Greece v. Sweden @ Euro 2008

[Guest geok]

Guys it's the game is 5 & and a half hours away and I'm so nervous I'm feeling ill... I've slept a total of 3 hours in the last 48 hours and it's all because of the nerves. I'm leaving uni now to make the LONG journey home because there's no way I can watch the game with my non-Greek friends (most of whom are supporting Sweden because they say they don't like Greece's anti-football!). <_< Bear in mind some of these dudes are Italian :LOL:

Anyway paidia, I hope the next time I speak to you we're all analysing Gekas' hatrick, Haristeas' headed goal and Lybe's wonder-volley in a 5-0 Greece win :P :gr: :gr: :gr: :gr: :gr:

We need you healthy for this game DUDE. There is no room for stress or anxiety. We are the European Champions.

We don't face Brazil. We face an average Sweden.

If the boys go in with mindfulness and determination we will beat them.

Think about this: we will get chances and we have a better striking force than 4 years ago, so if we are in decent form we shall score a couple of goals. I think that should be sufficient. Whatever happens I hope to see a long and hard battle and our boys giving it everything they've got.

[Guest geok]

:LOL: :tup:

:gr: :tup: :gr:

[Guest geok]

if otto got capello's job - would rooney play as left midfielder 'me epithetikes protoboulies' and crouch as right midfielder 'me epithetikes protoboulies'?

dev eimaste katholou kala..megalh analysh tou sxhmatos.

ki'av mh ti allo - is katsouranis plays as centerback, then amanatidis may play central as an attacking mid and we'll have gekas and charisteas up front...which sounds very interesting and something i would applaud otto for. but that is a 5-3-2, not a 4-5-1.

i bet if we do indeed play this way, greece will get whistled off the pitch.

these freaking journalists will send me to my grave. now they've got me winded up.

Don't be angry my friend, the journalists have lost it. I have closed all radios and TV/radio volume. If you want to see the game in tranquility my suggestion is to mute the telly and listen to sport-fm (Helakis) while watching the game. I am unfortunate because I can't hear him (from my home) so I will mute the TV.

The journalists have lost it and make speculations. Nobody has ever succeeded in guessing Otto. He will suprise us and the Swedish again.

[Guest geok]

I am very nervous about this one. I try to stay positive, but then I start to think about the many times I've been disapointed, such as Panathinaikos vs. Ajax in 1995 or Greece vs Turkey in Athens.

My main fear is defensively Dellas is weak compared to how he played in 2004. The game has become faster and Dellas has slowed down. Franco Baresi wasn't a big guy, so when he slowed down he could play better as the years went by. My other worry is the midfield, the Greek team brought the fewest number of midfeilders of any team. Three crucial events were responsible for Greece winning 2004:

1. Against Spain when we were on the ropes, the man who single handedly provided a spark to prevent the game from degenerating into a rout and sparked the offense was Zagorakis.

2. We had had a deadball expert like Tsartas who provided the pin-point shot for Charisteas to score against Spain.

3. We had Tsartas' perfect corner against the Czechs.

I love Karagounis, I think he's a great player and in 2000 when he played like crazy against Valencia, I told my sister it's a pity this great player will never play in a final of a major tournament. Having said that, Karagounis isn't a leader in the pitch like Zagorakis was. Games are won and lost in the midfield and if we lose the game in the midfield how are those great forwards we have going to score? Guys, I hate to say this, but I see Sweden winning 2-0 or 1-0. If we can use our strengths and have Kyrgiakos a part of the offense moving forward, if Giourkas can make those darting runs like when he twice took Ronaldo to the cleaners we have hope. One of my main reasons for thinking we'll lose is also that crazy ref who is the worst active ref around. I hope I'm wrong!

A

The past only makes a difference in the minds of the footballers and I bet that they are not thinking what you are thinking at this moment. The past cannot determine outcomes of football games.

As for your dissapointment in the past, I advise you to just lower your expectations as everyone else does. We all want to see our NT winning but even falling as heroes will be good enough (for me at least). Don't expect that we will get the trophy. But expect that we will fight and defend it to our best. It is going to be a war and what you can expect in a war is that you will give your best and hope for the best.

