On the way to EURO 2008

[drakos13]

cyber about Tziolis:

He has strong points

I really wouldnt worry about fitness/tired......hes very young and hes fine...he wont be playing 90 minutes a game anyways. Thats pretty much a non issue, if a player of that fitness is having problems being tired, then what about every other player in the Euro ???

His weakness is distribution. He wasted a lot of posessions with bad clearances, bad passes etc...Thats my concern for him. But I feel Otto will use him right and add support to the midfield when its really needed.

My problem is we dont have enough midfielders....but we have too many strikers.... Personally i think we should drop either Samaras or Salpiggidis...

[drakos13]

@ AEK66: Leontiou has been very unlucky. He missed the whole season with a knee injury, and it looks like he was heading out for more therapy last month, which seems to put his recovery behind (he will probably miss the preseason this year).

It was a shame because he looked great in the offseason friendlies last year, and he was improving on his most glaring weakness: strength.

I think he is a better in a role of a second DM. I don't think he can play the position alone, and I think he is way too slow to play wide either as winger or LB. His technique is excellent though, and he always looks to thread a forward pass so he would be good as a creative DM. Kind of like a slower Basinas, with a left foot and excellent dribbling ability (which tends to slow his game though).

@ Dark Horse: Darlas is the most horrible left back I have ever seen wearing Panathinaikos jersey. He can run down the left for sure, but he has no concept when to do it, how to do it, and what to do when he loses the ball (90% of the time). Worst yet for a defender, he can't mark in space. He mis-times his tackles most of the time that result in either looking like a fool, or in horrid fouls. He does not have the football intelligence that I see in every Otto call. I think it's safe to say he will never wear the blue jersey unless he turns his game around in a hurry.

I dont think you remember Leontiou this last season/summer - he was actually much faster (his original CM position got him labeled as slow a few years ago) but the way he was playing before his injury he would have been in this Euro squad, Im sure of it. He was our top player in preseason camp and jumped up a full level, technically physically...I hope his careers not essentially ended by this cheapshot injury.

Also take it easy on Darlas. Hes not that bad, hes just meant to be a bench player. He did show promise once but it faded with different coaches and he eventually stopped getting match time. I dont think hell be back with the ethniki soon, but still he does work hard when hes out there so give him some credit.

[cyberfish]

I think it's jumping way ahead thinking about Leontiou. Let's hope the guy comes back healthy and in top form soon. He has the technique, he added some bulk, and most important showed a lot of heart before his injury.

I agree with your points about the DMs. I think the secret of our NT last EURO (besides everyone and their uncle thinking defense first) was the game of the DMs. Katsouranis and Basinas did not get the recognition they deserved, maybe because it's not a glamorous position they play. But they complement each other very well. Both drop deep and play a sweeper role when defending, and both are capable in different ways of holding the ball when needed, or supporting the offense with runs (katsouranis) or distribution (Basinas).

I think our success (or lack thereof) this EURO will depend on the form of our two DMs. d

I have been playing around with some formations. Here is what I came up with that I think would work well: Three DMs, Karagounis as an AM and Amanatidis as an SS. I have not seen Seitaridis at all, but all reports indicate he is out of form. If not, maybe him over Vintra. I like Torosidis and I think he can be a strength as a third DM where he could also provide some support down the right wing.

The lack of depth in AM worries me. Beyond Karagounis we have an aging Giannakopoulos, and Lyberopoulos, and neither inspires confidence if they have to come in to turn a game around (Lybe as an extra striker maybe, but not as an AM).

[Euro2004]

An article here to get the heart racing ahead of the tournament.

http://uk.reuters.com/article/worldFootbal...020224820080523

Soccer-Euro-Holders Greece set themselves modest target

By Karolos Grohmann

ATHENS, May 23 (Reuters) - Greece's decision to give themselves the modest target of surviving the group stage should fool no-one when their underestimated side open their European title defence next month.

