ENGLAND dug deep to earn a 1-1 draw from their opening Euro 2012 Group D clash against France in Kiev.
Joleon Lescott headed the Three Lions in front on the half hour mark but the lead lasted just nine minutes before his Manchester City club mate Samir Nasri equalised for the French.
Roy Hodgson made a relatively bold selection for his first competitive game with Danny Welbeck and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain keeping Andy Carroll and Stewart Downing out of the first XI.
It seemed to have worked early on as England carved out the first real chance of the game which James Milner spurned, hitting the side netting despite having done the hard work in getting round the goalkeeper.
Nevertheless, Hodgson's tactics were still very conservative on the whole and, with the French dominating the ball, it was no surprise that the England breakthrough came from a set-piece.
Skipper Steven Gerrard, for whom this is a fifth international tournament, has often been criticised for failing to produce as well in an England shirt as he does in a Liverpool one.
But rarely will the 32-year-old have swept in a better ball than the free-kick which landed on Lescott's head as England defied all the pre-tournament doom-mongers by taking the lead.
As stated above, though, it did not last long - and it was not as if England did not get a warning before Laurent Blanc's men restored parity.
For, just moments before Nasri's 20-yard strike, another Man City player - Joe Hart - was forced to make a point-blank save from an Alou Diarra header.
Then, with six minutes before half time, England were sitting even deeper than usual and this allowed a neat French passing move to culminate in Nasri picking his spot with little pressure on the ball.
It would be fair to say that the Three Lions were glad of a breather at the interval.
That seemed to be enough for England to regain some composure and Hodgson's men enjoyed their best spell of possession just after the break, though they created little.
Indeed, the lack of a creative spark remains a concern with Ashley Young unusually quiet and Milner on the other flank little more than a workhorse.
Being brutally honest, England only look a real threat from set-pieces and, as well as Welbeck did in his largely thankless task up front, he failed to get a shot on target all game.
It would be harsh to be too critical of the young Manchester United player's overall performance, though - and England were in fact indebted to his deflection which took Yohan Cabaye's rasping drive wide.
That was in the last quarter of an hour as England fell into the worrying trap of sitting too deep again.
Cabaye's strike was as good as it got, though, for Les Bleus who became the latest big-name team not to hit top gear in the first round of matches...
Easily the biggest let-down came from the Dutch who were stunned by a 1-0 defeat to Denmark in Group B.
The Danes were not well-fancied and seemed a little out of place in the much-vaunted Group of Death - but this was all actually being rather unfair to Morten Olsen's men.
After all, Denmark finished top of their qualifying pool - ahead of one of their opponents, Portugal - and had also risen to ninth in the world rankings.
This was not as big a shock as the BBC made out with Michael Krohn-Dehli exposing Netherlands' known weakness in defence to score a first-half winner.
Nevertheless, the Oranje only had themselves to blame for not taking at least a point from this encounter. Between them, Robin van Persie, Arjen Robben and Ibrahim Afellay hit 18 shots but only three went on target.
Krohn-Dehli made Dutch keeper Maarten Stekelenburg work just as hard from his own three efforts.
It left Dutch coach Bert van Marwijk ruing the referee's failure to give a penalty for handball against Lars Jacobsen in the closing minutes.
But, in truth, van Marwijk would do better to look closer to home for his side's failure - and, with Germany to come next, Netherlands are already on the precipe.
Not that the Germans produced anything particularly of note themselves in their laboured 1-0 win over Portugal.
The Germans and the Portuguese produced a cracking quarter final four years ago but this match was the antithesis of that one, with Portugal particularly guilty of just sitting back.
Pepe did hit the underside of the bar in a rare foray but the ball did not cross the line, and the Germans survived.
UEFA president Michael Platini will be glad there was no controversy about that but his insistence on extra officials only seems to be further delaying the introduction of proper goal-line technology.
Back to on-field matters and, almost inevitably, Portugal paid the price for their negative approach when Mario Gomez headed Germany into the lead with less than 20 minutes left.
Belatedly, the Portuguese stirred themselves into action as Nani hit the woodwork with a cross-shot and Manuel Neuer saved well from Silvestre Varela.
But the defeat leaves Paulo Bento's men needing to beat Denmark - something which was beyond them in their final qualification match...
In the end, then, the tasty Group B line-up could not much match a frantic opening day from the supposed lesser teams in Group A.
Hosts Poland began the tournament with just a 15-minute opening ceremony - Olympic and World Cup officials should take note - before providing entertainment on the pitch.
They started well against Greece with striker-turned-right-back Lukasz Piszczek regularly making a mockery of his marker on the wing.
Piszczek should have already done better with one of his early crosses but, on 17 minutes, he made amends by whipping in a lovely ball for Poland's main striker Robert Lewandowski to head in.
Rafal Murawski could have doubled the lead minutes later but his shot was tipped over before the Spanish referee, Carlos Velasco Carballo, decided to make a name for himself.
Having let the game flow in its opening stages, the official booked his first player, even though Sokratis Papastathopoulos appeared to challenge fairly for a header.
