Thursday 24 May 2012

Greek Gods?










Manager: Fernando Santos
Captain: Giorgos Karagounis
Star Player: Sortiris Ninis
Bio: In 2004 something amazing happened. Greece went into the European Championship in Portugal and WON!!!! i know right? how did that happen? England have been Waiting 40 odd years to win a bloody cup and GREECE WIN THE BLOOMING EURO! so they must have had an easy run right? no they didn't. The Group they were given were host nation Portugal, Spain and Russia. Im telling you now England wouldn't have got out of that group. They opened the tournament with a 2-1 win over Portugal, then Beat Spain and then lost to Russia 2-1. They were Drawn against France in the Quarter-finals and then the Czech Rep in the Semi Finals winning due to a Silver Goal (if you scored in extra time you would win at the end of that half and not the end of extra time. Since been withdrawn as it was rubbish). They set up a rematch of the opener against Portugal in their Home Stadium. They stood no chance or did they. They won 1-0 thanks to a Basinas Header and amazingly they won they Tournament.  


The Team of today is not much different. They have replaced most of the old boys Karagounis is still playing at the tender age of 35 and a few others remain but the talk will be of the players who have come through after 2004. The Greece supporters will be hoping big things from the likes of Ninis and Kyriakos Papadopoulos. If you don't know much about these guys let me fill you in. Ninis is a 23 year old winger from Panathinaikos in Greece. He has been rumored to Europe's best at some stage or another and looks like a decent player whenever i have seen him. He has to be looking for a move this summer and to do that he needs a big Tournament. Papadopoulos is a 20 year old Centre back that most in Germany rate as the top Defender under the age of 21. He plays for Schalke in Germany and is playing for their first team week in week out. He is very good and I expect big things from him. 


The worry that i have for Greece is there lack of fire power Gekas is their top scorer with 21 goals in 56 games. Not a bad international record but he is 32 and passed his peak. He was no David Villa at the best of times. Their strikers include Man City reject and Current Celtic striker Samaras. I must say I don't expect much from him at the Euro as i think he is god awful. Like a few other teams in this Cup i don't expect them to score many goals and I don't expect them to let in that many either but unlike other teams i think you can score goals against them. Papadopoulos is good but you cant rely on a 20 year old centre back to stop the likes of Van Persie or Rooney. If one thing is in their favour its the group they are in. I think they are not far off the Czech's and the Russians but nor are Poland. I must say this group can go any way and its hard to call but even so i don't expect Greece to get out of the group and could well get beaten in all 3 games. But i said the same thing 8 years ago and look how wrong i was then. 


The Greeks have screwed the Euro Currency but lets hope they don't let us down in the European Championship  

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