Click here to read

[Guest geok]

that is an excellent article (Well done EURO2008), we should hide it from our opponents.

in all truth though, I would not blame those that rank us as outsiders. We don't have a clear advantage over the other teams on the group and we are most likely to fight for second place with Sweden and Russia. If we qualify to the last 8, which would be a huge success, most sane people would see us out at this stage. And it would still be regarded as a good title defense really, if we think that in the second stage it could be any from Netherlands, Italy or France.

But if football was based on "logic" there would be no betting and EURO2004 would not have happened. Therefore it is best to say that any outcome is difficult to actually predict. There are many factors that are difficult to quantify when making predictions, many factors that you may not even be aware of. How can one quantify "team spirit", the "Greek psyche" as Zagorakis mentioned after the final and the "family atmosphere" within the team? It is not possible to quantify these things.

Therefore it is rather difficult to make any predictions really, but your attempts of predicting a certain outcome may improve as the tournament goes on (because of your increasing current knowledge of the teams).

[Guest geok]

Just announced, Spain's squad:

[Guest geok]

By the way, Russian's crushed Kazakhstan 6-0, I think this says something about their attacking power.....

it won't be easy.....a warning for Otto, our players and all those who think that we have our best chance of winning against Russia.

Russia 6-0 Kazakhstan

Six different players were on the scoresheet as Russia crushed Kazakhstan 6-0 in Moscow in their first warm-up fixture before UEFA EURO 2008™.

Brushed aside

Pavel Pogrebnyak and Vladimir Bystrov struck before half-time, Konstantin Zyrianov added the third midway through the second half, while Diniyar Bilyaletdinov, Dmitri Torbinskiy and Dmitri Sychev scored three more in the last five minutes as Russia overwhelmed the former Soviet republic in the teams' first encounter.

Advantage

Russia, spearheaded by UEFA Cup joint-leading marksman Pogrebnyak, created their first chance as early as the second minute, when David Loria had to parry an angled strike from Bilyaletdinov. Pogrebnyak then came close to connecting with Roman Shirokov's cross, before Kairat Nurdauletov's handball on 26 minutes resulted in a penalty converted by the FC Zenit St. Petersburg goal machine. Igor Semshov and Pogrebnyak had further opportunities but it was Bystrov – from Pogrebnyak's low ball across goal – who netted with an emphatic finish just under the crossbar on the stroke of half-time.

One-way traffic

Coach Guus Hiddink made four substitutions at the interval, but Russia came back out even stronger with Zhirkov missing by centimetres when he tried to lob Loria following a majestic pass by Bilyaletdinov. Torbinskiy was next to test the Kazakhstan keeper with a powerful shot after more good work by Bilyaletdinov, before Russia finally scored again on 58 minutes. With Torbinskiy and Bilyaletdinov involved once more, Zyrianov smashed in his goal following a mistake by Samat Smakov. Soon after, Igor Akinfeev showed his goalkeeping credentials by pulling off a fantastic reflex save from Kazakhstan captain Nurbol Zhumaskaliev.

Late flurry

Russia responded to this warning with three late goals. On 85 minutes Roman Pavlyuchenko was brought down in the box and Bilyaletdinov tucked home the penalty. Four minutes later, Pavlyuchenko won an aerial challenge and Sychev sent Torbinskiy clear into the area to make it 5-0. The last goal by Sychev was the best of the night – Zhirkov provided a teasing cross from the left, and the FC Lokomotiv Moskva striker connected with a diving header to seal a convincing victory.

Russia: Akinfeev, Kolodin (V Berezutski 59), Shirokov (Ignashevich 63), Anyukov (Sychev 46), Bystrov (Saenko 46), Zhirkov, Semshov (Torbinskiy 46), Bilyaletdinov, Semak, Zyrianov, Pogrebnyak (Pavlyuchenko 46).

Kazakhstan: Loria, Nurdauletov, Kuchma, Smakov, Irismetov, Skorykh, Karpovich (Khokhlov 59), Ashirbekov (Kukeev 79), Aliyev (Logvinenko 44, Ibrayev 79), Suyumagambetov (Ostapenko 46), Zhumaskaliev.

Kazakhstan is a small team but we all know how hard is to break. 6-0 is a warning for all Russia's group D opponents.

