Today in Poland, in Wroclaw, The Czech Republic beat Poland 1-0 in a game that showed that experience counts more than wishful thinking.
Unexpectedly, the Czech Republic finish first in Group A and will wait until tomorrow to find out who the runner-up of Group B is, as they will play them for a spot in the semifinal.
In Warsaw, Greece beat Russia 1-0 with a scrappy and lucky goal at the very end of the first half.
Greece qualified -from the second spot of the group- into the 1/8s of the tournament. They will wait until tomorrow to find out the winner of Group B whom they will play for a spot in the semifinal.
This is no doubt an incredible turn of events, considering that Russia thrashed Czech Republic 4-1 in the first game... And yet Russia will go back home and the Czech Republic finish first in the group.
Poland was in a tight spot to begin with as they have no team to speak of, so they needed plenty of luck to make it through to the 1/8s of the tournament. And they had no luck whatsoever, considering the lucidity of the other teams in group A.
I feel sorry for Poland and Russia, but these last 2 games show -once again- that pragmatism is more important than desire.
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