Co-hosts Poland battled hard against favourites Russia to earn their second 1-1 draw of the tournament. Captain Jakub Błaszczykowski had put the Poles back on level terms just before the hour mark after the tournament’s top scorer Alan Dzagoev had given the Russians a first half lead. Poland’s first-match nervousness was all gone as they displayed some beautiful passing football against a Russian team which were expected to sweep them aside. The co-hosts have kept their hopes alive and their next match against the Czechs would be as a result be a virtual knock-out. The Russians were slow off the block once again and seemed under pressure to deliver on this day of national importance (Russia Day). The Poles though drew inspiration from a capacity crowd and wanted it more, pushing themselves forward till the very end. A draw was a fair result and sets up the group beautifully, with no team out of the competition just yet.

Poland made a couple of changes to the team that started against Greece, with Przemysław Tytoń coming in for the suspended Wojciech Szczęsny and Dariusz Dudka starting in place of Maciej Rybus. Robert Lewandowski was the lone man up top once again and had support from Ludovic Obraniak and Dortmund teammate and Captain Jakub Blaszczykowski, who acted as attacking wingers. The defensive line was a bit suspect and inexperienced and the manager was quick to tinker with it just a bit.

Two quick goals in the first six minutes of the game helped the Czech Republic overcome a tough Greece side 2-1 in Wroclaw, the win helping the Czechs boost their hopes of a quarterfinal berth. Having been drubbed 4-1 by Russia on the opening day, Michal Bilek's side needed a strong start to the game in order to calm their nerves, and got just that as Petr Jiracek and Vaclav Pilar notched two goals in the space of three minutes to take the wind out of Greece's sails. To their credit, however, the Greeks fought back much like they did against Poland and scored in the second period through Theofanis Gekas, but could not get the decisive second goal. The result meant that the Czechs climb to joint-first in the group with the three points level with Russia, who take on co-hosts Poland later tonight. For the Greeks though qualification is all but impossible as they would need a remarkable set of results to go their way to sneak in through the back door.

Greece manager Fernando Santos made three changes to the side that drew against Poland on the opening fixture of the tournament, with Georgios Samaras moving into the central striker's spot in place of Theofanis Gekas. Sotiris Ninis missed out as well, with substitute goalscorer Dimitris Salpingidis earning a place in the starting eleven along with Kostas·Fortounis. The other two changes were enforced upon the Greeks with Sokratis Papastathopoulos suspended and Avraam Papadopoulos injured, and Santos chose to start Kostas Katsouranis out of his natural position in the heart of defence alongside Kyriakos Papadopoulos instead of installing a new centre-half partnership, instead playing Georgios Fotakis alongside skipper Giorgios Karagounis and Giannis Maniatis in the centre of midfield.

Co-hosts Ukraine have taken a shock lead in Group D with a stunning come from behind 2-1 win against Sweden courtesy a brace from veteran striker and talismanic skipper Andriy Shevchenko. The 35-year old legendary striker playing in his last major international tournament scored twice within the space of 8 minutes, using his head on both occasions to lead Ukraine to an incredible win in front of a packed house at NSC Olympiyskiy, Kiev. Swedish captain Zlatan Ibrahimovic had given his side a controversial lead early in the second half with a simple finish from a Kim Kallstrom cross, while a Ukraine defender lay on the ground writhing in pain, but the visitors opted to play to the referee's whistle. The result throws Group D wide open, after favourites France and England played out a dull 1-1 draw earlier in the day.

Debutants Ukraine had Andriy Pyatov in goal, with a back four of Yevgen Selin, Yevhen Khacheridi, Taras Mikhalik and Oleg Gusev guarding him. Having employed a defensive 4-1-2-1-2 formation, the experienced Anatoliy Tymoshchuk took up the position sitting in front of the back four, flanked by Andriy Yarmolenko and Evgeni Konoplyanka. Serhiy Nazerenko was the lone attacking midfielder, with European legend Andriy Shevchenko and former Liverpool striker Andriy Voronin leading the team in attack.

Underachieving giants France and England battled hard to earn a 1-1 draw in their Euro 2012 Group D opener. Both the sides would be happy with the result, with relatively easier games against Ukraine and Sweden to follow. The Three Lions put in a stellar performance in defence with Joleon Lescott doing well alongside John Terry, the former capping off a good performance with the first goal of the match. England though looked quite clueless in attack and were under the cosh for large periods of the contest. Samir Nasri levelled the match late in the first half, and though France rarely got behind the England backline (which was quite deep), they did have plenty of pot shots at Joe Hart's goal, the Manchester City stopper proving up to the challenge. Games against easier opponents would be England's real test, and it will be interesting to see how they change the way they approach matches where they are expected to win.

France on the other hand would be slightly disappointed at not having grabbed all three points from a game they dominated for large periods, but showed enough ability to suggest they would have no trouble sailing through what should be a rather straight forward group.