has already submitted pictures of the offenders to the border patrol.

Racist slur and monkey noises directed toward the black Czech player, Theo Gebre Selassie, were also a concern reported by Never Again, a Polish-based anti-racism group, part of Football Against Racism in Europe (FARE). 

Looks like the Russian Football Federation is in hot water, as reported by UEFA: 

UEFA has opened disciplinary proceedings against the Football Union of Russia for the improper conduct of its supporters at Friday's UEFA EURO 2012 match against the Czech Republic.  After having looked at the security reports and available images, UEFA has today announced that disciplinary proceedings have been opened against the Football Union of Russia (RFS) for the improper conduct of its supporters (crowd disturbances), the setting off and throwing of fireworks and the display of illicit banners at Friday's UEFA EURO 2012 Group A match in Wroclaw between Russia and the Czech Republic. The Control and Disciplinary Body will review the case on Wednesday 13 June.  In addition, regarding reports of alleged abuse directed at Czech Republic players from Russia fans, UEFA is investigating this further and is working with FARE to collect more evidence.

Political tensions between Poland and Russia are all time high due to the unresolved plane crash in Smolensk on April 10th, 2010, that killed the Polish President, his wife, and 94 high ranking Polish government and army officials.  Refusal to release the Tu-154 wreck and discrepancies in Russian crash reports, are a sour mix between the countries.

EURO 2012 - Go Poland!

During the first and inaugural game on Friday, June 8th, Poland had a great chance to win the match with Greece.  The great UEFA website tracks all the scores, dates, and venues.

The first half was awesome!  Poles were masters of the pitch, like energizer bunnies.  Robert Lewandowski with an assist from Jakub Błaszczykowski, both playing for Borussia Dortmund, scored a goal, and the game became dramatic.  Sokratis Papastathopoulis got a red card and Greeks where left with 10 players.  

Things changed during the 2nd half.  Greeks had nothing to loose and they attacked strongly with Dimitris Salpingidis scoring an equalizer at 50th minute.  

But wait!  The game got even more twisted in the 69th minute when Polish goalkeeper, Wojciech Szczęsny got a red card for a foul on Salpingidis in front of the goal.  Out for Szczęsny, in for Przemysław Tytoń, penalty kick for Greece.

And the miracles do happen!  Tytoń denied the penalty kick by Giorgos Karagounis.  Instant hero.

The final sore remained 1-1.  Poles could win this match but just couldn't get it together during the 2nd half.  I hope they learn from this performance and get ready for Russians on Tuesday.  

For the football lovers or soccer lovers in US, you can get a great Adidas Euro2012 Repliq Ball White/black Size 5.

EURO 2012 starts today!

EURO 2012 aka UEFA European Championship is starting today, in Poland and Ukraine, with an inauguration ceremony at the National Stadium (Stadion Narodowy) in Warsaw (Warszawa).  The ceremony will be followed by the first Group A match: Poland vs. Greece.  


Go Poland!  My score prediction is 2:1 for Poland.  Will see.


If you have an AT&T service, or whatever other service listed on the site, you can watch live feeds on the ESPN website.  This is a great way to follow this third largest sporting event in the world, right after the Olympics and FIFA World Cup.  


16 European teams in 4 groups will compete for the 2012 European Championship.  


Group A: Poland, Greece, Russia, Czech Republic
Group B: Netherlands, Denmark, Germany, Portugal
Group C: Spain, Italy, Republic of Ireland, Croatia
Group D: Ukraine, Sweden, France, England


Poland and Ukraine completed an astonishing number of projects despite the worldwide recession and Euro financial troubles.  Even though Ukraine is not a member of EU, the country led to EURO 2012 to be organized together with Poland.  


Thank you for that Ukraine, Poles know about your commitment.


Despite some unfair reports from BBC and other Western media, Poland is ready for the challenge.  New roads, hotels, train stations, and above all, friendly Poles welcome all the teams and their fans with open arms.  Polish traditional bread and salt welcome was a huge hit and a surprise to many foreign teams.  Italian team was greeted at the Krakow airport, Irish team had a welcome ceremony in Sopot (near Gdansk). 


But the best welcome, not surprisingly since he was born in Poland, went to Lukas Podolski who plays for German team.  On June 4th, Podolski turned 27 so during the practice in Gdansk, 11,000 Polish fans sang the traditional Happy Birthday "100 lat" (live a hundred years).  Check out the video from the event.

If you are the lucky ticket holder, enjoy your time.  Thanks for visiting Poland!