Lets enjoy the game as our players will and I hope to see a team playing with appetite, stamina and determination. This should suffice. We are not playing against an unbeatable team. We have beat much better opposition than that.

[Guest geok]

4-3-3.

I agree with you. This will definitely take Sweden by surprize. We need to play with pace and good passes upfront too. Just like Holland yesterday.

[mangas21]

IT'S GAME DAY......ALL THE ANALYSIS ETC ETC MEANS SH*T.....WHO IS THE BEST TEAM

T O D A Y

ONE THING THIS TEAM HAS SHOWN CONSISTENTLY IS THAT WHEN IT HAS TO, THEIR EFFORT AND WORK RATE IS THERE.....IT WONT GURANTEE ANYTHING, BUT IF THEY PLAY LIKE THEY ARE CAPABLE AND NOTHING MORE, THEN 3-1 GREECE...............THEY ARE THE DEFENDING CHAMPS, THEY WANT RESPECT BECAUSE EVERYONE THINKS 2004 WAS A FLUKE.....AND ITS THIS BLOW TO THEIR PRIDE, GRREK PRIDE, THAT WILL PROPEL THEM TO VICTORY TODAY.....

THE TEAM THAT WANTS IT MORE WILL WIN TODAY.....I THINK GREECE WANTS IT MORE....

SIT BACK AND ENJOY!!!!!!!

ELLAS OLE !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

AND BY THE WAY, THE ELEMENT OF SURPRISE FOR GREECE THIS YEAR IS ATTACKING FOOTBALL.....EVERYBODY THINKS WE GONNA REVERT BACK TO 04 TACTICS......MAYBE...BUT I HOPE OTTO HAS SCHOOLED THESE GUYS TO HIT QUICKLY AND IMPOSE THEIR OFFENSIVE WILL...SWEDEN WILL NOT EXPECT IT ALL SINCE THEY HAVE PROBABLY SEPNT ALL THEIR TIME FIGURING OUT HOW TO DISSECT THE 04 SCHEME....

THE GAME CHANGES ON TEH PITCH MOMENT TO MOMENT....GREECE HAS THE ABILTY TO ADAPT MUCH BETTER THAN SWEDEN DOES AND ITS WHY I THINK IF OTTO LETS THE BOYS LOOSE SWEDEN WONT BE ABLE TO ADJUST MID STREAM, WEHRE WE HAVE THE SOCCER SMARTS TO CHANGE AS NEEDED.....

[OFI-mtl]

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what scares me is that yesterday otto, in an un-otto moment, criticised poland and it's manager for the tactics and scheme against germany.

poland played 4 in the back and the offside trap. ok, what's the problem otto? you want poland to play 8 on the backline? considering how it's easy to criticize the greek team, i can't believe otto would criticise another team and a colleague in leo beenhaker.

anyways - does this mean that otto is paranoid and will play a super-negative line-up? this is my fear. c'mon otto, have faith in these players. let them go out and play.

4-3-3.

I do not think that Otto was criticising Poland, but was pointing out that if you dont have the horses to play wide open soccer....then dont do it, play to your strengths and not to public opinion.

Otto has got us this far....and if putting pressure on himself with these comments and not on the players then that is another sign of a good manager.

5-4-1,4-3-3,4-5-1.....who cares....get the result!

If Alexandri had scored on Schmeichel ( sorry for the bad flash back)...would anybody care what we played or that we would have passed to France 98.

Good Luck to the BOYS and hope they leave it all on the pitch ...YOU CAN'T ASK FOR MORE THAN THAT.

[mangas21]

I THINK THE BOYS ARE SICK OF HEARING ALL THE BS ABOUT NO OFFENSE, ETC ETC..I THINK THEY ARE JUST DYING TO SCORE 5 GOALS AND SHUT EVERYONE UP, SHOWING THEY CAN PLAY ANYWAY THEY N E E D TO IN ORDER TO EXPLOIT THE OPENINGS PROVIDED BY THE OPPOSITION...

