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A to Z of WORLD CUP SOUTH AFRICA 2010 - Greece
GREECE
Greece is a country associated with sun, olive oil and now an eye-watering national debt. If the locals are looking to their National Football Team for some relief from the doom and despair currently enveloping their country, then they are in for yet more disappointment! Including the upcoming tournament in South Africa, this will only be Greece’s second appearance at the World Cup Finals. They last graced the World’s stage in 1994 where they exited in the first round, managing to lose all three of their group matches. After the euphoria of unexpectedly winning Euro 2004, they have not reached the finals of a major football tournament since. They finished second, behind Switzerland, in the qualifying rounds for 2010 and overcame Ukraine 1-0 in the subsequent play-off to book their spot in South Africa.
The side is coached by the German, Otto Rehhagel, in charge since 2001, and who, at the ripe old age of 71, shows no signs of retiring! He has kept faith with the squad who surprisingly won Euro 2004. This apparent reluctance to bring on new talent has made him less than popular with the home media and some of the fans. His captain is the 32 year old midfielder from Panathinaikos, Giorgos Karagounis – he does not score many goals but those he does are of the spectacular variety, none more so than the opening goal of the Euro 2004 tournament against hosts Portugal, a stunning long range effort. Rehhagel is a great believer in big strong defenders and he regularly players two such in Sotirios Kyrgiakos of Liverpool and Giourakas Seitaridis of Panathinaikos. Goals have in the main come from strikers Angelos Charisteas of Nuremberg (23 goals) and Theofanis Gekas of Hertha Berlin (20 goals). It remains to be seen if the comparatively much younger Georgios Samaras of Celtic gets a decent run-out in South Africa.
Ranked 12th in the World by FIFA, Greece have been drawn in Group B alongside Argentina, Nigeria and South Korea. Two of these teams featured in the same group as Greece in the 1994 tournament – the South Koreans replacing the Bulgarians on this occasion. Greece finished second in their qualifying group behind Switzerland and then beat Ukraine 1-0 overall in the subsequent play-off to book their place in South Africa. There is every expectation that Argentina will win the Group though William Hill has the Greeks at 8/1 to do so. Paddy Power are offering 13/10 on their making the second round whilst a first round exit can be had at 8/11 with Skybet. They are very much an outside bet for the Final as evidenced by the 66/1 odds with bwin. It seems that any lifting of the nation’s spirits provided by the football team is likely to be both small and short-lived.
Posted: Thursday, February 18th, 2010 @ 08:02 pm by Mark
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