Soprano76

Should have been 1-1... incompetent linesman

Bravo PAOKakia... btw, is that type of banner typical for these matches or only due to recent developments since last season?

with the Josh Gordon trade, I think the Patriots are going to come out of the AFC. As for the NFC, that is typically always a toss-up but I think Minnesota has it this year. In other news, Ryan Fitzmagic has been something else through two games. Let's see if he can keep it up; I think he comes back down to Earth sooner rather than later.

Oh. most certainly that language does not equal ethnicity. It just seems to me that those areas up north were so thoroughly Slavic that it's hard to imagine many ethnic Greeks remained. Not to mention, from what I understand the Greek peninsula was severely depopulated in the Middle Ages, leading to significant settling of Slavs and Albanians in the area. On the other hand, genetic studies done have shown that modern Greeks have a very close genetic make-up to Mycenaean era and Classical era Greeks and their closest modern relatives are southern Italians (Magna Graecia). So, I go back and forth on this.

Based on my limited knowledge, it seems like most the people in northern Macedonia, such as from Kastoria or Florina, are either Pontians, Bulgarians who became Hellenized or Hellenized Vlachs. I would say that most of the "ethnic Greek" presence in Macedonia during the Ottoman occupation through to the Macedonian struggle was concentrated around Olympus and Chalkidiki

All in all, a much better performance vs Chelsea than in the 2nd leg vs Benfica, imo

IMO the most impressive teams so far have been: 1. PAOK 2. Oly 3. AEK 4. Aris Aris has really surprised me given that this is their first season back in the top flight for some time. Will be interesting to see if they can break into the European scene.

Tough game. For AEK, Greek football and the all-important coefficient

I read online that there was a 400% increase in attendance on MD3 compared to last year. I'm sure Aris being back in the tope flight helped greatly.

haha that's rich. I don't know much about the guy but what has he done to earn that reputation? Seems like he invested a decent amount into the team since they put together a great performance last year. Thanks for the info, Blackhawk

So what's the deal with this team? They were founded in 2017 and in their first season comfortably topped their group in Gamma Ethniki with 20W - 3D - 1L, earning promotion. Did they form as a splinter group from one of the more established teams in Volos or did some wealthy guy decide to start a new team in the town?

Here's the results of the group stage draw: Group A: Atromitos, PAS Giannina, Iraklis, Thyella Kamari Group B: AEK Athens, Lamia, Apollon Larissa, Volos NFC Group ? Panetolikos, Panathinaikos, AO Chania Kissamikos, OF Ierapetra Group ? PAOK, Aris Thessaloniki, Ergotelis, Aittitos Spata Group E: Olympiakos, Levadiakos, Panachaiki, Aris Avato Group F: Asteras Tripolis, Apollon Smyrnis, Trikala, Apollon Paralimnio Group G: Xanthi, OFI Crete, Kerkyra, Niki Volos Group H: Panionios, AEL, Apollon Pontou, Irodotos Some interesting results. Looking forward to seeing these matches and hopefully some upsets.

Greektown is meh... them building Arcadia Tower and opening some new bars has infused some life into the area at least.

Haha it's interesting for sure. Although, there is one Greek community in Indiana that is primarily composed of islanders

Given how weak group D is, there's a real possibility Skopia will make the Euro's... I can't wait for the ignorant American broadcasters to make comments on "the homeland of Alexander the Great" and for their fans to be in hoplite armor.

Haha I have a couple of Chicago friends that are big Star Tritown fans

Lol touche Blackhawk...

So is the new stadium 100% going to be built?

@Alphonse Possession doesn't mean a thing when Greece is toothless in the final third. I remember when we out-possessed Colombia in the 2014 WC. Did that mean anything? No. This team has had a problem for several years now, and that's putting the ball in the back of the net. There is no way to sugarcoat this. Not to mention, Greece has one of the best CB duos based on talent yet they keep leaking in goal after goal against average to below average teams. This squad is a mess.

This NT is a disgrace and anybody who tries to put a positive spin on this performance is lying to themselves, IMO

They are slick. Cyprus has a great logo too.

I was a long time lurker on the old GreekSoccer forums... there was a lot of activity on there and it kind of disappeared out of nowhere. I know some others have migrated here to Phantis so I'm grateful we have website at least, but it's not as active as GreekSoccer

Agreed, I think Aris should have its own section like the big 4 do. The Aris page has the 2nd most activity behind PAOK on this site

Guys, it's Estonia. If Greece plays this quality of football versus a real team, then they are going to be embarrassed. How would you all rank the three Greek attacking mids? I would go: 1. Fortounis 2. Pelkas 3. Mantalos All 3 are good players but their skill sets seem redundant and thus probably should be starting together

Why is this team so bad at scoring? It seems like they score less goals than Malta...