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Top 3 goal scorers in Germany:(None of these players scored on penalties) T. Gekas VfL Bochum 14 M. Gomez VfB Stuttgart 13 R. Makaay Bayern 12

Goal by katsouranis with benfica in Dinamo Bucharest making it 2-1 for benfica. http://youtube.com/watch?v=XcvWbrk7yv4

Samaras beats Everton 2-0 with 2 goals: http://www.goal4replay.net/GoalWatch.asp?ID=926&Ln=En http://www.goal4replay.net/GoalWatch.asp?ID=927&Ln=En

Greece went down 2 spots to 16th. Cyprus went from 80th to 73rd: FIFA rankings: 1 Brazil 2 Italy 3 Argentina 4 France 5 England 6 Germany 7 Netherlands 8 Portugal 9 Nigeria 10 Czech Republic 11 Cameroon 12 Spain 13 Ukraine 14 Sweden 15 Croatia 16 Greece 17 Switzerland 18 Côte d'Ivoire 19 Romania 20 Mexico 21 Denmark 22 Poland 23 Russia 24 Scotland 25 Turkey ELO Rankings: 1 Brazil 2 France 3 Italy 4 Netherlands 5 Argentina 6 Germany 7 England 8 Denmark 9 Croatia 10 Portugal 11 Spain 12 Czechia 13 Sweden 14 Romania 15 Switzerland 16 Turkey 17 Greece 18 Uruguay 19 Mexico 20 Cameroon 21 Ukraine 21 Nigeria 23 Colombia 24 Cote d'Ivoire 25 Iran 86 Cyprus

Greece jumps to 14th in FIFA ranking: http://www.fifa.com/en/mens/statistics/ind...ct-2006,00.html Greece jumps to 17th in ELO Ranking: http://www.eloratings.net/

Baghdatis batters Ancic in Beijing Sun 17 Sep, 3:37 PM BEIJING (AFP) - Marcos Baghdatis claimed the first title of his fast-rising career here on Sunday after a 6-4, 6-0 thrashing of Croatian Mario Ancic in the final of the China Open. The smiling Cypriot who won many hearts nine months ago as he battled through to the Australian Open final before losing out to Roger Federer, turned in a dominant performance in the capital. It took just 72 minutes for the third seed to complete his dream debut week in China. "It's just a great feeling to win, especially after playing here for the first time," said Baghdatis. "I've been playing better with each match this week. "I knew Mario would be a tough opponent, but I kept my level high. He's a great player and I had to fight. "It's good to get a win from him after losing three times. I was able to find the winning solution." Baghdatis, winless in his three previous meetings with Ancic - including two defeats this season - was untroubled as he fired down six aces, broke four times and never faced a break point. A concluding unforced error from Ancic, playing for the first time in two months after injuries in the post-Wimbledon period, sealed the match. Baghdatis took a step closer to possible qualification for the season-ending Masters Cup in Shanghai. He move up to eighth in the points race, passing American James Blake. "This win was key for sure, it's important for me to try and get to Shanghai," said Baghdatis. The 21-year-old Baghdatis is in the midst of a breakthrough year, finally coming good in his third final after Melbourne in January and Basel last November. The Cypriot came to China for the first time after losing in a five-set thriller to Andre Agassi at the US Open. Ancic was also making his debut in China and had won 19 of his last 21 matches. The Croatian has one trophy from four finals in 2006. Baghdatis improved his season record to 36-17 while Ancic stands 44-14.

