Tensions high ahead of Poland v Russia
Reuters - Monday 11 June 2012, 01:00
Poland and Russia are doing
their best to keep their minds on football ahead of a Euro 2012
Group A game on Tuesday that off the pitch looks like one of the
tournament's potential flashpoints.
Authorities in Warsaw have been working hard behind the
scenes to ease concerns over a planned march by Russian fans
through the city to the national stadium.
Minister of Sport Joanna Mucha has played down outrage at
the plan from some in Warsaw for whom that is too reminiscent of
Russia's dominance of Poland during the communist era.
"I do not think there will be any problems with this march
or with this day. I am sure everything will go all right," she
told Reuters television.
"It is absolutely normal for the fans supporting the teams
just to have a march during the tournament, so this is an
absolutely normal situation."
Russian fans were also at the centre of a handful of
incidents in the southern city of Wroclaw around Friday's game
against the Czech Republic and are expected to be in Warsaw in
force on Tuesday.
Their team produced the performance of the tournament to
crush the Czechs 4-1 in an exuberant display of swift movement
and flawless finishing on Friday.
That reinforced their status as firm favourites for Group A,
although the Poles showed enough in a dominant first-half
display against Greece to suggest they will not be pushovers.
"The Russians are favourites but we've played with teams who
are better than they are. There is no reason to be scared. We
are at home," Polish attacking midfielder Adrian Mierzejewski
told reporters on Sunday.
"For us as players, it doesn't really matter who we play but
for the fans of course there is a bit of a clash, a bit more
tension in this game."
Mierzejewski and Kamil Gronicki both sounded cautiously
optimistic of their chances of playing, adding to speculation
that at least one of them could start.
Franciszek Smuda, widely regarded as a conservative coach
who tends to stick with the same line up if he can, said he
would not make more than one change to his outfield starting
side.
Goalkeeper Przemyslaw Tyton, who rescued the Poles on Friday
by saving a penalty with his first touch of the ball, will start
in place of the suspended Wojciech Szczesny.
THREW FIREWORKS
The Russian football federation and the national team on
Sunday urged their fans in Poland to behave after some
supporters threw fireworks and displayed illicit banners during
the game against the Czechs.
UEFA is investigating those incidents and the circumstances
around an attack by around 30 fans on stewards after the match.
Coach Dick Advocaat is expected to make no changes to a
squad being tipped to repeat or better their drive to the
semi-finals four years ago. The two sides last played just
before that in 2007, drawing 2-2 in a friendly in Moscow.
"We all know what a match against the Russians means,"
Poland's Grosicki said on Sunday.
"It is one of those games - against Russia or Germany -
where, speaking colloquially, you have to leave your guts on the
pitch."