[athinaios]

I think our strategy will be to play a strong defense. It'll be a low scoring tourney for GRE. I just can't imagine Greece scoring a lot.

That's why I'm guessing Tziolis will be better... and probably Otto is thinking the same way.

[loup]

Finally had a chance to watch the 2nd half of the cyprus match - and watched Tsiolis carefully - and I was impressed by his match, had some decent passes and a big shot- bravo :tup:

[Guest geok]

I agree, we also need people in the middlefield. No middlefield player can realistically be dropped from this team.

In a few hours, after the friendly, we will know.

Also, agree with Athinaios: we need a 2004 tactical performance to get us to anything good in this EURO.

[paxiotis7]

By the way, Russian's crushed Kazakhstan 6-0, I think this says something about their attacking power.....

it won't be easy.....a warning for Otto, our players and all those who think that we have our best chance of winning against Russia.

Russia 6-0 Kazakhstan

Six different players were on the scoresheet as Russia crushed Kazakhstan 6-0 in Moscow in their first warm-up fixture before UEFA EURO 2008™.

Brushed aside

Pavel Pogrebnyak and Vladimir Bystrov struck before half-time, Konstantin Zyrianov added the third midway through the second half, while Diniyar Bilyaletdinov, Dmitri Torbinskiy and Dmitri Sychev scored three more in the last five minutes as Russia overwhelmed the former Soviet republic in the teams' first encounter.

Advantage

Russia, spearheaded by UEFA Cup joint-leading marksman Pogrebnyak, created their first chance as early as the second minute, when David Loria had to parry an angled strike from Bilyaletdinov. Pogrebnyak then came close to connecting with Roman Shirokov's cross, before Kairat Nurdauletov's handball on 26 minutes resulted in a penalty converted by the FC Zenit St. Petersburg goal machine. Igor Semshov and Pogrebnyak had further opportunities but it was Bystrov – from Pogrebnyak's low ball across goal – who netted with an emphatic finish just under the crossbar on the stroke of half-time.

One-way traffic

Coach Guus Hiddink made four substitutions at the interval, but Russia came back out even stronger with Zhirkov missing by centimetres when he tried to lob Loria following a majestic pass by Bilyaletdinov. Torbinskiy was next to test the Kazakhstan keeper with a powerful shot after more good work by Bilyaletdinov, before Russia finally scored again on 58 minutes. With Torbinskiy and Bilyaletdinov involved once more, Zyrianov smashed in his goal following a mistake by Samat Smakov. Soon after, Igor Akinfeev showed his goalkeeping credentials by pulling off a fantastic reflex save from Kazakhstan captain Nurbol Zhumaskaliev.

Late flurry

Russia responded to this warning with three late goals. On 85 minutes Roman Pavlyuchenko was brought down in the box and Bilyaletdinov tucked home the penalty. Four minutes later, Pavlyuchenko won an aerial challenge and Sychev sent Torbinskiy clear into the area to make it 5-0. The last goal by Sychev was the best of the night – Zhirkov provided a teasing cross from the left, and the FC Lokomotiv Moskva striker connected with a diving header to seal a convincing victory.

Russia: Akinfeev, Kolodin (V Berezutski 59), Shirokov (Ignashevich 63), Anyukov (Sychev 46), Bystrov (Saenko 46), Zhirkov, Semshov (Torbinskiy 46), Bilyaletdinov, Semak, Zyrianov, Pogrebnyak (Pavlyuchenko 46).

Kazakhstan: Loria, Nurdauletov, Kuchma, Smakov, Irismetov, Skorykh, Karpovich (Khokhlov 59), Ashirbekov (Kukeev 79), Aliyev (Logvinenko 44, Ibrayev 79), Suyumagambetov (Ostapenko 46), Zhumaskaliev.

Kazakhstan is a small team but we all know how hard is to break. 6-0 is a warning for all Russia's group D opponents.

Bad news. Why couldnt we do this to cyprus? Or even get a result in hungary. Russia is really starting to scare me. Russia can really go far this tourney.

