Wroclaw, Poland - Poland slumped out of Euro 2012 on Saturday after losing 1-0 to the Czech Republic who reached the quarter-finals as Group A winners after a game in which the co-hosts will rue a host of early missed chances.

The Czechs, without injured captain Tomas Rosicky, took the lead in the 72nd minute when Petr Jiracek took a pass from Milan Baros and jinked away from a defender before slotting past keeper Przemyslaw Tyton for his second goal of the tournament.

The Czechs advance with Greece, who upset Russia 1-0 in Warsaw, and will play the runners-up of Group B.

Poland, roared on by the home crowd and needing a win to go through, started the game at a furious pace and will regret their profligacy after missing several chances to go ahead.

The Czechs were fortunate when a sloppy back pass left striker Robert Lewandowski with a chance but he skewed his effort off target under pressure from Theodor Gebre Selassie.

Clearly missing their playmaker Rosicky, the Czechs eventually settled down after a nervy opening 15 minutes and began putting the Polish defence under pressure with Vaclav Pilar providing a threat down the wing most of the night.

The Czechs started the second half strongly knowing they needed a goal to book a quarterfinal ticket with Pilar causing all sorts of headaches with his runs at the defence.

The pressure finally paid off with Jiracek's neat finish after a pass from much-criticised forward Milan Baros who played his best game of the tournament so far.