THAT IS THE MARK OF A WORLD CLASS TEAM.....BEAT U 1-0 , OR 5-4 WHATEVER THE SITUATION PERMITS...THATS WHAT I WANNA SEE....

[OFI-mtl]

Paidia sit back and enjoy....do not fear the remarks of the outsiders.....they did us proud in 04 and for that we must go out and support...yes work or school will suffer today, but who gives a crap.

Our qualifying campaign was second to none let the others overlook and we'll grab points!

Today I see the matchup on the wings Ljunberg Linderoth vs Toro and Giourkas. I believe we will win this battle.

Maybe if Alexandri had come in a little earlier we would have enjoyed France as well :gr:

HELLAS OLE!

[andrew_g]

don't think I am a conspiracy nut, but these columnists and other soccer players keep on saying Greece plays negative soccer, because they want to play with our team's mind and have them expost themselves at the back and score several against them. As CNN sportswriter Gabrielle Marcetti said, these writers wanted Greece to win a game or two so that everyone says, these guys from a country that isn't serious about soccer, they played some good football before they lost 6-0 against France in the quarterfinals and he said many of these columnist were angry since Greece played like a leading soccer nation, they played to win not to earn a few sentences of praise from a BBC hack writer.

A

[athinaios]

I'm watching Spain v. Russia (1-0, half). I don't see anything impressive. The Russians are agressive, but they seem inexperienced (and unlucky) as they don't know what to do when they get to the box. Spain isn't playing that well, has less possession of the ball too.

If Greece wins against the Swedes, they'll go through. Especially if Spain beats Russia

UPDATE: Spain scored again, 2-0. The Russians were pressing high and have most of the possesion, but the Spaniards are more experienced, with counter-attacks. Greece has to watch out for this.

[OFI-mtl]

There you go Possesion 51 -49 Russia down 0-2.....play smart!

[Guest geok]

I agree with athinaios and I have a few more comments to make about this game:

Russia has exposed some weaknesses of Spain but Spain have exposed many more weaknesses of the Russians. The Russians are superficial defensively, like to hold the goal upfront without making any use of it. We should play them like Spain plays them, on the counter attack.

As for Spain? They are weak from the sides. Otto has spotted this and Torosidis will make a party next Wednesday. But we need to close the spaces for the Spaniards, we can't allow them so much space upfront, as the Russians did and look what happened to them.

Nothing impressive from Spain, but they have made most of the weaknesses of Russia.

Finally yes, I agree, if we beat Sweden, we are through.

[js1000]

spain look really impressive to me they've totally dominated russia and have the likes of alonso and fabregas on the bench. this is a stroll for spain hopefully they'd have qualified before they face greece because they'll have alot of fun against nikopolidis and dellas

[athinaios]

Exactly Geok. Greece's style can be effective against the Russians. With Spain, GR has to prevent the fancy 1-2-3 exchanges of the Spaniards, especially upfront. Both goals came from plays when a Spaniard was allowed too much space and time to create.

Also, I still believe the order of the matches favor Greece. First, we can see how these two are playing today, Russia losing to Spain, examine how Spain plays TODAY, and we have them at the last game.... probably needing a tie or even less to go through if we take care of Sweden and Russia.

I think this game today against the Swedes is the KEY for Greece, seriously, if we don't win I foresee troubles.

[mangas21]

spain look very good....very opportunistic and have made the russian defense pay dearly for all the open spaces available....their defense looks soft, however...

russia, on the other hand, breakout with confidence and pace but are bewildered as to what to do once they get near the box...i dont think its because of what spain defense is doing, rather more russian inexperince...

spain countering excellent.....good indiviudal skills on the ball, and torres is a pain in the a**....he needs a few karpazies to adjust his attitude, ehi pari poli aera with the russian defense

[Guest geok]

The performance of the Russian team today does not allow them to be taken seriously. Very poor defending, superficial at defense and up-front. If you told me from the beginning that one team would have gotten all 3 points I'd rather Spain have them. This is the second best result for Greece. Now the Russians are in big trouble and they will have to attack against Greece, which brings us to a very advantageous position (remember EURO 2004?), especially if we avoid defeat today.