Spain whipped us. They wanted to win more than Greece. Greece's gold medal game was against the USA and didnt focus on the Spain game. Spain was outstanding and without Pau Gasol. I dont beleive if Zisis had played that it would have made a difference because NOBODY on Greece played well against Spain. Greece defeated Turkey, China, France and the USA without him. Greece managed to defeat USA with NBA players which is something very few teams have ever done and managed to break through into the final for the first time after reaching the semis in '94 and '98. Despite the Spain game, we went undefeated in the most difficult division. We won the silver medal despite the fact we were predicted to be in 4th overall. Also, we are still the reigning Eurobasket champs. On a side note, we have been Euro 2004 champs, Olympics host 2004, Eurobasket 2005 champs and FIBA WC 2006 silver medalist. Now, Greece will head into Eurobasket 2007 in Spain to defend its crown and will enter the Olympics 2008 in China and FIBA WC 2010 in Turkey as silver medalists of FIBA WC. Paploukas, point guard, made the all-tournament team along with MVP center Gasol, his team-mate power forward Jorge Garbajosa, USA's small forward Carmelo Anthony, and Argentina guard Manu Ginobili. Also, Diamantidis led the tournament in steals per game. Greece is now ranked 6th in the FIBA rankings. Here is the list: Team Rank Points 1. USA 832.2 2. ARGENTINA 720.0 3. SPAIN 619.0 4. SERBIA 508.0 5. LITHUANIA 460.0 6. GREECE 429.0 7. ITALY 418.0 8. FRANCE 343.0 9. GERMANY 282.0 10. AUSTRALIA 279.0 11. CHINA 262.0 12. NEW ZEALAND 228.0 13. PUERTO RICO 217.6 14. ANGOLA 206.0 15. CANADA 196.0 16. TURKEY 194.0 17. BRAZIL 168.0 18. RUSSIA 162.0 19. CROATIA 125.0 20. SLOVENIA 121.0 21. VENEZUELA 104.6 22. NIGERIA 100.8 23. ISRAEL 62.0 24. LEBANON 57.1 25. KOREA 51.5 26. QATAR 45.2 27. DOMINICAN REPUBLIC 43.8 28. JAPAN 39.2 29. ALGERIA 36.0 30. PANAMA 34.6 31. URUGUAY 34.4 32. EGYPT 34.0 33. LATVIA 33.0 34. MEXICO 25.6 35. SENEGAL 20.8 36. BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA 20.0 37. IRAN 18.1 38. VIRGIN ISLANDS 16.8 39. UKRAINE 14.0 40. TAIWAN 13.5 41. SAUDI ARABIA 12.3 42. TUNISIA 11.0 43. SYRIA 10.8 44. UZBEKISTAN 9.9 44. KUWAIT 9.9 46. INDIA 8.7 47. MOROCCO 8.6 48. IVORY COAST 7.8 49. CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC 7.6 50. CUBA 7.2 50. HONG KONG 7.2 52. CZECH REPUBLIC 7.0 52. MALAYSIA 7.0 52. MALI 7.0 52. MOZAMBIQUE 7.0 56. KAZAKHSTAN 6.3 56. JORDAN 6.3 58. REPUBLIC OF SOUTH AFRICA 6.2 59. FORMER YUGOSLAV REPUBLIC OF MACEDONIA 6.0 59. BULGARIA 6.0 61. UNITED ARAB EMIRATES 5.4 62. ESTONIA 5.0 62. HUNGARY 5.0 64. GUAM 4.0 65. PHILLIPINES 3.6 66. THAILAND 3.3 67. SWEDEN 3.0 67. PORTUGAL 3.0 69. BAHRAIN 2.1 70. CAPE VERDE 2.0 70. GABON 2.0 72. INDONESIA 1.5 72. SINGAPORE 1.5 74. MADAGASCAR 1.4 *Unlisted Countries are ranked 75th

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Greeks What is "the dragon" going to lift next :) ? Omonia square after the game [/

Greece is now favored by 2 points. Turkey lost to France WITHOUT Tony Parker. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...6090101815.html Press conference: http://www.nba.com/news/usalosstogreece_060901.html Coach K and Anthony praised Greece Coach K: "Obviously the Greek team did an amazing job," U.S. coach Mike Krzyzewski said. "It's not surprising. We knew that they had great heart and togetherness. They deserved it." Anthony: "I have to take my hat of to them (Greece) after coming come from down 10 in the second quarter and playing so hard down the stretch," said Carmelo Anthony, who scored 27 points for the U.S., including three three-pointers." Brand: "The Greek team is a great team," Los Angeles Clippers forward Elton Brand said. "If they played in the NBA or whatever theyd be a good team." Hard fight American fan :D

Greece is favored to beat Spain: Game Spread Money Line Total Points More Sun 9/3 107 Spain +4.5 -108 +173 03:30 AM 108 Greece -4.5 -102 -183

ESPN article on Greece-USA game: http://insider.espn.go.com/nba/insider/col...%26id%3d2567266 ESPN Final Four Preview: http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?p...champsfinalfour American Associated Press article on Greece-USA game: http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/B/BKO...EMPLATE=DEFAULT CBS article on Greece-USA game: http://cbs.sportsline.com/nba/story/9629811

USA-GREECE and Spain-Argentina games have had their gametimes switched. Now, USA-GREECE will be on at 3 hours earlier and Spain-Argentina 3 hours later. USA-GREECE will be on 3:30 am east coast United States and Spain-Argentina at 6:30 AM. All because USA team requested a time change...

