The unlikeliest of scenarios and UEFA's head to head tiebreaker meant that Greece and the Czech Republic's 1-0 wins were enough to shock the footballing world and see Russia and Poland out of Euro 2012. After Russia's 4-1 dismantling of the Czech Republic and Poland's dominant performance against the Greeks in their respective opening matches, the smart money was on the Warsaw Pact to progress.
But as the old adage goes, it's all about peaking at the right time, and Russia just simply ran out of gas and ideas as their performance got progressively worse as the tournament wore on. There might be a sentiment of injustice lingering in the Russian camp as they go out on a tie-breaker, but they can't have any complaints.
Credit has to be given to the Czechs for completely righting the ship after their opening game debacle, but it is difficult to see them (or Greece for that matter) troubling either of the Group B sides. And what can you say about Greece that hasn't already been said about Afghanistan? Don't let them score because they can park the bus with the best of them.
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