Few of the football specialists doubted the successful exit of the Russian national team from the group stage of the final part of the European Football Championship this year. However, our team was among the eight national teams that were the first to leave the tournament, which is held this time in Poland and Ukraine.
The beginning of Euro 2012 brought only positive emotions to the fans of our national team - the Russians justified their hopes and expectations of specialists, beating the Czech team with a large score on the opening day of the championship. This, perhaps, was the best game of the national team over the past few years, in which quick flank attacks and their rather effective implementation were successful. Midfielder Alan Dzagoev especially distinguished himself in the implementation of dangerous moments created by the team - he opened the scoring in the 15th minute of the game, and scored another goal in the 79th minute. In addition to him, two Roman scored in our team - midfielder Shirokov did it in the 24th minute, and the forward Pavlyuchenko - in the 82nd. The Czechs scored only once - in the 52nd minute, a goal was scored by Vaclav Pilarzh.
The first half of the next meeting can also be attributed to the asset of our national team - the Russians won it, scoring the only goal against the Polish national team in the 37th minute. This was done by the same Alan Dzagoev - one of two or three players whose merits in the first three halves of Euro 2012 were not canceled out by the next three. In the second half of this game, the Russians were no longer able to create danger at the rivals' goal - the leading players of the attack line looked frankly exhausted. With the inaccuracy of Andrei Arshavin, the attack of the Polish national team began, which Yuri Zhirkov could not slow down, which led to the goal scored by Jakub Blaszczykowski in the 57th minute against Vyacheslav Malafeev. The meeting ended in a draw, but our team remained at the top of the table in Group A.
It was enough for our footballer not to lose the last game of the group stage to the team, which at that time occupied the last row of the table - that would be enough to reach the quarterfinal stage of Euro 2012. However, the Russians could not score at least one goal for the Greek national team even after Dick Advocaat released an additional striker and attacking midfielder on the field, replacing two defensive players with them. And the only goal that determined the future fate of our compatriots in the tournament, the Greeks (Giorgos Karagunis) scored in time added to the first half, when Yuri Zhirkov and Igor Denisov played unsuccessfully. As a result, Russia became the third team in Group A, which did not allow it to continue participating in the European Championship.
