Greece - Ukraine

[Euro2004]

I felt that the game was sucessful for a variety of reasons, first off WE DID NOT CONCEED A GOAL! This is huge, would you rather have won 2-1??? Look at russia, now they go to Slovenia who knows what can happen?

Are you serious? Of course we'd rather a 2-1. :blink:

[athinaios]

Oh, yes, I'd take a win no matter what, even 10-9.

Ukraine aren't better than us, however their coach is. He helped his team today.

Ninis should have played at least 1 half. Salpi and Gekas are players that can score at any moment and should have stayed in. Haristeas shouldn't be playing for the NT anymore.

Also, the OAKA field is a disgrace. I know both PAO and AEK use it, they both complain about the quality. If for nothing else, a bad pitch results in many more injuries. If they have multi-million $ players they should definitely have a proper surface to play football and avoid injuries as much as possible. It makes economic sense.

[IRAKLIS]

Hey guys,

yes a win would have been nice like 1-0, 2-0, 3-1, I think a score suchas 2-1 does not suit Greece's game. That means the game will open up and not be a conservative game, we do not have the pieces unfortunately to play open soccer with transitions from offense to attack. Maybe if Ninis, fotakis and koutsianikoulis were in we could but not with the current squad.

[Irlandos]

Ukraine ar going to put this away with a 2-0 win. The emphasis should've been on winning - even with a half goal.

[Clover22]

Not a bad game and I still think we have a 50 - 50 chance to advance. There were certainly problems however. The main problem was he basically played defense and offense - no midfield. If you throw a bunch of strikers up front, you have no one to create. What creative mids did we have? Zero but he should have started Ninis instead of Salp. Aaah but thats just too complicated...I really thought Salp was his usual falling down, loss of control self. He's not creative and he's easily disposessed...should not be starting.

This wasn't a total disaster and at least Mitroglou came out and played w/ real confidence, like he's been playing w/ the team for a while. What are the good things we can look forward to on Wed.? Will Toro and Patzazoglou be back?

[mangas21]

two evenly matched teams - and this is what you get....

if they play the same type of game and we toro back, we go through......give the same lineup a chance to gel.....

papa is out though, right?

and this nonsense about ukraine having the edge is BS.......call me crazy but when our goals count for two nd theirs count for one, uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, i think that neutralizes any advantage....

we are the kings of the low scoring draws....it our specialty....i mean, the moer i think about it, the more i see a little more hope.....

but, they still ahve to come out andplay.........its payback time - they fukced us in 06, its our turn to return the favor.....

[aekmafia21]

Kalitera na min pame mondial what a pathetic display of offensive football long balls tha mas katharisoune kiriolektika in kiev its a blessing guys we must except it.

[plato-ny]

Three home games against Ukraine in the past six years and Greece can only manage one goal...on a penalty. Heck, they even missed a penalty in that same match!!! Tonight's crowd was dissapointing as was the match.

So this Wednesday will be Otto's last game...

[RogueTrader]

We're as good as gone.

Ukraine were poor and we had two shots on goal both of which were from set pieces - NOT GOOD ENOUGH!!!!

What about Tzorvas letting the ball go under his foot!!? Calamity!

Did anyone else notice just how crap Kyriakos is - SLIDE TACKLING FREAK!!!!

[drakos13]

I felt that the game was sucessful for a variety of reasons, first off WE DID NOT CONCEED A GOAL! This is huge, would you rather have won 2-1??? Look at russia, now they go to Slovenia who knows what can happen?

of course I'd rather win 2-1, than take a 0-0.

You're not thinking. The away goal is NOT the most important thing. Having more goals than your opponent is.

with a 2-1 we go through with

Any tie

A win

or a loss by 1 goal, except for a 1-0.

2-1 means extra time, 3-2 means we go through, 4-3 same, etc.

The worst scneario to pass is a 3-2 loss. A 2-1 loss, would give us overtime and a second chance.

With a 0-0 we need

a tie, with goals

any win

ALL losses---->>> Elimination

Doesnt matter. Ukraine will beat us and spare us another World Cup 1994.

[BlueStriker]

Guys, I'm D as F right now trying to forget what happened in Athens. I was sooooo happy to see Hari on the bench, only to see him get subbed in for our best striker. What a great move Otto! Perhaps he is holding the Gekas' mullet as a secret weapon since we will be freezing are arses off in Ukraine.

To be honest, if we can only gather half a stadium, we are losers. And if I see the Ukes full to capacity, they deserve to get to the WC. Screw you M@lkeis in GR that take this shite 4 granted. All us living outside the GR take this seriously. We are bigger patriots than you (living in gray NY, cold Chicago, etc.,) even if you do live on this beautiful land of Greece, you are ungrateful bastards. AAAAAAhhhhhhhhhhhh GaaaaaamisOOOOOOOOOu! and I hope this post gets read all across Greece, although I doubt it since you all don't give a FRick.

The Ukrainians will put us to shame with their support, good for them.

[Guest geok]

Re paidia peite mou sas parakalw ti nomizete gia tis allages poy ekane o Germanos?

