trifilli Posted March 26, 2007 Share Posted March 26, 2007 The purpose of this thread is NOT to incite arguments or ranting. Rather than cursing at the team, coach, players let's suggest solutions. This was the saddest day in the history of the Greek NT since I can remember. Unlike many others, that just started following the team in 2004, my memory goes many years back... While July 4 2004, was the "Zenith" of Greek National football, March 24 2007 may be the "Nadir"... I offer another view about the reasons for those feelings. My greatest disappointment is NOT for the loss. The loss was due to a dreadful performance by 13 Greek footballers, and one that is due to reoccur, it is part of any sport. A similar letdown occurred in the Basketball World Championship Final in Japan. Thankfully that game was played in Japan... My embarrassment is due to the actions, or in-actions, of those responsible for the humiliation, that resulted, and from the behavior of those directly involved... Let me start from the booing of the Turkish Anthem. I do not need to expand on how uncivilised and low this is. The excuse that it was Turkey and they do it to us does NOT stand. What does it accomplish? Does anyone with any clarity, rare for football fans, think this is actually helping anyone other than the Turkish players? It shames us, as a nation of disrespectful imbeciles, embarrasses our players, and gives the opponent, whoever that may be, strength, and focus. Has anyone ever bothered to see the reaction of disapproval, in the our players faces when that happens? As soon as I heard that, I had a bad feeling. The authorities knew about this game for months and promised "Draconian" measures to keep the peace...Where were the police? They were neither in, nor outside the stadium grounds. How can anyone suggest that there was even the "lightest" security when innumerable flares, sticks, etc were allowed in the stands. Where were the police when those items were airborne, when fights broke out, when despicable signs were raised... I did see Security folks desperately working against the odds, I did NOT see ONE policeman or M.A.T.! EPO assured that the tickets would be sold to persons with IDs and every effort would be made to avoid the RIF RAF. How successful was that? The stands were filled with hooligans of the lowest kind. It was like watching an OSFP-PAO game at best. The behavior of many fans was so disruptive, that it directly contributed to our players' loss of concentration and morale. If this scum was NOT Greek, it would explain a lot. Without looking for a conspiracy, is there any indication of that? Greek or not, their "actions" were ANTI GREEK, reducing them to nothing more than traitors, willingly or not! Forget the ban, it will be a blessing to play without "fans" of this kind... My deepest gratitude to the TRUE GREEK FANS, that stayed till the end, and applauded the Turkish team at the final whistle!!! May they always be the majority. I will make a bold remark by saying that Thyra 7, 13, 21, or 4, sort of behavior, does NOT belong in a GREEK NATIONAL TEAM game. Neither do we need to hear the local team's chants during an NT game. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Genome Posted March 26, 2007 Share Posted March 26, 2007 I agree with a lot of what you wrote if not all! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DUDE Posted March 26, 2007 Share Posted March 26, 2007 Trifilli I agree with alot of what you have posted but strongly disagree with some of the other stuff you have said. The Neo-Nazis were disgraceful, I agree. They're banners should not have been allowed in to the stadium and neither should they. Security was also ridiculous. However to blame the media for hyping up this game is ridiculous! Whether you like it or not, sports and politics have always mixed. Look at the various Olympics (Berlin, Munich, Montreal, even Athens!). The fact is we played a nation that is still hostile to Greece and Cyprus today. In 2004 in the same stadium the game was played in a much better atmosphere no? Why? The media hyped it up just as much. The difference has been occurences since then. Turkey has threatened Greece or Cyprus with war a total number of 4 times over the last year and a half (against Cyprus only a couple of months ago)! There has also been the foundation of Youtube, try finding 1 Greek football video where Turks dont flood it and insult Greeks... This causes hostility it has nothing to do with the media building up the game. Yes, in an ideal world we would respect them and them us and we would all live in peace, but when the problems still exist today what do you expect? It was inevitable. There were no War headlines linked to the game or anything like that, it was billed as an important Euro 2008 qualifier which it was! However when they won Hurriyet had the headline "we conquered Athens" ;) As for the players... please dont find excuses for them. How could they have been put off by a hot atmosphere? When PAO are playing Oly they dont complain about the hot atmosphere when its in their corner yet at international level they were more concerned about it being "just a game" and more worried about calming the fans down... concentrate on the match and show some passion malakes!! When we go there you think Tungay will ask the fans to respect our anthem? Speaking of Tungay, he scored and celebrated with a "shhhh" expression. That is a bookable offence in a normal game, to do it in a game like that is hugely irresponsible. Still though that shows the difference between how much they wanted it and how much our players wanted it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
