Friendly: Greece - Portugal

[Omonoia9]

HUGE WIN! Major statement made today!

[plato-ny]

Greece beats Portugal for the 3rd straight time and made Ronaldo cry(this time not on the field) just as much. Karagounis scored in the first half and the halftime score was 1-0, just like the first match at Euro 2004. Second half was 2-0 Greece and then a goal by Portugal, just like the first match at Euro 2004. Way more Greeks than Portuguese at the match.

First goal by Karagounis. Bend it like Karagounis.

Second goal by Karagounis. Bend it like Karagounis (Portugal killer)

Goal by Gomes

http://www.dailymotion.com/search/greece%2Bportugal/1

[Guest geok]

Yes this is an Fifa official friendly and it counts towards ranking, so Greece will most likely move upwards in a few days time!

There are positives and negatives from our performance tonight:

(1) Discovered a great free kick taker!

(2) Giourkas showed he overcame his injury (but where was his marking during the Portuguese goal? :nono: )

(3) Discovered someone who although slow, can hold the ball upfront (Samaras).

(4) Confirmed that Torosidis has attacking prospects in him.

(5) Confirmed the promise of Spyropoulos and even Vyntra as reliable solutions as fullbacks if needed.

(6) We confirmed positively our expected starters (Kyriakos, Giourkas, Torosidis, Nikopolidis, Basinas, Katsouranis, Gekas, Charisteas, Amanatidis).

(7) We saw Stelios, Salpi and Sam coming in and bringing fresh threats for our opponents.

But there were some negatives:

(1) Patsa was the patsa that we all know: an average player, not justifying his position in this team.

(2) Antzas is not the ideal partner for Kyriakos, neither is goumas; both antzas and goumas only suitable for the bench. We need to test A. Papadopoulos and Papastathopoulos there and of course to confirm Dellas is fit.

(3) When under big pressure we had difficulty to hold the ball. It seems that we can still be pushed to one side by opponents and this is something we must change as in the last 15 minutes the ball was hidden by the portuguese.

It is a friendly and we played with spirit, so we must be happy but we have still a lot of things to correct before the EURO. Our defending during the portuguese goal should ring bells to Otto who needs to work a lot in our defense and our middlefield during some part of the game was absent, giving space and balls to the opponent. there is a lot of need and room for improvement in this team, which appears to be one of the best we ever had.

[plato-ny]

OK....

[Euphoria]

Well done to the boys for their 3rd consecutive win over Portugal!

[DUDE]

Hi everyone.

I didn't see the game. There was no where I could watch it, and since I had tickets to the Brazil vs Sweden game at the Emirates I went to that instead.

I'm a little confused, I've heard so many different takes that I'm not sure how actually played. Apart from the 2 goals were we dominant, or on the back foot? Did we show anything that suggests we can win it again, or will we struggle to qualify from the group stages?

Sweden were very good defensively tonight, but their finishing was woeful. They passed the ball well but were kind of negative. Overall I was very impressed with them and they only lost (1-0) because of a stupid individual goalkeeping error. They will be very hard to beat and Greece will have to be at her absolute best.

None of their players really stood out, it was a team effort. But Rosenberg up front was pathetic. For Brazil Diego did some pretty amazing stuff. It was the first time that I realised what much of the hype is all about, and Pato had a good game and took his goal beautifully.

[aek21]

Greece played well for most of the game, however the team was on the back pedal in the last 20 minutes. Portugal however conceded a lot of clumsy fouls and lacked firepower and creativity upfront. Kargounis was incredible, he had played an almost flawless game. A few players I expect better from given how well they've been playing lately for their clubs and they were Samaras and Goumas. Samaras won a few fouls and aerial challenges but more often than not he was wasteful with possession, I lost count of the number times he was stripped of the ball. As for Goumas, it was the lack of communication between him and Kyrgiakos on who's marking who that really dissapointed. Both played the offside trap masterfully, but when it came to marking Nuno Gomes it was as if they thought the other was suppose to do it. Gomes scored a goal because of it and again minutes later almost managed a second. To be completely honest both should have been on him, he was Portugal's only true threat. I know a lot of people are worried about how Greece played offensively as our only threat on goal appeared to be through Karagounis and only through free-kicks. But keep in mind, Portugal disrupted Greece's attack often by bringing down our players (those clumsy challenges I spoke of earlier) and this is a friendly where both teams experimented a bit in the second half. I know Portugal would have been better with Ronaldo, Deco and Nani but this still is a strong Portuguese side that featured Quaresma, Carvalho, Pepe, Gomes, Ricardo... you still essentially had the core of the team. All in all it was Karagounis's night and Greece achieved a good win that would have been better had Greece kept the clean sheet.

[pao123]

bravo!