Karafliasa! Egbale thn mhxanh twn goal ton Geka kai ebale ton Xaristea? Kai o Salpi poy htan o noumero ena kindynos kai dhmiourghse katastaseis ton Ebgale kai ayton! Protimousa ton Mitroglou anti toy Samara. Eseis ti nomizete?

Nomiizw oti o Otto ta ekane salata ex8es.

[BlueStriker]

Geok, I have a feeling there was a fight/argument in the locker room during halftime with Otto. We all saw how pissed off Gekas was when he was taken off. I mean, let's face it, we don't have a better CF than Gekas by a long shot. Why the eF would you take our best player off the field? He didn't score in the 1st half, but I could definitely see him making something from it eventually in the 2nd. Chari was so stuuuupid! What the hell was he gonna do? And Mitroglou? I like the guy, I would rather have two up front (Gekas and Mitro), rather then throwing in a useless Chari.

[Akritis_1944]

The way I see it is this:

If we lose we say "Danke and Auf Wiedersehen!" to Mr Rehhagel.

No more of the last 5 years of mediocrity and poor excuses.

There might be a small possibility we get a coach who picks players based on form and positonal play rather favourites playing out of position or not playing regularly for their clubs. I was hoping maybe a Dick Advocaat would already be leading us but he chose Belgium and they'll be the better for it.

By not getting through on Wednesday night, we don't have to go to the world cup next year praying not to get embarressed by a New Zealand or Honduras.

Let's face it, if we can't defeat Ukraine (which in my opinion out of all possible teams we could have drawn aside from Ireland are the easiest) then we have NO right to be going to Sud Afrique. Full stop. end of story.

The Ukraine are average. We (rightly) get no respect from other nations, but Ukraine is a crummy team like us but with a more progressive manager/coach and a hint of respect from actual footballing nations. No more really.

The strong possibility remains that we may well sneak a 1-1 and go through, but is that what we seriously want??? Do we need to be humilated by Mr Rehhagel next year by selecting a 6 man back line against the USA or North Korea and finishing the tournament last.

Just think about it.

What ever happens in 4 days time is fine with me. I'll accept a loss knowing that Otto will be history, but another world cup might be interesting at least to have our boys there. :gr:

[primetime]

I've been reading everyone's posts and where did you guys get this idea if GREECE doesn't qualify for the WC 2010 that Otto will get canned cause if you guys didn't read that stop saying it cause it won't happen!!!!

[plato-ny]

http://ca.weather.yahoo.com/forecast/UPXX0...X0016.html?Kiev

Here is the weather in the Ukaine .....hopfully it rains on the wednesday and makes the field sloppy. This takes away the Ukraine skill advantage.

Want to see Mitroglou play next game even it's only in the 2nd half. He caused some problems up front the UKS were worried about him. Also want Ninis in at some point.

It's an uphill battle but you never know. See you all next game.

The game will be played in Donetsk, not Kiev, and the weather will be 7 degress Celsius as the high...

[AEKPROTATHLIMA]

We didn't look that good yesterday, but we still have a chance. We will see in 4 days what the future holds for our NT!!!!

[AEKPROTATHLIMA]

I've been reading everyone's posts and where did you guys get this idea if GREECE doesn't qualify for the WC 2010 that Otto will get canned cause if you guys didn't read that stop saying it cause it won't happen!!!!

Primetime, the papers and the Greek media have been saying that for about a year now that if Otto dosen't take Greece to the WC he will be fired!! I am not saying that i agree but i am also not disagreen with that. I don't feel it's his fault 100% but some of his decision in the past have cost us. We will see what happens in a few days!!

[mangas21]

guys this nonsense of "we could have played better" is getting tiresome.....if we "played better", we would have qualified already.....you are what you do on the field....and you can analyze and over analyze all you want and, though it makes for great forum talk and alot of the points made are valid, expecting this team to play better is like like asking a donkey to go out and win the kentucky derby.....

we are a team that could not put away the swiis, tied freakin Isreal, layed an egg in moldova......this is what we are...you cant expect that team to come out and steamroll over ukraine....so to say we could ahve played better and premise the rest of your comments on that is incorrect in my view....with all due respect of course...

you have to be intellectually honest about it....we are an average team, maybe a bit above average, we play tight, situational soccer - often play not to lose mentality - and we need SMART ginzo style off the ball tactics (someone on the thread called it "attacking the empty spaces") and we need CHEMISTRY and CONTINUITY on the field (which comes form keeping the same or similar guys on the field)

say what you want abnout otto but if we did not lose the moldova game he would now be genius....and in one split "avraaaam" indiced second we are figting for our lives in this derby....

[Genome]

Fact is Ukraine is comparable to us, only, with the way they played yesterday we should've taken that game.

1-0 would've been great. Now we go there looking for a goal or playing penalties.