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According to the betting odds: Greece +11 -101 +540 OVER 163 -106 USA -11 -109 -600 UNDER 163 -104 Spain -3 -105 -145 OVER 158 -105 Argentina +3 -105 +135 UNDER 158 -105 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "The semi final will be a great game. Greece play defense about as well as anybody in the world. Their coach is a very good friend of mine. We knew each other as young men and now we're a little bit older. He's someone I admire. They are a championship team. They play with that type of solidarity, and we're going to have to play older, because they are a strong and mature basketball team." Krzyzewski looks ahead to going against Greece and an old friend. "Greece are a very good team who've played together for a long time now. We have to have the same mindset we had in the second half today but play it for 40 minutes. We'll have to take care of business and win that game." Lebron James shares his thoughts ahead of the semi-final game. "We are very happy to be in the semi finals. We played very well - especially on defense - and when we had open shots we made them." Greece guard Dimitrios Diamantidis sums up today's win against France very briefly. "We'll probably play against the USA (quote before USA game) and this means going up against the best players in the world but we're not nervous. It's my first time against them but we are among the top four teams in the world and we are very happy knowing this." Diamantidis plays down the significance of going up against Team USA in the semi finals. "My players came out really concentrated and really wanted to win this game. They made very few mistakes. I congratulate my players because they put their ego aside for the team." Greece head coach Panagiotis Yannikis has high praise for his players. "Greece showed tonight they are a better team than the French team. We were very nervous at the start of the game. We lost our confidence too. I think we were scared, not by the opponent but by ourselves. I was surprised to see our team, who normally play quite easily, to play such under big pressure. " France head coach Claude Bergeaud has a very clear view of what happened against Greece. "We tried to built the team without Tony Parker after he got hurt. I'm not sure he could have helped our team much tonight. Our players were very poor in the paint offensively and we didn't make a lot of free throws." Bergeaud explains that Parker would not have saved the day for France. "We are really disappointed because we didn't play our best. We didn't start the game as we did in past games and we didn't find the right way to play for the entire game. That hurt us a lot tonight." France point guard Aymeric Jeanneau points to a bad start as the key to France's loss.

Poor Zisis How it happened (under the dirty player Anderson Varejao). He NEVER apologized for his action. He walks away unpunished: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f19uNvReH5Y...=related&search

Yao fears Sofo Greece-China highlights: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lbT0S51mz-U Greece buzzer beater against Australia:

Sports illustrated Top 16 (2nd round play). Greece is ranked 8th?!?!: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/multimedi.../content.1.html Tony Parker's take on the FIBA WC (has mixed feelings about Greek team): http://broadband.nba.com/cc/playa.php?cont...0826.asx&video=