[Olympiakosthyra7]

great goals very accurate

great game 2-1!!!\

ELLAS!!!

[PAO_OR_DEATH]

what a great result another win for the ethnikara!!!!!!!!!! and eladara!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

karagounis !!!!! ti na pw

after the first half i thought my prediction of 3-1 would come true...oh well ONE day i will corectly pick a score hahaha

[AEK-MTL]

As I didn't see the game, can anyone tell me specifically how Goumas and Samaras played? I only saw the highlights and from what I could tell, Goumas was way out of position on the Gomes goal.

[paxiotis7]

Otto didnt do bad compared to normal. He started patsa which was a mistake and some argue that toro on the left is a mistake. which i do think it is. i no were strong at RB but if were strong there, then play him in a position that suits him beter like RM or even a holding midfielder but i wouldnt do that.

Otto did good by letting all the players see the field and he got to see what everyone can do.

Btw is papasthathopoulos injured?

[AEK-MTL]

as far as goumas - no comment.

I take it you weren't impressed? :P

[drakos13]

Hi everyone.

I didn't see the game. There was no where I could watch it, and since I had tickets to the Brazil vs Sweden game at the Emirates I went to that instead.

I'm a little confused, I've heard so many different takes that I'm not sure how actually played. Apart from the 2 goals were we dominant, or on the back foot? Did we show anything that suggests we can win it again, or will we struggle to qualify from the group stages?

Sweden were very good defensively tonight, but their finishing was woeful. They passed the ball well but were kind of negative. Overall I was very impressed with them and they only lost (1-0) because of a stupid individual goalkeeping error. They will be very hard to beat and Greece will have to be at her absolute best.

None of their players really stood out, it was a team effort. But Rosenberg up front was pathetic. For Brazil Diego did some pretty amazing stuff. It was the first time that I realised what much of the hype is all about, and Pato had a good game and took his goal beautifully.

we played pretty well overall.

There was a 10 minute area where portugal got their goal and looked threatening...

Torosidis, Gkekas, Amanatidis, and Karagkounis (who played great excluding the goals too)

Greece came out in a 4-5-1 (4-4-3) and actually found a lot of space in Portuguese half, had a few great chances and near misses where we should have just done better...

Our defense looked a bit shaky with respect to Patsatzoglou, Gkoumas and Antzas....

Overall though not something we cant patch together before the Euro.

We earned a win, the players played very hard, very well, found space, made smart passes and many different players were tried out. The friendly was a total success for the Ethniki - we got great prep work , confidence (maybe even brought back a bit of that 2004 spirit) rotation players got good playing time as well, and we even boosted our rankings, and beat Portugal which is great fun....

[The2ndMouse]

Scolari must pray to God Christiano Ronaldo will stay halthy and fit ...

Otherwise ... they are in for a severe beating in Austria and Switzerland ...

[fcportoultra]

The result is fair. Scolari can kiss my ass. What a horrible performance. It was really really sad. Did you pay attention to that number 10 Carlos Martins ? I didnt think so, he´s so ###### forgettable. Miguel Veloso was also crap. No more Sporting players please. Apart from Moutinho they all blow.

Greece was solid as usual with Karagounis and Basinas ruling the field. And that left back was also very good. And they are friendly fellows unlike our prima donnas who cant be touched by anyone. A little sportmanship please, we are not animals.

I guess my old friend Drakos 13 is laughing with delight right now but , you never know, we may meet in the final again :D

[fcportoultra]

Scolari must pray to God Christiano Ronaldo will stay halthy and fit ...

Otherwise ... they are in for a severe beating in Austria and Switzerland ...

So true..

[Genome]

Karagounis sees Greece past Portugal

Midfielder Georgos Karagounis struck twice to give European champions Greece a 2-1 win over Portugal in a friendly on Wednesday.

Greece, who beat Portugal 1-0 in the UEFA EUO 2004 final in Lisbon, went ahead when the former Benfica player lashed home a stunning 20-metre free kick after 33 minutes.

Karagounis made it 2-0 from another 20-metre free kick 26 minutes later.

Read the full article at FIFA.com.

[Genome]

Karagounis glad to be Portugal's nemesis

Greece midfielder Georgios Karagounis was thrilled after his two set-pieces earned the European champions a 2-1 win against Portugal on Wednesday, saying: "I don't get to take them at Panathinaikos [FC]."

Portuguese absentees

Greece have now gone five games without defeat against the Portuguese, and denied their opponents the chance to avenge defeat in the final of UEFA EURO 2004™. Otto Rehhagel's men won that match 1-0, and they seemed on course for an even better result in Dusseldorf after Karagounis had hit the target twice with free-kicks, but Nuno Gomes pulled a goal back for Luiz Felipe Scolari's side, who were without Manchester United FC stars Cristiano Ronaldo and Nani as well as Deco.

