EURO 2012 Blog

Group Winners
Coach Fernando Santos
One to Watch Ionnas Fetfadzidis

As we approach the summer of 2012 all of our minds, well most of them at least, will turn away from the domestic football competitions within our own countries, towards the International arena for the eagerly awaited European Championship Finals, to be held in Poland and the Ukraine. Within a fortnight from now, the world will know the names of the last four teams/countries that will join the 12 nations already guaranteed a place at Euro 2012. Over the next three weeks, we shall be profiling each of the 16 finalists that will bid to become the champions of Europe until 2016.

Continuing our look into the teams that will contest the Uefa Euro 2012, we arrive in Greece. The Greek national side do not have a very illustrious history in international competition, qualifying for the World Cup Finals just twice in the history of the competition, in 1994 when the tournament was held in the U.S.A. and in 2010 in South Africa. In 1994 Greece failed to secure any points, crashing out in the group stage, unable to score a single goal in the process and conceding ten; 2010 saw an improvement with a 2-1 win over Nigeria, however first round elimination at the feet of Argentina was to follow. Greece’s record of qualification for the European Championships is almost as bad, having made the finals just three times, the first being in 1980 and the most recent in 2008, both of these forays ending in group stage elimination. In 2004, however, Greece stunned the rest of Europe and the footballing world, by winning the tournament and becoming European Champions, defeating the reigning champions, France, and the host nation, Portugal, twice along the way (once in the group stage and again in the final). Greece’s triumph is regarded as one of the biggest shocks in football history and owed much to the defensive strategy of, long-time coach, Otto Rehhagel.

The failed Greek campaigns in Euro 2008 and World Cup 2010 saw the replacement of Otto Rehhagel with Fernando Santos of Portugal. Santos, inheriting an ageing squad in need of revitalisation, his first task was to find and recognise fresh, talented, younger players and integrate them into the squad well enough and quickly enough to get off to a good start in the qualifiers for Euro 2012. Judging by the performances and results that the Greeks have achieved during the last fourteen months, it seems that he has been fairly successful in doing so. Greece didn’t lose a match in the qualifying stage, finishing top of their group, two points ahead of heavily fancied Croatia, who they beat 2-0 on the way, helping them climb the rankings to an unprecedented eighth in the world.

Looking at the Greek squad as it is now, Santos has managed to incorporate a number of youngsters into the team such as Kyriakos Papalopoudos-an excellent central defender courted by a number of Premier League clubs, and Sotiris Ninis – an exciting midfielder on the fringes under Rehhagel. Santos has achieved this whilst at the same time holding on to some of the veterans who bring such a wealth of experience to the side, such as Charisteas in attack and Karagounis in the midfield. The squad then, looks to have a good balance of youth and experience and a number of potentially exciting prospects, in particular, Ionnis Fetfadzidis. Fetfadzidis is a twenty year old attacking midfielder currently playing with Olympiacos, his fantastic close control and skill have led him to be dubbed the “Greek Messi” by fans and players alike. Making his debut in the Euro 2012 qualifying campaign, Fetfadzidis has gone on to score three goals in eleven caps so far from midfield, prompting his cub to extend his contract until 2015 and slap a 12.5 million euro release clause on the 20 year old’s contract.

Greece are an interesting proposition for next summer’s tournament, they are a more attacking outfit these days than under Rehhagel and certainly have some more dynamic players, however they still lack pace up front and will be relying on veterans such as Gekas and Charisteas to get the goals. Good form in qualification has in the past often been followed by a dismal showing in the final competition, aside from 2004 of course, and whilst I’m by no means writing them off, it would be a great achievement if they can get through the group and into the knock out stage.

Tags: defensive strategy, domestic football, euro 2008, european champions, football competitions, football history, forays, fortnight, group stage, group winners, host nation, illustrious history, international arena, international competition, otto rehhagel, qualifying for the world cup, time coach, uefa euro 2012, world cup 2010, world cup finals

This entry was posted on Sunday, November 27th, 2011 at 10:00 and is filed under Group A, Team Profiles. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.