[levendi2000]

By the way, Russian's crushed Kazakhstan 6-0, I think this says something about their attacking power.....

it won't be easy.....a warning for Otto, our players and all those who think that we have our best chance of winning against Russia.

Russia 6-0 Kazakhstan

Six different players were on the scoresheet as Russia crushed Kazakhstan 6-0 in Moscow in their first warm-up fixture before UEFA EURO 2008™.

Brushed aside

Pavel Pogrebnyak and Vladimir Bystrov struck before half-time, Konstantin Zyrianov added the third midway through the second half, while Diniyar Bilyaletdinov, Dmitri Torbinskiy and Dmitri Sychev scored three more in the last five minutes as Russia overwhelmed the former Soviet republic in the teams' first encounter.

Advantage

Russia, spearheaded by UEFA Cup joint-leading marksman Pogrebnyak, created their first chance as early as the second minute, when David Loria had to parry an angled strike from Bilyaletdinov. Pogrebnyak then came close to connecting with Roman Shirokov's cross, before Kairat Nurdauletov's handball on 26 minutes resulted in a penalty converted by the FC Zenit St. Petersburg goal machine. Igor Semshov and Pogrebnyak had further opportunities but it was Bystrov – from Pogrebnyak's low ball across goal – who netted with an emphatic finish just under the crossbar on the stroke of half-time.

One-way traffic

Coach Guus Hiddink made four substitutions at the interval, but Russia came back out even stronger with Zhirkov missing by centimetres when he tried to lob Loria following a majestic pass by Bilyaletdinov. Torbinskiy was next to test the Kazakhstan keeper with a powerful shot after more good work by Bilyaletdinov, before Russia finally scored again on 58 minutes. With Torbinskiy and Bilyaletdinov involved once more, Zyrianov smashed in his goal following a mistake by Samat Smakov. Soon after, Igor Akinfeev showed his goalkeeping credentials by pulling off a fantastic reflex save from Kazakhstan captain Nurbol Zhumaskaliev.

Late flurry

Russia responded to this warning with three late goals. On 85 minutes Roman Pavlyuchenko was brought down in the box and Bilyaletdinov tucked home the penalty. Four minutes later, Pavlyuchenko won an aerial challenge and Sychev sent Torbinskiy clear into the area to make it 5-0. The last goal by Sychev was the best of the night – Zhirkov provided a teasing cross from the left, and the FC Lokomotiv Moskva striker connected with a diving header to seal a convincing victory.

Russia: Akinfeev, Kolodin (V Berezutski 59), Shirokov (Ignashevich 63), Anyukov (Sychev 46), Bystrov (Saenko 46), Zhirkov, Semshov (Torbinskiy 46), Bilyaletdinov, Semak, Zyrianov, Pogrebnyak (Pavlyuchenko 46).

Kazakhstan: Loria, Nurdauletov, Kuchma, Smakov, Irismetov, Skorykh, Karpovich (Khokhlov 59), Ashirbekov (Kukeev 79), Aliyev (Logvinenko 44, Ibrayev 79), Suyumagambetov (Ostapenko 46), Zhumaskaliev.

Kazakhstan is a small team but we all know how hard is to break. 6-0 is a warning for all Russia's group D opponents.

Bad news. Why couldnt we do this to cyprus? Or even get a result in hungary. Russia is really starting to scare me. Russia can really go far this tourney.

russia also lost 3-0 to romania some weeks ago

[Guest geok]

And some opinion from the experts...

SportDay /

[Guest geok]

Sweden won their recent friendly (did anyone see the game?)

[Guest geok]

News from our NT below (from sportfm.gr)

[plato-ny]

Nice to see the Australian FourFourTwo writing the Greek team off

[Guest geok]

yes, that is definitely good news for us, although the arguments have some truth in them though.

Lets hope everybody will think the same and that we gain our defensive form of EURO2004.

[drakos13]

key man Nikopolidis.......

have these clowns followed even one game of the Greek national team???

FORM OF HIS LIFE :LOL: :LOL: :LOL: !!!!

PLEASE STOP THE IDIOCY!!!!!