The booking would cost ultimately Papastathopoulos who was then sent off before half time for blocking the run of Ludovic Obraniak. One down, and a man down, the Greeks now had a mountain to climb.
With 10 men, and in their habitual defensive rut, all hope looked lost for them but the circumstances seemed to shock the Euro 2004 champions into action.
Dimitris Salpingidis took advantage of some weak Polish defending to fire in an equaliser and, with 20 minutes left, he was then brought down by goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny.
The Arsenal stopper was promptly sent off making it 10 v 10 but, more crucially, his replacement Przemyslaw Tyton's first action was to save Giorgos Karagounis' penalty low down to his right.
So, in the end, it was Greece who missed the big chance for a glorious start. But Poland, too, will regret not putting away their opponents after a strong first-half showing... particularly as next up for the hosts are Russia.
The Russians produced perhaps the best team performance of the tournament so far as they dismantled the Czech Republic defence in a 4-1 thrashing.
Alan Dzagoev scored twice as Dick Advocaat's side totally overran their opponents from the very first kick.
Indeed, Russia were 2-0 up in 24 minutes - first, Dzagoev converted a rebound from Aleksandr Kerzhakov's shot which had hit the post, then Roman Shirokov chipped in number two.
From nowhere, at the start of the second half, the Czechs reduced their arrears when Jaroslav Plasil sliced open the Russia defence and Vaclav Pilar rounded the keeper to finish.
But, far from changing the course of the match, the Czechs' goal only seemed to make Russia more determined to make a winning start.
First, though, they had to endure Kerzhakov missing a hatful of chances before Dzagoev made it 3-1 with a ruthless finish.
Kerzhakov's replacement - former Tottenham Hotspur striker Roman Pavlyuchenko - made it 4-1 after he was set up brilliantly by Andrei Arshavin - and it was not a score which could be said to have flattered Russia.
Another team with who started with a comfortable victory were Croatia, who beat Ireland in Group C on Sunday in Poznan.
Ireland entered the tournament on the back of a 14-game unbeaten run which included 11 clean sheets - but none of this defensive ability was on show in a disappointing opener for Giovanni Trapattoni.
In fact, there were less than three minutes on the clock when the Croatians opened the scoring, as Mario Mandzukic took advantage of some slack marking to head home.
Though - in fairness - Ireland made a creditable comeback to draw level with a header of their own from Sean St Ledger, Croatia restored their lead before half time.
That came courtesy of Nikola Jelavic's dinked finish just before the interval - and then Ireland committed the cardinal sin of conceding just after the break as well.
Mandzukic scored his second header on 49 minutes to put the game ultimately out of reach - though the contest would have taken on a different complexion if Ireland had been awarded what looked a blatant penalty for a foul on Robbie Keane.
A late rally also produced a trio of chances for Keith Andrews but, while they were short on luck, Ireland must admit that they lost to the technically better team.
Next, the Irish face Spain who themselves failed to open with a win after starting without a recognised striker in their eagerly-anticipated clash against Italy.
That seemed to suit the Italians who fielded three centre-backs and, though Cesare Prandelli's men let the Spaniards dominate possession, Italy looked the more threatening team.
Andrea Pirlo produced a fine save from Iker Casillas with an early free-kick before Antonio Cassano disappointingly dragged his shot wide when well placed.
Just before the break, Thiaggo Motta forced another excellent save from Casillas with a point-blank header, and consequently the sides returned to the dressing rooms at 0-0.
Prandelli's Italians picked up from where they left off after half time and Mario Balotelli really should have opened his account early in the second half.
The Man City striker, though, dallied on the ball and allowed Sergio Ramos to get back and rob him of his one-on-one chance.
It did not matter much as Balotelli was soon replaced by Antonio di Natale... and the Udinese forward did open the scoring, curling a delightful shot into the far corner.
Spain's reaction was one of champions - it was immediate. The impressive Andres Iniesta squeezed a ball through to David Silva as, for once, a Spanish passing build-up looked to carry some real threat.
Silva then poked the ball from the edge of the box through to Cesc Fabregas who had beaten his marker and he also beat Buffon with his shot to make it all-square again.
Soon after the equaliser, Vicente del Bosque finally decided to bring on recognised forwards in Jesus Navas and Fernando Torres, and the World and European champions pressed for the winner.
The two best chances fell to Torres but the Chelsea striker let himself down with his first-touch immediately after coming on, and later lobbed his second effort wide.
Italy were more happy with the point in the end, but they too could have stolen the game at the death, only for Claudio Marchisio to shoot straight at Casillas when in plenty of space. Truly, though, the demise of the Italians had been greatly exaggerated.
Ukraine were another team not fancied to do so well, despite being hosts - but they also washed away all that negativity with a wonderful comeback in Kiev last night.
The hero of the match was Andriy Shevchenko who scored two second-half goals in seven minutes as Ukraine came back from 1-0 down to win.
After a first half which promised much but failed to deliver, Sweden shocked the hosts by taking the lead on 52 minutes. Zlatan Ibrahimovic was afforded far too much space and it looked as if the nay-sayers were going to be right.
