Welcome to UEFA Euros: The Poland Preview

UEFA European Championship—The 30-second Summary

The Euros will be hosted this year in France for the fifteenth UEFA European Championship from 10 June through 10 July 2016.  Spain is the current champion, winning their third title in 2012, tying with Germany for the most held and winning back-to-back titles at that.  Determination of the teams going to the Euros is largely a sea of logarithms based on coefficients for seeding but the gist is this:  24 national teams walk in, 1 walks out, an expansion from the previous twenty years of the cutoff being sixteen teams.  France, being the host, automatically gets included, a point that will become important momentarily.  Albania, Iceland, Slovakia, Northern Ireland, and Wales will be competing for their first time.

Poland

The coach for Poland’s National Team is Adam Nawałka, a former midfielder and national coach since 2013.  Captain of the Team and arguably the most recognized player from it is captain Robert Lewandowski, a striker for club Bayern Munich with Krychowiak a close second from Sevilla FC.  Outside of being a fan specifically to Polish football you may also have heard of Paweł Dawidowicz or Arkadiusz Milik, both with potential for explosive talent in their matches.  The likely goaltender anticipated starting for their matches will be Wojciech Szczęsny though Nawałka seems a bit quiet on the certainty of the matter and will be feeling things out over the ongoing friendlies.

Most media regarding interviews with players reflects a cautious optimism.  I respect a team that goes into a test with a healthy appreciation for the talent that they are up against, but Poland seems almost surprised by their successes.  And there may be some reason for that.  As the hosts for the 2012 Euro both Poland and Ukraine while automatically making it to the finals were both unceremoniously disqualified in shut outs.  But while their time in the 2012 Euro was short, they had a pretty darn charming logo along with their cohosts…

On 12 June they will match up against Northern Ireland, and for Poland’s sake, welcome the Euro freshmen with a hearty throttling.  However, what potential success might lie in Nice with Northern Ireland is likely to come to grinding halt in their match with the FIFA 2014 Cup winners, Germany on 16 June.  Assuming that there are many survivors remaining, Poland then goes on to face off against the other… tulip hybrid, I guess? in Ukraine on 21 June.

Unfortunately, even as a good half-Polish girl who makes her own gołąbki and dries her own kluskis, the tepid enthusiasm from the Polish National Team is infectious.  I suspect like most of the players, I, too, will be surprised if they advance and while I would decidedly love to see it but I don’t think I would be putting in my request for time off for the knockouts in the Round of 16.

Powodzenia, Polska!

Here’s a link to the schedule of matches from ESPN