Thank Spain for showing us how we can beat the Russians.

All this from tomorrow. In 45 minutes we need to finish a job against the Swedish. For me Russia are out already, if the other teams just play decently. It is between us and the Swedish to settle out second place in our upcoming game.

[NikosVazelas]

the official lineups are out.

GREECE is playing with the afformentioned 5-4-1

wich i think is more a 5-3-2

we will have Nikopolidis,Giourkas,Toro, Kyrgiakos, Dellas, Antzas, Katsouranis,Basinas, Karagounis, Charisteas, Gekas

http://en.euro2008.uefa.com/tournament/mat...0688/index.html

[Guest geok]

the official lineups are out.

GREECE is playing with the afformentioned 5-4-1

wich i think is more a 5-3-2

we will have Nikopolidis,Giourkas,Toro, Kyrgiakos, Dellas, Antzas, Katsouranis,Basinas, Karagounis, Charisteas, Gekas

http://en.euro2008.uefa.com/tournament/mat...0688/index.html

yeah, it is a 5-3-2 just like the one we played against Malta.

Its a good system, particularly for this game. It will pay dividents.

[mangas21]

dont be so quick to dismiss russia.....they dont match up well against spain, but match up with us......what spain does well is a nightmare for russia and what they dont.....we dont do what spain does...nor do we have the talent at teh skill positions like they do in order to maek russia look that bad....its about matchups, and skillsets vs. skillsets....

[Olympiakara10]

This will not be easy and I am very nervous. It's imperative we get off to a good start but Sweden also is coming in knowing we are the defending champions and also want to get off to a good start for themselves. They are underrated and that could prove to be dangerous. The defense cannot afford to fall asleep.

[Guest geok]

dont be so quick to dismiss russia.....they dont match up well against spain, but match up with us......what spain does well is a nightmare for russia and what they dont.....we dont do what spain does...nor do we have the talent at teh skill positions like they do in order to maek russia look that bad....its about matchups, and skillsets vs. skillsets....

Sorry, but I will have to disagree with you. What I say is that Spain tonight demonstrated how you can beat Russia. Tactically the game that we will play on Saturday (if we don't lose today) is to our advantage. With Otto as coach the weak points of Russia are already known and he can act accordingly. Aek66 will analyse them shortly but I will have to stick to my opinion that we will get past through Russia if we learn from the lessons that Spain taught us today.

[mangas21]

geok, point well taken...spain absolutely dis-robbed russia, and there are lessons to be learned....i did not say we cant beat them, i simply pointed out that we may not attack them the way spain did......they should not be dismmised, esepcially since they will be playing for their tournament lives when they play us....

going to school on the game is one thing, executing the plan is another and we just dont play that way....and russia will address it also....

[pao123]

lets worry about spain and russia later and focus on sweden NOW!! :tup: :tup: :tup: :tup:

im so excited, i cant sit down..im going crazy :gr: :gr: :gr:

[Guest geok]

the official lineups are out.

GREECE is playing with the afformentioned 5-4-1

wich i think is more a  5-3-2

we will have Nikopolidis,Giourkas,Toro, Kyrgiakos, Dellas, Antzas, Katsouranis,Basinas, Karagounis, Charisteas, Gekas

http://en.euro2008.uefa.com/tournament/mat...0688/index.html

yeah, it is a 5-3-2 just like the one we played against Malta.

Its a good system, particularly for this game. It will pay dividents.

Addition:This is the system of EURO 2004 with Antzas in place of Zagorakis and Gekas in place of Vryzas. Now we can see why we have more chances like this.

I am happy that it appears as if Otto stuck to his EURO2004 tactics that Giorgos Helakis, Christos Sotirakopoulos and many more (including myself :P) fully back.

Only like this Greece can achive something in the EURO. I am also glad that Russia showed what can happen to you if you play with confidence and openly against Spain.