[mangas21]

g, 1-0 sure would have been great...but again, i am sure they are saying the sam thing...it was an even game, but ithought ukraine controlled the ball a little better...we had possision but that does not mean anything...

if our mids dont push up, we are gonna have problems....go back and look at russia - slovenia...slovenia first good chance really early in the game, the left wing got deep, the defense collapsed, and he passed it back to a W I D E O P E N mid trailing the play who had a W I D E O P E N shot from the top of th box with no one around for 3 meters......

ukraine stuffed the defense and the forwards were not coming back (as seen by their countering which was ok)....if salpi of whomever is on the wing can get deep again, the same will happen and the mids MUST push up for that opening, at least to put a shot on goal

most of goals in soccer that dont come set piece come form "johnny on the spot" goals, where a shot was taken, or activity in formn of th net leads to the ball finding someones head or feet.....we need to create those opportunites to and let gekas sniff out where the ball is going....

i would not mind putting samara with deniro and kastourani and put gekas / mitroglou up front with salpi.....he's young he an run, and shhot and has some moves...

[zenon]

Whilst Greece will never be world beaters with the current crop of players, they are not playing to their full potential, in my opinion.

A lot of this is due to the manager who is to cautious and does not trust his players enough. He is like a lot of old men, set in his ways and gives me the impression of being stubborn and obstinate.

With regard to the upcoming match there are a lot of positives. Greece obviously do not have to worry about conceding an away goal. Ukraine do!

Greece are capable of scoring against the Ukraine. I am confident that Greece will progress because they are at least as good as the Ukraine. It seems to me any team that does well in a group featuring England are suddenly world beaters! Just like Croatia who have been found out as being an average side on about the same level as Greece.

In the long term Otto has to go.

Whoever the new manager is he must be positive and must trust his player.

[Clover22]

Guys, I'm D as F right now trying to forget what happened in Athens. I was sooooo happy to see Hari on the bench, only to see him get subbed in for our best striker. What a great move Otto! Perhaps he is holding the Gekas' mullet as a secret weapon since we will be freezing are arses off in Ukraine.

To be honest, if we can only gather half a stadium, we are losers. And if I see the Ukes full to capacity, they deserve to get to the WC. Screw you M@lkeis in GR that take this shite 4 granted. All us living outside the GR take this seriously. We are bigger patriots than you (living in gray NY, cold Chicago, etc.,) even if you do live on this beautiful land of Greece, you are ungrateful bastards. AAAAAAhhhhhhhhhhhh GaaaaaamisOOOOOOOOOu! and I hope this post gets read all across Greece, although I doubt it since you all don't give a FRick.

The Ukrainians will put us to shame with their support, good for them.

Right on the money! I feel the same way often about the "supporters" in Greece when they all come out and celebrate in the streets when we win (2004) but do ABSOLUTELY NOTHING when there are problems with the team. Sorry folks, a half empty stadium won't cut the mustard; either you boycott the team or you don't. Half-ass won't do anything. If they were pro-active there would be a movement in Greece to demand a new coach for the team and a different set of directors at EPO. They can go directly to the offices!

The ridiculous thing about this whole situation is the fact that we should be talking about advancing to the FINALS of the WC; we have the talent to do it but not the organization.

[Clover22]

The way I see it is this:

If we lose we say "Danke and Auf Wiedersehen!" to Mr Rehhagel.

No more of the last 5 years of mediocrity and poor excuses.

There might be a small possibility we get a coach who picks players based on form and positonal play rather favourites playing out of position or not playing regularly for their clubs. I was hoping maybe a Dick Advocaat would already be leading us but he chose Belgium and they'll be the better for it.

By not getting through on Wednesday night, we don't have to go to the world cup next year praying not to get embarressed by a New Zealand or Honduras.

Let's face it, if we can't defeat Ukraine (which in my opinion out of all possible teams we could have drawn aside from Ireland are the easiest) then we have NO right to be going to Sud Afrique. Full stop. end of story.

The Ukraine are average. We (rightly) get no respect from other nations, but Ukraine is a crummy team like us but with a more progressive manager/coach and a hint of respect from actual footballing nations. No more really.

The strong possibility remains that we may well sneak a 1-1 and go through, but is that what we seriously want??? Do we need to be humilated by Mr Rehhagel next year by selecting a 6 man back line against the USA or North Korea and finishing the tournament last.

Just think about it.

What ever happens in 4 days time is fine with me. I'll accept a loss knowing that Otto will be history, but another world cup might be interesting at least to have our boys there. :gr:

Yeah, I've been saying there's a positive to come out of this either way. If we advance, we might see the team do OK at the WC but no more than that (definitely won't be a repeat of 1994) but if we don't, we can FINALLY say bye-bye to Otto and get someone who knows what he's doing!

[mangas21]

ah, greece the graveyard for coaches.......

there will be a time where all you otto bashers are gonna wish he never left......

i agree he does soem head scratching things, and, i have been a loud critc of his handling of infusing young talent into the team and his lack of imagination sometimes......no coach is perfect....

but, like i said earlier if we dont shti the bed in moldova we are watching these derbys rather than playin in them.....the PLAYERS were in a position to score 4 at least. is that his fault?

guys, remember the National team is a SYMPTOM of a much bigger problem......the fact that there has been some stability and success (and some failures) speaks alot to his tuteledge......