Greece
Factsheet:
Euro 2012 Group A: 08-06-12: Poland - Greece, 12-06-12: Greece – Czech Republic,
16-06-12: Greece - Russia
FIFA/Coca Cola World Ranking: 14
Previous European Championship Appearances: 1980, 2004, 2008
Qualifying record: 10+7=3-0 14-5
Interesting facts: Greece holds the record of the first team ever to beat both the hosts
and defending champions in the same championship (2004).
Greece was the first defending European
champion not to earn a single point in the next European Championship (2008).
Greece is the least scoring team that qualified for
Euro 2012.
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For the first time since 1994 will the Greek team show
up to a major competition without Otto Rehhagel in charge. Fernando Santos, as any
of his successors, will constantly be compared with King Otto. The Portuguese
started well: his side has only lost once in 19 games. Hellenic Football
Federation has already offered a new contract to Santos, without waiting for
the Euro 2012 outcome.
Not everything went excellent during the
qualification, despite the results on paper. 6 out of 7 were narrow wins,
including the one in Malta with the only goal scored in the 94th
minute. No matter what, now the team is there and everything will start over
again.
Talking about Greece it is impossible to avoid
comparisons to 2004 and superstitions. They started the opening match against
the hosts and played their last group match against Russia. That story ended
with the most prolific success of Greek football or the greatest upset in
European football history. How will this story end?
The match we remember: Greece have never left
Poland unbeaten in their 8 previous visits. Most of the meetings have been friendlies,
with the last competitive game taken place in April 1987, where the Greeks won
1:0 in a non-decisive European Championship qualification match. Another single
goal separated the teams in a friendly match, where Poland won against the team
to be crowned as European Champions a month later.
The match we remember: Czech Republic has never scored against Greece and the most memorable
match between these two still remains the Euro 2004 semifinal, where the hot favourites
conceded a silver goal from Traianos Dellas in the 105th minute,
leaving the Greeks only one step to complete their fabulous fairy tale.
The match we remember: Those two teams have always met
in the group stage whenever both of them appeared at European Championships. Both
of those matches were won by Russia, including the one at Euro 2004, where the
future champions did not lose any other matches. The Greek miracle could have
remained a dream, had Dmitri Kirichenko used his easy chance to score in the
dying minutes of the match.
Two profiles:
Georgios Samaras: Samaras has probably been the best Greek player
since Euro 2004, when he was too young to be noticed by Rehhagel. But Dutch
scouts had already observed the 16 year-old talent and invited him to
Heerenveen in 2001. His fantastic scoring abilities helped Heerenveen earn UEFA
Cup tickets. Later in his career he moved to Celtic, where he has been
irreplaceable up until now.
His scoring record for his
national team hasn’t been so extraordinary though. The problem is that Greece
doesn’t build their team around strikers and sometimes Samaras needs to play a
bit deeper than he would actually prefer. If we add his many injuries to this, it
will become clear why he only scored 7 times for his national team.
Being physically strong,
Samaras can easily win balls in small contests. He scores lots of headers and
is an amazing dribbler. If he doesn’t abuse this last skill of him and concentrates
on team actions, this could become his tournament, considering his optimal age.
Kyriakos Papadopoulos: An absolute joy to watch
this young player every time I get the chance.
On his Greek Superleague
debut day he was only 15 years old, which is a Greek national record. He could
have broken the same record in Champions League, but he remained on the bench
when the chances were there. Many European giants were interested but finally
it appeared to be Schalke 04 management that signed him in 2008.
Papadopoulos played for U-17,
19 and 21 Greek sides, thus being closely watched and admired by Rehhagel.
Though it was not King Otto to invite him for his first international cap in
2011. Fernando Santos tried to believe in him and the young defender did not
disappoint, showing an excellent performance and adding a goal to his successful
national debut. The Portuguese coach has not been dependant of Papadopoulos in
the qualification, but the Schalke-man has showed great spirit in each and every
of around 50 matches he appeared for the German side since he moved there.
The 20 year-old Kyriakos
Papadopoulos will still become the real leader of Greek defense sooner or
later, but if given the chance, he can already impress us in the upcoming Euro.
My prediction:
It is believed that Rehhagel did not dare to leave the
Euro 2004 generation at home when taking his team to South Africa in 2010. So
does Fernando Santos this year. He still relies on some over-thirty profiles
like Katsouranis, Gekas, Salpigidis, Liberopoulos and Karagounis. The latter
has only 5 matches left to play for his national team to improve the Euro 2004
captain Zagorakis’s record. This experience cannot be taken away from the side.
Santos can also count on the speed and creativity of some young talents as
Papastathopoulos, Ninis, and Fetfatzidis, “the Greek Messi”, as the fans call
him. They showed reputable results in the qualification and the entrance to
quarterfinals does not seem too unlikely: at least they have more chances now
than before Euro 2004. And history shows, that whenever Greece qualifies for
the next round, they go on and win the trophy, as a Greek football fan notices.
But a final tournament is different than
qualification. There are three teams waiting for Greeks to show how to score.
And if they succeed in this once or twice per game, it is difficult to imagine
a positive result for the ex-champions. Truly, lack of a goalscorer is a major
problem for them nowadays, as their only 14 goals were scored by 11 different
players. So I think Greece are able to register their first win in European
Championships after the Euro 2004 final, and that will bring some tension in
this Orthodox-only Group. Not more this time.
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* 6+2=3-1 7-7: played 6, won 2, tied 3, lost 1,
scored 7, conceded 7
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