Free-kick duties

"The Portuguese have beaten Brazil twice recently and that shows you what a good team they are," said Karagounis. "We're looking forward to having a good time at EURO 2008™." Having scored his first international goals since March 2005, the former SL Benfica player also hinted that he ought to be trusted with set-piece duties at club level: "I’m allowed to take the free-kicks with the national team. I don't get to take them at Panathinaikos."

Read the full article at UEFA.com.

Another UEFA article: Portugal suffer more Greek misery.

[drakos13]

I guess my old friend Drakos 13 is laughing with delight right now but , you never know, we may meet in the final again :D

nonono I was not laughing at Greece beating Portugal...

I was laughing at Karagkounis......scoring twice from free kicks......it makes no sense to PAO fans...

You have to understand, hes back at PAO now and hes been very average...and his free kicks, shooting, corners have been HORRIBLE.......AWFUL......MIERDA....... and all of a sudden hes playing fantastic, scoring free kicks....(when recently PAO blew the league lead to a small team and we were wondering how in 4 days the performance is so dramatically different - and how all of a sudden the man can shoot free kicks?)

[DUDE]

but they just cant seem to click on all the cylinders the way they are capable of......

bingo.

this is why i harp on torosidis on his wrong side and foot. i heard 1,002 m*****es after the match about torosidis: 'tou leipei h apotelesmatikotita' or 'htan kakos sth teliki prospatheia'. the greek media continue with poor football analysis.

no s%$#!. ummmmmm, i think the reason being is that this player is on his wrong foot. it's hard to score from 20 yards on your weak foot or to make a cross on the run with your weaker foot.

if people were impressed by toro today, imagine toro on his good foot on his proper side. coming up from the back...or, even from the midfield...this guy is a train, but, a train with skill.

Yes, but this is actually true, regardless of what side he plays on. If he had "apotelesmatikotita" Olympiakos would have had 3 goals at home to Chelsea.

The fact is, many here have been arguing that he can't play at left-wing back, but he's put in some great performances at that position (Turkey, Malta twice, Hungary, and from what I hear, against Portugal too). Spyropoulos deserves a chance because, theoritically, playing him at left back and Toro elsewhere (right or centre) would help. But the fact is, we can't be sure unless we see him. Otto deserves criticism for not testing him, but you can't be so authoratitive about it when we haven't seen him tested there for Greece.

i didn't grade the players because it was a friendly and portugal was missing some top stars. if i did grade, i would have given otto a low score.

They were missing 2 big players (Nani is only a sub). So please grade them anyway.

And thanks to everyone who's comented on how the game went.

Here's an article by UEFA. You've got Karagounis complaining that he doesn't get to take the free-kicks at PAO (Drakos will love that one), but Nuno Gomes saying the free-kicks were "lucky" :LOL:

http://www.euro2008.uefa.com/news/kind=1/n...sid=676327.html

[plato-ny]

Gomes and the rest of the Portugal players are sore losers 4 years later. They made excuses for the first 2 games they lost to Greece and now Gomes calls both goals lucky. Still bitter, I see.

Portugal tied and lost to Greece in 2 friendlies the last few years and the Portugal U19 team lost to Greece U19 last summer in the quarterfinals. Portugal is our favorite customer. Keep crying, Ronaldo. Take a loss like a man

[dark_horse]

What a great result from our guys! The last time I've seen Greece play that good is when they beat Turkey in the Poli during Euro 2008 qualifying. Where on earth did Karagounis learn to shoot the ball like that? :tup: BRAVO MOU GEORGIO!

:gr: :gr: :gr: HELLAS OLE OLEEEEEEEEE HELLAS OLE OLEEEEEEEEEE ! ! !

[dark_horse]

:gr: Bend it like Karagounis! :band:

Shall we make a movie about Karagounis? :P

[aekrossoponti]

Here's an article by UEFA. You've got Karagounis complaining that he doesn't get to take the free-kicks at PAO (Drakos will love that one), but Nuno Gomes saying the free-kicks were "lucky"  :LOL:

http://www.euro2008.uefa.com/news/kind=1/n...sid=676327.html [/b][/color]

nuno gomes is right though. kara normally delivers horrible set pieces. he just had his day yesterday which he probably won t have a t the euro. people act if we resurrected frantzeskos. karagounis wont score on set pieces again for some while in the nt. period.

thats the part that was negative yesterday. apart from two miracle goals by karagounis we managed to do very little in game play. its not that we played bad quite the contrary but we just couldnt really create notable chances.

what worries me, is that this seems to be the final selection. which is somewhat disappointing since i think goumas, antzas and tziolis are not on par with euro players. we are seriously lacking depth in central defense and midfield.