Jakub Blaszczykowski's stunning strike against Russia last night was not exactly Andriy Shevchenko's two magical goals for Ukraine, but it provided co-hosts Poland with their best moment of Euro 2012 so far.

Still though, the arrest of nearly 200 people beforehand on the streets of Warsaw served to overshadow the moment, ensuring that even as Poland enjoyed an element of sporting success, events off the pitch continued to dog the country.

In that respect, this has very much been a tournament of two halves.

Early Doors is located in Ukraine for the group stages, where despite some

When England coach Gary Neville spotted Patrice Evra in the mixed zone at Donetsk's Donbass Arena he bounded across to his former Manchester United team-mate, gave him a manly embrace and in a curious Manc-French hybrid that reminded Early Doors of its own unsuccessful grapples with GCSE language studies congratulated him with the words "tres bien, tres bien!"

But really it should have been Evra lavishing congratulations on his one-time colleague in the United back four. On a night when a wasteful France played within themselves and were held by inferior opposition, it was England, with

Just six games into Euro 2012 it is probably a dangerous enterprise to try and pick out any specific trends, but to Early Doors's largely untrained eye, it appears to be becoming a tournament in which midfielders are impressing at the expense of strikers.

There have been some positive contributions from those in attack — Mario Mandzukic's two headers for Croatia against Ireland last night stand out — but the signature moments have come from deeper positions.

On day one it was Alan Dzagoev's two goals for Russia and Andrei Arshavin's two assists. On day two we had Wesley Sneijder's masterclass

Perhaps wary of the prospect of a sea of hostile camera lenses and dictaphones from across the globe being pointed in his face in Sunday's pre-match press conference ahead of England's game against France, Roy Hodgson yesterday sought to take the sting out of the Rio Ferdinand story that has dogged England's preparations almost incessantly.

Prior to England's cross-border trip from Krakow to Donetsk, Hodgson sat down with the BBC, ITV and the national press to offer his explanation for the original omission of Rio Ferdinand and his subsequent decision to decide against calling him up following

Alan Dzagoev: Bloc rocking beatsWhat an opening day at Euro 2012. Comedy goalkeeping, comedy refereeing, two red cards, seven goals and some unhinged, end-to-end football. On an unforgettable night, we were also privileged to witness the emergence of some previously unheralded European stars.

Early Doors was particularly taken by a talented forward in the Russia side. Playing off the lone striker, he wreaked havoc all evening in his side's ominous 4-1 hammering of Czech Republic. ED has had to double check the spelling, but his name is apparently Andrei Arshavin. God knows where he has been hiding for the past few years, but

So here we are. After hundreds of qualifying matches, dozens of great goals, numerous controversies and one silly red card in Podgorica, the Euro 2012 finals are finally, mercifully, upon us.

Sixteen national sides and 368 players from across the continent have assembled in two countries for 23 days of football and this evening the 14th European Championship gets underway when co-hosts Poland take on Greece. Okay, so it might be a bit of an underwhelming start, but having spent so much of the past few months discussing, politics, racism and "footballing reasons", we can at least be thankful

Brace yourselves, for it has begun.

England's Euro 2012 squad finally jetted off to Poland on Wednesday as officially the sixth best team in world football and the fourth best in Europe, but expectations of the team's fortunes at a tournament must be at their lowest for three decades or more.

In spite of that, there has still been the traditional fervour whipped up around the squad as they prepared to make the journey from the glamorous environs on Luton airport to their base in Krakow.

There were pictures taken of everyone in their official tournament suits. There was a visit to the

Coming just a day after Chelsea announced the signing of Eden Hazard, the timing of Manchester United's confirmation they had struck a deal for Shinji Kagawa yesterday lent itself to suggestions that the Japan star was very much a Plan B for Sir Alex Ferguson.

Certainly Hazard told everyone that his choice boiled down to United or Chelsea, while subsequent reports have claimed United were left furious by the Belgium international's decision to move to a posh abode in Cobham rather than the leafy surrounds of Alderley Edge.

However, even given these circumstances, it would be very wrong indeed