But, determined to have none of it, Shevchenko grabbed the match by the scruff of the neck and, just three minutes later, headed home Andriy Yarmolenko's fine cross for the equaliser.
Seven minutes after that, the Olympic Stadium was going wild for their number seven again when he evaded poor marking to glance a near-post header from a corner.
Ukraine now had a lead to protect and they did so by taking off Shevchenko to a noisy, standing ovation.
By playing so defensively, however, Ukraine had handed the initiative back to Sweden - and Erik Hamsen's men nearly, very nearly, took advantage.
First, Ibrahimovic came close with a stinging drive from the edge of the box, and then substitute Johan Elmander spurned the best opportunity by blazing wide in the box.
Finally, Olof Mellberg scooped a volley onto the roof of the net and, having held their collective breath thoughout the last 10 minutes, the Ukrainian fans and players let it all out on the final whistle.
Shevchenko was king of Kiev once more as an excellent set of opening matches concluded in memorable fashion.
GROUP A
| TV | Date/time (BST) | Venue | |
| BBC | Fri 8 June, 17:00 | POLAND 1-1 GREECE | Warsaw |
| ITV | Fri 8 June, 19:45 | RUSSIA 4-1 CZECH REPUBLIC | Wroclaw |
| ITV | Tue 12 June, 17:00 | GREECE v CZECH REPUBLIC | Wroclaw |
| ITV | Tue 12 June, 19:45 | POLAND v RUSSIA | Warsaw |
| BBC | Sat 16 June, 19:45 | CZECH REPUBLIC v POLAND | Wroclaw |
| BBC | Sat 16 June, 19:45 | GREECE v RUSSIA | Warsaw |
| Group A | W | D | L | F | A | Pts |
| RUSSIA | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 3 |
| GREECE | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| POLAND | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| CZECH REPUBLIC | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 0 |
GROUP B
| TV | Date/time (BST) | Venue | |
| BBC | Sat 9 June, 17:00 | NETHERLANDS 1-0 DENMARK | Kharkiv |
| BBC | Sat 9 June, 19:45 | GERMANY 1-0 PORTUGAL | Lviv |
| ITV | Wed 13 June, 17:00 | DENMARK v PORTUGAL | Lviv |
| BBC | Wed 13 June, 19:45 | NETHERLANDS v GERMANY | Kharkiv |
| ITV | Sun 17 June, 19:45 | PORTUGAL v NETHERLANDS | Kharkiv |
| ITV | Sun 17 June, 19:45 | DENMARK v GERMANY | Lviv |
| Group B | W | D | L | F | A | Pts |
| DENMARK | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 |
| GERMANY | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 |
| NETHERLANDS | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| PORTUGAL | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
GROUP C
| TV | Date/time (BST) | Venue | |
| ITV | Sun 10 June, 17:00 | SPAIN 1-1 ITALY | Gdansk |
| ITV | Sun 10 June, 19:45 | IRELAND 1-3 CROATIA | Poznan |
| BBC | Thu 14 June, 17:00 | ITALY v CROATIA | Poznan |
| ITV | Thu 14 June, 19:45 | SPAIN v IRELAND | Gdansk |
| BBC | Mon 18 June, 19:45 | CROATIA v SPAIN | Gdansk |
| BBC | Mon 18 June, 19:45 | ITALY v IRELAND | Poznan |
| Group C | W | D | L | F | A | Pts |
| CROATIA | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 3 |
| ITALY | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| SPAIN | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| IRELAND | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 0 |
GROUP D
| TV | Date/time (BST) | Venue | |
| ITV | Mon 11 June, 17:00 | FRANCE 1-1 ENGLAND | Donetsk |
| BBC | Mon 11 June, 19:45 | UKRAINE 2-1 SWEDEN | Kiev |
| ITV | Fri 15 June, 17:00 | UKRAINE v FRANCE | Donetsk |
| BBC | Fri 15 June, 19:45 | SWEDEN v ENGLAND | Kiev |
| ITV | Tue 19 June, 19:45 | ENGLAND v UKRAINE | Donetsk |
| ITV | Tue 19 June, 19:45 | SWEDEN v FRANCE | Kiev |
| Group D | W | D | L | F | A | Pts |
| UKRAINE | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 3 |
| ENGLAND | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| FRANCE | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| SWEDEN | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 |
SCORERS
2 Alan Dzagoev (Russia), Mario Mandzukic (Croatia), Andriy Shevchenko (Ukraine)
1 Robert Lewandowski (Poland), Dimitris Salpingidis (Greece), Roman Shirokov (Russia), Vaclav Pilar (Czech Republic), Roman Pavlyuchenko (Russia), Michael Krohn-Dehli (Denmark), Mario Gomez (Germany), Antonio di Natale (Italy), Cesc Fabregas (Spain), Sean St Ledger (Ireland), Nikola Jelavic (Croatia), Joleon Lescott (England), Samir Nasri (France), Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Sweden)
RED CARDS
Sokratis Papastathopoulos (Greece) v Poland
Wojciech Szczesny (Poland) v Greece
Yellow cards: 21
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