Brklyngrk

Not that old, in my 30s....I am also sure the experience in Kalamata would be different that the one in Athens. I do agree that kids today do have other distractions, but they still like going to games.

When you say they deserve it? Who are you referring to? The kids that dream to play for PAO or OLY? The dad who takes their son to a game on a random Sunday afternoon? While some owners are crooks, let's not destroy the league. I still remember my dad taking my brother and I to a friendly game in Kalamata when I was 10 years old. I remember the score, Kalamata lost 2-0 to Olympiakos Bolou, I remember the goals, I remember the stands. My point is that soccer in every country serves a purpose, unfortunately right now it is in a decline. What's not in a decline - Dad's who want to make memories with their kids, children who will remember these memories with their dad long after their dad has passed away. We are all frustrated with how things are but destroying the league is not the answer.

A close friend of mine who is Portuguese and an avid Benfica fan told me Benfica is fond of Samaris. They view him as a good player who has a great attitude in the locker room. They are on the fence if they should sell him or not.

He was promising as an 18 year old. He was the player of the tournament for the U19 tourney where Greece made it to the finals. To say he didn't have potential would be unfair. We can all agree that he didn''t progress much as he matured into his 20s.

I think what we all want is Greece in general to do well in Europe. Wishing for another Greek team to lose in the CL/Europa is only hurting yourself bc it will make it that much harder to automatically qualify. I'm a PAO fan (blame my dad...lol) but I would love it of OLY won Europa. Does that make me any less of a PAO fan? That makes me a Greece fan 1st and the club affiliation. Would it make you more proud if a Real (or any Spanish team won) over OLY? Are there things that need to be fixed in the league? Absolutely. But killing the league is not the solution. People that are constantly complaining about the league and want it shut down are not contributing anything. People that recognize the issues and are championing really life solutions, those are the ones that should be listened to. Bc at the end of the day, Greece needs the SL. It gives kids hope, it lets them dream. Why take that away??? This post was not meant to criticize anyone here, just a general statement.

I remember watching him play Benfica in the CL when he was with Schalke. He was playing as a def mid, he was everywhere that game. I remember thinking that he was going to be one of the top defensive players in the game, sadly he has had quite a few setbacks since then.

More of a moderate, more likely to vote Republican though. He does scare me, the one thing that I find solace in is that he does tend to flip flop. I believe all the things he said during the campaign were for the cameras and not how he will actually govern. I believe he will defer a lot to his administration. The fact that he even had a meeting for Mitt Romney should be encouraging, especially for such a senior position.

He has had his moments for the national team, nonetheless, he is the best option we have right now.

Regarding Kyriakos, while he is only playing sparingly for his team, he is coming back from a year of some serious injuries. When he was at Schalke, he was rated as one of the top young defensemen in the world. After being out for most of last year, he needs to gain some form. I do believe his valuation was around 15 million euros, hardly a bad player.

He is starting and is the team captain for the game.

The thing is we are moving in the right direction. We haven't played our best but got the results. This was a trademark of the ethniki for the past 16 years which went missing during the last campaign. I am sure when the quality of the competition increases, so will our play. Generally, against teams which we are deemed to be better than, we tend to struggle more as we are expected to be the primary attacking team which is not in our dna. Against the Netherlands, we pressed more and played a lot more crisper. One can argue that it wasn't their best team, but they still were ahead of the three teams we played. Winning builds confidence. Our goal was to win 3 out of 3 and we accomplished that.

At the end of the day, we pretty much dominated possession during the last campaign and ended up losing almost every game. Much rather win than lose with the ball.

Wasn't he on the bench this weekend?? Didn't play but available...

Love or hate him, Maniatis hustles the entire 90 minutes and the coach has become fond of him...they both just recently stopped playing for their teams. If he picks them again in November and they still haven't found a team....They probably won't play anyway...

Whether you like maniatis or not, he does hustle all the time and the team needs his work ethic. When we were losing last year, we sorely needed a guy like that...

Adam Gotsis - Denver (drafter this year)

While we would all love to have won 8-0, that is not our DNA. We won, got 3 pts, on to the next game. We will not outscore Belgium or Bosnia. Not who Greece is.

Greece is/will get the Win which is what we was the goal. Goal scoring is something we have never been known for. Faroe Islands is now tied with Hungary on the 83rd minute (to put it in perspective). Two wins out of two games is all we could have asked for.

While the Greek league has struggled the last few years, it is not miles behind the Portuguese or Turkish league. Benfica at the moment may be better, but it wasn't that long ago when OLY beat them quite handily on thanksgiving. They have gotten some results the last few years leading to a high coefficient. The top 3 teams in Portugal do have a better record in Europe but things change very quickly. In terms of the Turkish league, when was the last time a Turkish team went past the quarterfinals in the CL?

This is just a reflection of the overall Greek business environment. How can any investor take the league seriously when there is non stop interference from the government. Threatening the suspension of the season 2 days before it to start is ridiculous!!!

Greece got a gold in the rings...

While the perception is that Santos did not "develop" talent, we have to remember that is not his job. That is the job of the club teams and EPO. My biggest grip with him was that he played Katsouranis and Karagounis regardless of form. Their leadership though is what he valued and it showed. Whether you like him or not, he did go 17 games without a loss (regardless of whom we played) and will go down as the 1st or 2nd best manager in Greece's history.

The irony in all of this is that the case for the UK to leave is to "get back their country". Well, I guess Scotland, N. Ireland, Gibraltar may all say the same thing pretty soon....

The impact isn't to the current group of players who have already succeeded but to the future group that may not be developed.

SYRIZA is a product of unsustainable spending and broken promises made by PASOK and ND over the last 50 years. When things were good, no one cared. When things got bad, everyone suddenly noticed. Pasok got the first crack to fix the problem and couldn't, ND got a shot and was working towards it but ran out of time. The Greek people were tired of seeing the politically connected get jobs, become rich, all on the backs of the everyday Greek. The media kept showing the corruption and no one was getting prosecuted. SYRIZA promised to overhaul the system and completely change the country. The problem lies here. The system does and can work if you have the proper management team. SYRIZA does not and it showed fairly quickly. They quickly escalated an already bad problem and made significantly worse. We need competent, smart people to take on these complex issues that Greece is going through. Tsipras and co are not those people. A good leader unites his people, they don't blame everyone for their issues. I do have major hopes for Kyriakos. His CV is impeccable. He comes across as very knowledgeable and articulate. I am not saying he will solve all our problems, but he does seem to have a fundamental understanding of what the issues are and that is the first step in problem solving.