Spread Money Line Total Points More Argentina -8.5 -108 -470 OVER 156.5 -105 Turkey +8.5 -102 +430 UNDER 156.5 -105 Spain -9 -103 -440 OVER 158 -105 Lithuania +9 -107 +400 UNDER 158 -105 Game Spread Money Line Total Points More Greece -8 -108 -374 OVER 139.5 -112 France +8 -102 +344 UNDER 139.5 +102 USA -25.5 -101 -7000 Germany +25.5 -109 +5000 27/08/2006 GAME REPORT, Greece v China 95-64, EIGHT-FINALS SAITAMA (FIBA World Championship) – Greece fell behind early but a relentless defense led by Theo Papaloukas once again came to the rescue as they beat China 95-64 to advance to the quarter-finals of the FIBA World Championship. The Far East giants, in confident mood after their stunning last-second victory over Slovenia in Group D to qualify for the last 16, began the game like a runaway train and led 8-0 as Greece missed their first nine shots from the floor. But the European champions, who still trailed 23-11 early in the second quarter, outscored China 30-13 over the last 9:19 of the first half to lead 41-36 at the break and they stormed to victory over the final 20 minutes. “Today it was really a frustrating game for us,” said China center Yao Ming. “It always happens to us. (But) We did much better against European teams this summer. It's all about experience.” China clearly cannot cope with the type off pressure a team like Greece can apply. The Greeks forced 12 first-half turnovers and 24 for the game. When China did manage to hold onto the ball, they were often forced into taking bad shots. "In the first minutes, it seemed we had prepared well for the game, but after the first quarter we played very badly on offense against a full-court press, and made one turnover after the other,” said China coach Jonas Kazlauskas. The introduction of Papaloukas midway through the first quarter, the play of Vasilis Spanoulis and the girth and power of Sofoklis Schortsianitis helped shift the momentum to Greece. Papaloukas attacked the basket and, alongside Dimitris Diamantidis and Vasilis Spanoulis, pressured the Chinese guards which led to so many mistakes for the Asian champions. The biggest development, literally, was Schortsianitis, who showed his good performance in the last win Group C win over Turkey was no fluke. While the 2.10m Lazaros Papadopoulos struggled against the 2.26m Yao, the shorter Schortsianitis (2.06m) is far heavier. Schortsianitis is so big he makes offensive linemen on NFL teams look small. When Schortsianitis came off the bench, Yao did not cope well with the different dimensions. In the 14:39 he was on the court, Schortsianitis made all three of his field goal attempts and was four of seven at the free throw line. Early in the fourth quarter, he was on his way to a rim-rocking dunk when Yao Ming intervened and hit him on the arm, forcing him to shoot free throws. Almost immediately after, Schortsianitis showed great footwork and went past Yao for a thunderous two-handed jam that must have sent tremors all the way to Athens. "Our team doesn’t have a lot of experience to play against the best teams in the world,” Yao said. “We did a pretty good job in the first round. But in the second round, it's a different ball game, a different mind set. It’s more physical, body contact. We just need to play more." Schortsianitis will figure prominently for Greece in the coming days against France in the quarter-finals, and possibly against Team USA if they go on to the semi-finals. “We were able to recover from a poor start, when we were cold shooting and got better from the second quarter onwards,” Schortsianitis said. “In the second half, we got our rhythm going and were able to extend our lead and get a great win.” Papaloukas had 19 points for Greece in the mauling. For China, Yao was held to just 10 points and eight rebounds. "The team that makes more mistakes will lose the game, and we made fewer mistakes,” said Greece coach Panagiotis Yannakis. “This was the key for us, because we knew against China we need to be more careful, because if Yao can get the ball, he can score very easily. “So we needed to play basketball on the floor.”

SAITAMA (FIBA World Championship) – European champions Greece are gearing up to face Yao Ming and China in the last 16 of the FIBA World Championship. The Greeks went unbeaten in the hardest pool of the first round, Group C, and now find themselves in a game against the Asian champions. Yao will be the focal point of the Chinese attack after averaging better than 28 points per game in Group D, but Greece star Theo Papaloukas said: "I don't think they're just Yao Ming. "We have to remained focused on defense and offense. And it's going to really be a tough game." China lost their first three games but came back to beat Puerto Rico and the Slovenia. Shipeng Wang's three-pointer at the buzzer gave China victory over the Slovenians in their last Group D game and sealed their place in the eight-finals. Greece start as heavy favourites, and for good reason. The defense the team has played under coach Panagiotis Yannakis has been second to none. The side is also mentally tough. Greece have learned how to win in tight situations over the past couple of years. In Hamamatsu, they overcome Lithuania in overtime, beat Australia with a pair of three-pointers in the final nine seconds and held off Brazil in a thrilling encounter which saw them lose Nikos Zisis to a bad facial injury. Zisis will not play for six weeks while he recovers from the three broken bones he suffered in collision with Anderson Varejao. Greece also won a tough encounter against their old rivals, Turkey, to take first place in the group. "It's the top 16," Papaloukas said. "Now we have to get to the final eight. "We did our best in the first round, at least from the results and getting wins. We had some good moments and some bad moments." "We tried to correct some things and I think we'll be ready against China and for Yao," Papaloukas said. "We just have to play good team defense like we always do. But I don't think it is only Yao Ming. "He is always the key to every game. We just have to play really tough defense and see who steps up. "We always get one of two players, and I don't think will be any different against China and they're going to lead us to the win." Papaloukas says he and his team-mates are not burdened by expectations back home. "No, why should we feel any pressure? It's the same. We have to do what we've been doing until now." Greece have just 11 players for the remainder of the tournament due to Zisis' injury. China do not have any injury concerns.