World Cup 2010 Previews: Greece

No, We Couldn't Believe It Either

As we begin the countdown to World Cup 2010, we are going to feature an in-depth exploration of each national side as they fight towards the Jules Rimet Trophy.

Today, we look at the 2004 European Champions.

Country: Greece

Nicknames: Galanoleyki (‘Blue & White’), The Pirate Ship (coined during their  Euro ’04 run)

Coach: Otto Rehhagel (9th year in charge)

Preliminary Squad:

GK: Kostas Chalkias (PAOK), Michalis Sifakis (Aris Thessaloniki), Alexandros Tzorvas (Panathinaikos)

DF: Georgios Tzavelas (Panionios), Nikos Spiropoulos (Panathinaikos), Vangelis Moras (Bologna), Avraam Papadopoulos (Olympiacos), Loukas Vyntra (Panathinaikos), Sotirios Kyrgiakos (Liverpool), Georgios Galitsios (Olympiacos), Stelios Malezas (PAOK), Sokratis Papastathopoulos (Genoa), Giourkas Seitaridis (Panathinaikos), Vasilis Torosidis (Olympiacos), Kostas Manolas (AEK), Stergos Marinos (Panathinaikos)

MF: Georgios Karagounis (Panathinaikos), Konstantinos Katsouranis (Panathinaikos), Evripidus Makos (AEK), Sotiris Ninis (Panathinaikos), Christos Patsatzoglou (Omonia), Alexandros Tziolis (Siena), Athanasios Prittas (Aris Thessaloniki)

ST: Dimitris Salpingidis (Panathinkaikos), Lazaros Christodoulopoulos (Panathinaikos), Theofanis Gekas (Hertha Berlin), Georgios Samaras (Celtic), Angelos Charisteas (FC Nuremberg), Pantelis Kapetanos (Steaua Bucharest), Konstantinos Mitroglou (Olympiakos).

World Cup Fixtures:
1.  June 12th vs. South Korea
2.  June 17th vs. Nigeria
3.  June 22nd vs. Argentina

Home Base:
The Beverly Hills Hotel at Umhlanga Rocks. Right outside of Durban, one hopes the resort’s “hard-to-match views of the Indian Ocean and miles of unspoilt beaches” will help heal Grecian wounds.

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In what is only the country’s second World Cup appearance, German manager Otto Rehhagel and his warriors will be hoping to emulate the success of their improbable 2004 European Championships triumph. Brief recap for newbies and black-out drinkers: As 150-to-1 longshots, Greece defended bravely, stretching out a series of 1-0 victories to ruin Portugal’s coronation on home soil, making Cristiano Ronaldo cry.

Eventually, Ronaldo got over it and (allegedly) banged Paris Hilton. But, history was equally as cruel to the Greeks: their stay at the summit was short-lived as they quickly tumbled back down to the foot of Mount Olympus. Despite a new-found status as favorites, Greece finished an underwhelming 4th in qualifying, missing out on Germany ’06. Rehhagel endured massive calls for his job and the team qualified for Austria/Switzerland ’08. But, the shine was gone. They lost all three group matches and were crated up and shipped back home in a style fitting with their footballing history.

How They Got Here:
Despite that poor performance in Germanic lands, their wily German manager regrouped and managed to bring his squad into South Africa in a familiar manner — through the back door. After finishing 2nd to Switzerland in a qualifying group populated by heavyweights like Latvia, Israel, Luxemborg and Moldova, Rehhagel’s men beat Ukraine in the play-offs with a signature 1-0 win on the road.

Team Style:
Now, in 2010, as the country claws its way back from the brink of financial disaster, Rehhagel will bank on the two pillars of Defending and Experience in hopes of avoiding a group stages exit. He’s assembled a squad largely made-up of home-based players, very few household names (the exceptions being Celtic’s Samaras and Lorenzo Lamas of Liverpool) and a slew of players on the ‘wrong’ side of 30.

The Galanoleyki can boast strikers Theofanis Gekas (who led all qualifying scoring with 10 goals) and their hero from Portugal,  Angelos Charisteas. Yet, Greece’s potential Achilles Heel will be their backline: should it hold up better than Beckham’s, they stand a chance of sneaking past Nigeria & South Korea. As go the performances of center-back The Renegade and the 36-year old keeper, Konstantinos Chalkias, so should go the fortunes of Greece. In the midfield, captain Georgios Karagounis and Konstantinos Katsouranis are the two to watch. And, guess what? Everybody I just named is age 30 or over. Readers, meet pattern. Pattern, meet readers.

UF Prediction:
Unfortunately, the Greeks don’t have an easy task: Messi & Co. will channel their inner Terpischores and dance Argentina right around the lumbering statues and the Super Eagles of Nigeria will likely make a feast of their livers. South Korea, in the first match, represents the best Grecian chances, as ancient, crumbling legs won’t yet have taken a beating.

To take three points from the group stage, in either variety, would be a moral victory.  Look for this one to end up much like the plot of ‘300‘ — they defend heroically, but SPOILER ALERT…

They all end up dead, slaughtered and skewered like tasty little lambs, just like their other WC appearance (3 losses at USA ’94).