Akritis_1944

OK so Finland and their Nokia phones aren't backing this third bailout. Newsflash you non-Scandinavians, you have like 2 % voting rights in the EZ so go and suck Hungary off.

No don't stay away. Your opinion is valid Pana97. I too want to smash the Laplanders but my point was that isn't that extra motivation to our NT players? If it is and they play like they have never played before then I was wrong about the impact the crisis has had on the players. Be it financial, psychological or emotional.

After the Finns have come out and said no to approving the next bailout for Greece, some of you here who think this financial has had so much impact on the National team should be predicting a 5-0 when we play them at home! Am I correct? This is the logic we should follow. You know, for revenge at their government. 5-0 Greece win as payback.

I tend to agree with gyros about the English which is a first for me agreeing with him. The English are duplicitous in their dealings with Greece as history has shown. Look at their obstinate position they have taken with the Parthenon Marbles and what Cameron has said about us as a people. I don't trust them.

Nope. The financial crisis has been unfolding for 5 years not the decline of the Ethniki. The decline of the Ethniki has been 10 years in the making. Ever since we won Euro 2004. The financial crisis is having a direct impact on the domestic game but little impact to the NT. When Manolas, Sokratis, Samaras etc are making excellent salaries outside of Greece they have no excuses for performing like amateurs for the national team.

Rubbish. Club football might be impacted by the financial crisis but there's little excuse for the national team. How does one explain Argentina, Brazil in the past or even Spain and Portugal NT's when their economies have been in total disarray? The Ethniki sliding is due to many factors. Poor decisions by EPO. Management selections. Relying on has-beens like Kats/Kara/Vydra/Tziolis for way too long. Complacency like thinking we had an easy Euro group when the reality is that it was a tougher group than others. The current state of the economy isn't a reason as this crisis has been u folding for the last 5 years. If it is impacting the players to the degree that they can't beat the Faroe Islands then these guys aren't professionals but amateurs and they should emigrate to the US and work in a diner.

Fair enough. The rankings are bollocks but when you haven't won in over over a year that are no complaints.

In ze forest.

^^^^^^ *ding**ding**ding* Captain Obvious over here! This guy!

OK, you win this round gyros!

Where did you get that from gyros? I'm reading the opposite. I guess we are both projecting what we want. You want Greek people to be victim-blamed by the world and for Greeks to be humiliated and die; I want the exact opposite. We'll see who's right.

I haven't read anything about about any deal from the A-League. The league is not in the greatest of financial shape but they can accommodate that amount if he signs as a marquee. Where would he go, though?

Not a great day for the Samaras name. Antonis kills his career and now Giorgo is thinking about killing his, by playing in the joke A-League. I hope he announces his retirement because he's gone from the world cup to a world joke in 12 months. If he has any sort of pride he should return to Greece but he's a dum dum and poopoo head.

This "no" was a slap in the face to the inflexible and unyielding European autocrats. The Greek government had to show some conciliatory move towards Brussels, so by giving them Varoufakis' head on a platter the illusion that he was the problem can be dressed up as the major obstacle removed and fresh negotiations will most likely commence within days, if not hours. Like I have stated before, I think even with a reduction in the debt the economy will be stagnant for 10/15 years. Major initiatives to change Greek society and culture need to happen. Is this government going to continue with the decades old graft and malaise? Samaras is gone but I anticipate he'll stick around behind the scenes. I don't think Greece is going to go back to the drachma so it's trying to survive in the EZ for now. Let's see what transpires. Things are not going to be easy.

Wow. The guy must love punishment. He'll need to score 30 goals if he comes to Australia or he'll be ridiculed by a very cynical and biased media.

Lol. Thanks.

Ban me or get someone who can ban me to do it because you're worse than I am because you offend millions of my people with your racist remarks.

Probably not, but I just lumped you in the same category as that 'gyros'. So I'll apologize.

I'm sorry, but you're an illinformed simpleton. There is no provision to dump anyone from the European Zone (single currency). Who's going to dump Greece again? Do you want to do your research this time and then answer it properly? You don't seem to post on any oher topics in these forums. You take glee at your self-loathing anti-hellene smears. I seriously hope you don't have a Greek name. I'd hate idiots asking you about the crisis in Canada thinking you have some unique knowledge.

My point is that the original photo is trying to communicate how desperate and hopeless things are but it's one older man who's sitting down, probably emotional while everyone on the background is waiting in a queue. I'm not questioning you posting it, but it was quoted and for what purpose? We all can see it and judge it for ourselves. I'm not saying things aren't tragically bad but the media (both Greek and foreign) has been caught out since the referendum was announced. First it was Greek media outlets saying there was a bank run on by showing people queuing up at an ATM. The photo used was of people wearing winter clothes from Cyprus in 2013! They couldn't find an actual scenario in Greece to fit their narrative. The purpose was to start the panic as it hadn't started already. Another example was a photo posted on some papers front page of an older man crying holding loaves of bread. Clearly trying to convey the hopelessness of the current situation. The reality was that this picture was of a Turk after a recent earthquake outside of a crumbled building. My real point is we are being lied to by sections of the media with their own self interests. I want to know the truth. I don't care about perceptions from biased media and crooked cynical politicians SYRIZA/ND/European leaders). I fully believe that Tsipras and Varoufakis are also playing this game so I'm not defending them for a second.

That's one person in that photo.

Yes, Argentina is the example that will more than likely happen but the unknown is that Greece is in a union unlike Argentina. I'm not referring to monetary EZ union but the EU. I don't know about wide spread riots and civil war etc. Probably only in your wet dreams.

Greece's "youth" is her greatest asset and strength. I havent returned "home" since 2010 but when I was there in those early years of this financial crisis I was pleasantly surprised and touched at how engaged many of the younger generation were. My experiences were very positive. I got the feeling that the enormous will to do better and change was just strangled out of many of them. When they reach their mid-30s and have been metaphorically put back in their places they accept the mediocrity of a failed system because this very system just lulls them in to being like their parents and the leaders. Whether left or right politically. If the majority of under 35s vote OXI then I can suport them, if they use it to smash the current system. I hope that they are as well informed as they can be but I doubt that as it's too easy to be overawed. Things might well take a turn for the worst as bad as the last few years have been. Whichever way the vote goes I think it's a 5% chance that they leave the EU. That's not really up for negotiating, as a member since 1981 and 5 years before Spain and Portugal. However, cutting links with the restrictions of the EZ is 50-50. No one really knows what dumping the Euro for the drachma will mean. Hyperinflation, a lack of foreign credit/investment, massive decrease in imports of necessities etc.

Vargas is from Venezuela so he knows all about a country turned upside down due to financial chaos. I doubt this would phase him. Same goes for most Argentine players given their countrys history. The reality is that Greece is more stable than most countries.

He's not interested in Greece. This may change if he gets rejected by the Krauts though.