The form of his life was in the last CL Season he had with PAO and then topped it off with the Euro......... after that straight down, so many games thrown and pissed away for ethniki and even for gavros....... what idiots..... Kyrgiakos and Katsouranis are the keys....Gkekas too as a finisher... Kyrgiakos is the only stregth we have in defense, Katsouranis will be organizing the midifield......... Nikopolidis just has to make sure hes not spilling crosses everywhere...

Series of 1-0 our best chance??

Honestly Ive never seen people SOOOOOOOOOO BITTER about a team FAIRLY AND UNCOSTESTEDLY WINNING A TROPHY. Its so outrageous it makes me sick, and honestly I have to assume these people just hate Greeks, because when other teams win with the luck of the PK shootout, or cheating, diving, controversial reds......NOTHING said......Greece worked hard, scored, defended, and didnt have one gift from the PK spot or from the refs.........and were hazed by the media still?

And honeslty, our best chance of winning will be if our attack shapes up like it has done the last year, and puts away goals with ease....this Greek team has a much stronger offense this year, and a much weaker defense. ..... For those who cared to notice, but thats why I never purchase rubbish magazines like Four Four Two

[paxiotis7]

Honestly Ive never seen people SOOOOOOOOOO BITTER about a team FAIRLY AND UNCOSTESTEDLY WINNING A TROPHY. Its so outrageous it makes me sick, and honestly I have to assume these people just hate Greeks, because when other teams win with the luck of the PK shootout, or cheating, diving, controversial reds......NOTHING said......Greece worked hard, scored, defended, and didnt have one gift from the PK spot or from the refs.........and were hazed by the media still?

You bring up a really good point. Through all of Euro 2004, greece only had one penalty. They scored in every game. There offence was not bad. You can saay that greece offence was the best in world if you want to put it that way. They scored of almost every chance they got. The greeks played good clean, hard football with no red cards all tournament. Look at all the credit Italy got for winning the world cup. I still dont think Italy should have got passed Australia. But you dont hear anything bad about that? Lets not forget, Man u are wayyyy better than chelsea. How do I know? Because they beat them in penalty kicks. So they are the best in europe. And we will praise this victory for years.

LETS WIN IT AGAIN!!! :box:

SHUT EVERYONE UP

[plato-ny]

Here is the sqyad announced by Otto

Greek squad with shirt numbers:

Goalkeepers:

1 Antonis Nikopolidis (Olympiakos Piraeus)

12 Konstantinos Chalkias (Aris Saloniki)

13 Alexandros Tzorvas (OFI Crete)

Defenders:

2 Giourkas Seitaridis (Atletico Madrid)

3 Christos Patsatzoglou (Olympiakos Piraeus)

4 Nikos Spyropoulos (Panathinaikos Athens)

5 Traianos Dellas (AEK Athens)

11 Loukas Vyntra (Panathinaikos Athens)

15 Vassilios Torosidis (Olympiakos Piraeus)

16 Sotirios Kyrgiakos (Eintracht Frankfurt)

18 Ioannis Goumas (Panathinaikos Athens)

19 Paraskevas Antzas (Olympiakos Piraeus)

Midfielders:

6 Angelos Basinas (RCD Mallorca)

8 Stylianos Giannakopoulos (Bolton Wanderers)

10 Georgios Karagounis (Panathinaikos Athens)

20 Ioannis Amanatidis(Eintracht Frankfurt)

21 Konstantinos Katsouranis (Benfica Lisbon)

22 Alexandros Tziolis (Panathinaikos Athens),

Forwards:

7 Georgios Samaras (Celtic Glasgow)

9 Angelos Charisteas (Nuremberg)

14 Dimitris Salpingidis (Panathinaikos Athens)

17 Theofanis Gekas (Bayer Leverkusen)

23 Nikolaos Liberopoulos (AEK Athens)

[Guest geok]

I think it made sense not to test Papastatho in this EURO. He and Ninis (and possibly others) will be part of the next NT; nothing to worry about.

So the team is as Otto announced it after the game against Portugal.

