jarvis1981

Final 2-0 N.Ireland. Greece gets booed off the field and they deserved it. The Greek coach now has every reason to not call up some of the so called regulars for the next game. Maybe even go with an all under 25 team. Guys like Mitro should no longer be called up. The guy is 26 years old and should be in his prime but does nothing. Don't call him up again. Greece might not make the Euros but give some young talent experience at this level for the next time. The remnants of the old guard are not doing it for the this team. GREECE IS OFFICIALLY IN A REBUILDING STAGE.!!!

Well I just got in to start watching the game with 10 minutes left. It must have been a bad game to watch so far. N. Ireland are not a horrible team but in your home court how can you let this happen. From the few minutes I've watched it appears that nobody knows their role on the team. Good thing the next game is not for some time and that it's against Faroe Islands. The coach needs to find an identity for this team and make them a cohesive unit. Can't Greece still use guys like Ninis or Feta? They can create some offence. Does even the new group of Greek players only know the long ball? I was looking forward to a more offensive type of team under the new coach with several passes and creativity. It hasn't happened so far.

Well I welcome the influx of new young players. I don't know the quality of each player but surely the new coach will eventually figure it out. What I couldn't understand is why Greece seemed to sit back after getting the first goal. I thought that they would keep attacking but they didn't. Greece is in a transition phase of getting younger and playing more attacking football. They only did one of the two this past game and need to do both. The good news is that the Europe Cup has been expanded so that more teams get in for 2016. This is the perfect time to change the landscape of Greek football. They now have a tradition of getting into tournaments but they now have to play more than just defensive football. Maybe I'm not giving Finland enough credit but I saw Greek players falling to the ground when they were barely touched and if they tried to stay up they would have found that they had numbers or a chance for a play on goal. Greek diving has to be reduced in order for the program to be moved forward. I still want to see the young players next game with maybe a couple of changes. The old guard has done it's job by providing a tradition but the team has to move forward. Give the youngsters a chance. I'll be interested to see how they do next game. Did they improve , Did they keep the pressure on if they get a lead. This group is not a gimme but Greece still has the most talent and should prevail if they grow as a team.

Bad game overall by the Greek team. Refs also were not great as they missed the penalty on Romania and maybe a handball against them later but replay was not shown. This Greek team needs to find their identity. There is lots of time to do that but it would have been better if they played a much weaker the first time around just to figure things out.

Feta and Ninis weren't good enough to make this team. Feta could have provided some one on one skills and Ninis can shoot from the outside when given space in the middle. Maybe it would have not made a difference as it appears everyone is getting used to each other since they didn't have any practice games. Not a great start with less than 10 minutes left.

Yes changes are need and it starts with the mental approach to the game. Greece was not a good team for many years and the USA world cup showed that they had team political issues. It has been mentioned on a few occasions that young players were left behind in favour of the older well connected players. Otto took the team and realized that he can't change the political climate but figured out this team could play tough defense and it worked to a charm for the 2004 Euros. Greece now has made the world cup 3 times and the Euro even more times. There isn't any more element of surprise like the 2004 Euros and with that in mind it appears that Greece has limits on how far it can go if they continue this style of play. Even the defensive minded Italians show creative offense when they get the ball. Algeria didn't hold back against Germany despite losing 2-1. You have to play to win the whole tournament and not just to have a good showing. Greece has already done that. Look at Belgium. They were nothing the last few years but they've built on a golden age of football players and are now ranked 6th in the world. They are just about to go into OT with the USA but have been out chancing them. Even if they lose the game, they play like they are going to win the whole event. For Greece to make that next step they have to make serious changes in player selection and this might even start with some bad results because they are not used to playing offensive but it's the only way they will learn. I would really like to see Greece play with only 3 defenders and commit more players to midfield and up front. The team needs to learn how to win games 3-2 and not always 1-0. It's easier said than done. The selection of the next National team coach is the first step towards this transition and it's crucial IMO.

First of all, congrats to Greece for fighting until the end and getting that tying goal. I respected Costa Rica as they much better defensively than I thought but they started to wimp out too much for my liking and I was glad Greece tied it up. I then stated that Greece MUST WIN in regulation or extra time and not go to the shootouts. That keeper for CR made three game changing saves today. Salpi in the 1st half on the great cross by Holebas. Mitroglou in the last minute of OT time and then on Gekas in the shootout. He was the difference in the game. A few other things. Greece missed Kone's shot out there today Mitro is hurt but gave an effort. Greece could have used him more if he was healthy. He is a beast to handle. Samaras was a jack of all trades playing forward and mid and did a good job. The team has some good young talent but they need a couple solid centre midfielders as Kara and Katsou are done. Hats off to Kara who lasted the whole game and did an admiral job at 37. Katsou was man enough to realize that he shouldn't start this game and he even made a good defensive play late in OT. First time ever Greece made it past the group stage. They will need to improve if they ever expect to go much further and become a real threat at the world cup level. Who they pick as coach will have a huge impact. Overall.....can't be unhappy with how they did even though a win here would have been real nice. Netherlands thanks Greece for wearing out Costa Rica.

Congratulations to Greece. They had more quality chances than Ivory Coast and I thought that they missed out on a number of chances to make it 2-0. When they gave up the tying goal, which was an excellent play by I.C., I thought that it was over. They showed a lot of heart and IC made a mistake in trying to get the 2nd goal instead of just wasting time and this resulted in Greece getting another chance. That was a clear penalty even though the announcer said that Samaras fell over himself. His back leg was clearly struck. Samaras finished in style. So for the next game I have a solution to the Kastouranis problem. The team doesn't need him at his regular spot so play him at forward. It's not like the other forwards are having great games. Let him run his butt off and then sub him at the half. Greece doesn't need him to play 90 minutes.

http://www.phantis.com/news/mitroglou-set-be-fit-face-ivory-coast Despite this article I don't think Mitro should play. He went down in 22 minutes last game and this one could be more physical. If anything you can use him as a sub in the last 15 if you need a goal but definitely NOT start.

Well what can be said. The situation looks grim. Mitroglou is hurt and shouldn't play the rest of the way. The captain takes two yellows in the first half against a ball control team leaving the rest of the team in a tough spot. Feta is either not being played properly or has been a major flop in the tourney. On the plus side, the team did hang in there to get the point and is still in the tournament. But what do they do now. Who can they bring in off the bench who will make a difference. I'm open to suggestions but something has to be done to spark this team. Ivory Coast is good buy not great. A win gets Greece to the next round.

SCOTLAND 16??? :LOL: Romania 14? Ukraine 11... Cameroon 18? FIFA officials are smoking crack! Rankings are only good for showing a relative ranking IMO.For example I'm from Canada and they dropped to number 102 or thereabouts but they haven't played hardly any games as a National team lately. There is a top 7 or 8 team grouping that includes the likes of Brazil and Argentina and then there is a group that goes from 9 to about 25 which includes Greece. After that you can probably use 25 group intervals. Very subjective but it still provides a point for discussion boards like this.