as5664 Posted March 27, 2007 Share Posted March 27, 2007 The purpose of this thread is NOT to incite arguments or ranting. Rather than cursing at the team, coach, players let's suggest solutions. This was the saddest day in the history of the Greek NT since I can remember. Unlike many others, that just started following the team in 2004, my memory goes many years back... While July 4 2004, was the "Zenith" of Greek National football, March 24 2007 may be the "Nadir"... I offer another view about the reasons for those feelings. My greatest disappointment is NOT for the loss. The loss was due to a dreadful performance by 13 Greek footballers, and one that is due to reoccur, it is part of any sport. A similar letdown occurred in the Basketball World Championship Final in Japan. Thankfully that game was played in Japan... My embarrassment is due to the actions, or in-actions, of those responsible for the humiliation, that resulted, and from the behavior of those directly involved... Let me start from the booing of the Turkish Anthem. I do not need to expand on how uncivilised and low this is. The excuse that it was Turkey and they do it to us does NOT stand. What does it accomplish? Does anyone with any clarity, rare for football fans, think this is actually helping anyone other than the Turkish players? It shames us, as a nation of disrespectful imbeciles, embarrasses our players, and gives the opponent, whoever that may be, strength, and focus. Has anyone ever bothered to see the reaction of disapproval, in the our players faces when that happens? As soon as I heard that, I had a bad feeling. The authorities knew about this game for months and promised "Draconian" measures to keep the peace...Where were the police? They were neither in, nor outside the stadium grounds. How can anyone suggest that there was even the "lightest" security when innumerable flares, sticks, etc were allowed in the stands. Where were the police when those items were airborne, when fights broke out, when despicable signs were raised... I did see Security folks desperately working against the odds, I did NOT see ONE policeman or M.A.T.! EPO assured that the tickets would be sold to persons with IDs and every effort would be made to avoid the RIF RAF. How successful was that? The stands were filled with hooligans of the lowest kind. It was like watching an OSFP-PAO game at best. The behavior of many fans was so disruptive, that it directly contributed to our players' loss of concentration and morale. If this scum was NOT Greek, it would explain a lot. Without looking for a conspiracy, is there any indication of that? Greek or not, their "actions" were ANTI GREEK, reducing them to nothing more than traitors, willingly or not! Forget the ban, it will be a blessing to play without "fans" of this kind... My deepest gratitude to the TRUE GREEK FANS, that stayed till the end, and applauded the Turkish team at the final whistle!!! May they always be the majority. I will make a bold remark by saying that Thyra 7, 13, 21, or 4, sort of behavior, does NOT belong in a GREEK NATIONAL TEAM game. Neither do we need to hear the local team's chants during an NT game. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
plato-ny Posted March 27, 2007 Share Posted March 27, 2007 Well the team should be alot younger and we have a problem with our EPO head: Gagatsis and his thoughts as to what has been said lately in the Greek press in regards to the "age" of the Greek squad: "This is up to the coach. No-one outside of that circle can have an opinion on that. I have heard many different things on this matter. The team has had 10 new players come in. If they play or not that is up to their coach. Only three players are over 30 years of age on this team." He lies to our faces and tell us only 3 players on the team are over 30. 6 of the starters against Turkey alone were over 30 Nikopolidis - 35 Fyssas - 33 Dellas - 31 Giannakopoulos - 32 Basinas - 31 Karagounis - 30 Lymberopoulos - 32 Anatolakis - 33 Goumas - 32 Chalkias - 33 Kapsis - 34 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rodoj Posted March 27, 2007 Share Posted March 27, 2007 Trfilli, I was also ashamed by the behavior of our countrymen both on and off the field. We are little children who pout and shout when we don't get our way instead of properly handling oursleves. Herer we were on the world stage in a game many people tuned in to see and what do we show them? We show a team with no pathos, with a bunch of whiners for every foul called, amateur play and just simply pathetic coaching. In the stands, we couldn't resist making fools of oruselves and the police/security were nowhere to be found. It did not take a genius to understand this game had the potential for trouble and in the end that is what happened. When there were no Turkish fans to fight with, we fought each other and then started cursing the players. How sad for all of us who take love our country. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Akritis_1944 Posted March 27, 2007 Share Posted March 27, 2007 Well the team should be alot younger and we have a problem with our EPO head: Gagatsis and his thoughts as to what has been said lately in the Greek press in regards to the "age" of the Greek squad: "This is up to the coach. No-one outside of that circle can have an opinion on that. I have heard many different things on this matter. The team has had 10 new players come in. If they play or not that is up to their coach. Only three players are over 30 years of age on this team." He lies to our faces and tell us only 3 players on the team are over 30. 6 of the starters against Turkey alone were over 30 Nikopolidis - 35 Fyssas - 33 Dellas - 31 Giannakopoulos - 32 Basinas - 31 Karagounis - 30 Lymberopoulos - 32 Anatolakis - 33 Goumas - 32 Chalkias - 33 Kapsis - 34 We were one of the oldest teams at Euro 04! That was 3 years ago!Why would Gagatsis lie so blatantly? He clearly is ignorant and expects the public to swallow his lies. He can't shirk the honour and responsibility of his job. Yes he took all the credit for Otto's appointment when we won Euro, so now we are well entitled to be critical of him with this on going saga. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Euphoria Posted March 27, 2007 Share Posted March 27, 2007 good post Trifilli Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
plato-ny Posted March 28, 2007 Share Posted March 28, 2007 Well the team should be alot younger and we have a problem with our EPO head: Gagatsis and his thoughts as to what has been said lately in the Greek press in regards to the "age" of the Greek squad: "This is up to the coach. No-one outside of that circle can have an opinion on that. I have heard many different things on this matter. The team has had 10 new players come in. If they play or not that is up to their coach. Only three players are over 30 years of age on this team." He lies to our faces and tell us only 3 players on the team are over 30. 6 of the starters against Turkey alone were over 30 Nikopolidis - 35 Fyssas - 33 Dellas - 31 Giannakopoulos - 32 Basinas - 31 Karagounis - 30 Lymberopoulos - 32 Anatolakis - 33 Goumas - 32 Chalkias - 33 Kapsis - 34 We were one of the oldest teams at Euro 04! That was 3 years ago!Why would Gagatsis lie so blatantly? He clearly is ignorant and expects the public to swallow his lies. He can't shirk the honour and responsibility of his job. Yes he took all the credit for Otto's appointment when we won Euro, so now we are well entitled to be critical of him with this on going saga. True. We were one of oldest teams at Euro 2004. But, those old players were hungry for success. Now that they won Euro 2004, they are complacent. Thats why Otto should put in players who are younger and, more importantly, want to succeed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thrylos Posted March 28, 2007 Share Posted March 28, 2007 Gagatsis did not lie. Only 3 of these guys can be considered "players" nowadays. N--Nikopolidis - 35 N--Fyssas - 33 N--Dellas - 31 --Giannakopoulos - 32 --Basinas - 31--this guy is only 31? --Karagounis - 30 --Lymberopoulos - 32 N--Anatolakis - 33 N--Goumas - 32 N--Chalkias - 33 N--Kapsis - 34 Ok maybe more than 3. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Olympiakosthyra7 Posted March 28, 2007 Share Posted March 28, 2007 Well the team should be alot younger and we have a problem with our EPO head: Gagatsis and his thoughts as to what has been said lately in the Greek press in regards to the "age" of the Greek squad: "This is up to the coach. No-one outside of that circle can have an opinion on that. I have heard many different things on this matter. The team has had 10 new players come in. If they play or not that is up to their coach. Only three players are over 30 years of age on this team." He lies to our faces and tell us only 3 players on the team are over 30. 6 of the starters against Turkey alone were over 30 Nikopolidis - 35 Fyssas - 33 Dellas - 31 Giannakopoulos - 32 Basinas - 31 Karagounis - 30 Lymberopoulos - 32 Anatolakis - 33 Goumas - 32 Chalkias - 33 Kapsis - 34 We were one of the oldest teams at Euro 04! That was 3 years ago!Why would Gagatsis lie so blatantly? He clearly is ignorant and expects the public to swallow his lies. He can't shirk the honour and responsibility of his job. Yes he took all the credit for Otto's appointment when we won Euro, so now we are well entitled to be critical of him with this on going saga. True. We were one of oldest teams at Euro 2004. But, those old players were hungry for success. Now that they won Euro 2004, they are complacent. Thats why Otto should put in players who are younger and, more importantly, want to succeed. i completely agree!! :nw: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Akritis_1944 Posted March 28, 2007 Share Posted March 28, 2007 Gagatsis did not lie. Only 3 of these guys can be considered "players" nowadays. N--Nikopolidis - 35 N--Fyssas - 33 N--Dellas - 31 --Giannakopoulos - 32 --Basinas - 31--this guy is only 31? --Karagounis - 30 --Lymberopoulos - 32 N--Anatolakis - 33 N--Goumas - 32 N--Chalkias - 33 N--Kapsis - 34 Ok maybe more than 3. Sad but true. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Athens4 Posted March 28, 2007 Share Posted March 28, 2007 Kai to 2011 autoi tha paizoun akoma Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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