Some really irreplaceable players are:

Nikopolidis (Chalkias is in bad form)

Kyriakos

Basinas

Karagounis

Katsouranis

Amanatidis

Gekas

Gekas appears to be in really poor form at the moment, but this can change. Karagounis is the real force in the centre, we all saw his absense against Hungary and his contribution against Portugal. Kyriakos is one of the top five CM in Europe at the moment (if not the world) and we need him in top shape for the EURO.

We appear not to have a man marking expert in defense (with Kapsis gone). Patsatzoglou is not up to par. Under certain circumstances Antzas or Vyntra could get that role, but I can't trust any of them.

I think this will be the decisive point in this EURO and for that reason I cannot see us going very far. If we can score more than we concede we may do. Otherwise 2nd round qualification would be a satisfactory outcome for me. Being consistently at the top 8 of Europe would be a great achievement.

[OFI-mtl]

I think it made sense not to test Papastatho in this EURO. He and Ninis (and possibly others) will be part of the next NT; nothing to worry about.

So the team is as Otto announced it after the game against Portugal.

Some really irreplaceable players are:

Nikopolidis (Chalkias is in bad form)

Kyriakos

Basinas

Karagounis

Katsouranis

Amanatidis

Gekas

Gekas appears to be in really poor form at the moment, but this can change. Karagounis is the real force in the centre, we all saw his absense against Hungary and his contribution against Portugal. Kyriakos is one of the top five CM in Europe at the moment (if not the world) and we need him in top shape for the EURO.

We appear not to have a man marking expert in defense (with Kapsis gone). Patsatzoglou is not up to par. Under certain circumstances Antzas or Vyntra could get that role, but I can't trust any of them.

I think this will be the decisive point in this EURO and for that reason I cannot see us going very far. If we can score more than we concede we may do. Otherwise 2nd round qualification would be a satisfactory outcome for me. Being consistently at the top 8 of Europe would be a great achievement.

Geok keep the faith...its a tourny Health and some luck and who knows who will be 2008 Kapsis. No one on this board could have predicted Kapsis to be such a major force in Portugal , the guy shut down everyone!

Some will surprise and some will disappoint....Otto will make the adjustments .

This team has more talent then the last..but now everyone is ready for us.

We will be alright if not on to WC QUALIFYING and let the 2nd guessing begin.

[AEKPROTATHLIMA]

Sad to see Papastathopoulo not make the squad but he is young and if he stays in form he will defenetly be in the squad for the 2010 WC.

[cyberfish]

this is pure fantasy...only found in the sport pages of the former publications pravda and izvestia.

stelios and amanatidis play as forwards for the greece side. there should only be 4 names under 'midfielders', but the person writing or editing this article probably couldn't believe that greece is going to a euro tournament with 4 total midfielders.

I think you would agree that this is a more accurate picture of what the squad looks like.

Five total midfielders and several others who can plug in here and there. One total pure left footed player. It would be interesting to see if Otto ever plays Spyropoulos as a LM in front of Torosidis or Vintra. Even though PAO tried it @Aris and Spyropoulos was horrible as a LM, I think it might have been a fluke game.

PS. I posted it in the wrong forum it seems. I would appreciate it if one of the mods could move it here.

[cyberfish]

I guess putting Karagounis as an AM is probably wishfull thinking on my part. From what I have seen Otto uses him as the third (left) midfielder next to Basinas Katsouranis in a line, and he leaves the offense to the three forwards. Karagounis has been more creative when he plays high, and I think he is wasted next to the DMs.

I have to admit that some of the players I would not have called. I am not too upset about Papasthathopoulos since I can see the merit of not adding a player who has not been with the squad for very long this late.. I don't mind Atzas as much as others, and I don't rate Papastathopoulos any higher than the other stoppers at the moment.

I do see a method to the current squad (even if I would have picked a couple different players myself). It looks balanced and I don't agree that we have 6 forwards. Only three can play as a striker and the other three are perimeter players.

I really don't feel very strongly about players though. I learned from last EURO to love the team no matter who plays. I just hope Otto knows what he is doing, and I don't have any reason to think that he doesn't.