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Georgia - Greece


Irlandos

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oh another thing, i remember the times when we were unable to make ANY major tournaments, and how frustrating that was. say what you will, but the national team has really taken it up a notch and i hope we continue seeing ourselves qualify through to every major tournament. lets hope the level continues to improve..

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What a great day for Hellenic football!

We go to the Euro tournament next year as group winners and undefeated!

When I saw the group I thought that we'd finish clear first with Croatia battling out Israel for 2nd place. I was wrong as Israel's charge never really eventuated and Croatia were better than I gave them credit (even though they have a poor manager and are on the way down)...but we did what I expected.

Now on to the finals next year.

I hope Santos brings a fit Fetfa, a fit Ninis, Mitroglou, Torosidis, Kone, Sifakis, an in form Gekas and Tziolis.

We need to concentrate on our discipline as in this qualification tournament we got way too many cards. the two Papadopoulos' and Sokratis were big culprits.

Bravo paidia!

:gr:

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We've qualified and it's great. However we've done this in the last 2 tournaments and been terrible at the tournaments themselves. The fact of the matter is that we are not an impressive team. Ok we had plenty of players out, but our tempo is simply too low and we aren't athletic enough. We also lack a cutting edge and a creative spark. If we ignore these problems now we will also struggle at the Euros themselves. I want to see friendlies were we actually start Fotakis. Where we play Ninis, Fetfa, Mitroglou, Koutsianikoulis. I also want us to clear up, once and for all, who should start at left back, Zaradoukas (who has been superb) or Tzavellas? If Karagounis, Tziolis and Kats prove to be too slow and struggle at the Euros, do we have a plan b? etc. We can't let the fact that we've gone 16 unbeaten mess up our analytical view. We were losing today and going to the play offs til they were reduced to 10 men! Let's not forget that. Furthermore, the facts are in those 16 games we've played a handful of tough matches (by tough i mean european championships level).

Croatia twice, Bosnia in a friendly, Poland in a friendly, Ecuador in a friendly. We've won one of those games, Croatia at home. The truth is Croatia away we drew but barely threatened, Bosnia they dominated possession and should have won, we couldn't break Poland down at home and Ecuador was a fairly even game but they created slightly more. Croatia at home was a great result, but were abysmal in the first half. In the 2nd half we played well but still needed 2 corners to get goals from. So essentially, in 5 games against decent opposition we've played 1 good half. Unless we want to go to yet another tournament and leave with disappointment we need to address this between now and the summer

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Well I only saw the 2nd half.

From what I read on the forum it appeared that Greece was doomed but Georgia started to play back a fair bit and I figured Greece would get the tie.

Georgia going down to 10 men helped Greece a lot. That said, both goals were worthy goals

Great shot from the outside. Wish we could see that more often with that type of pace.

Nice pass and finish by Charisteas on the 2nd goal.

Some final conclusions:

The new coach is undefeated.....who would have thought that at the beginning of the qualifications

Ninis and Samaras were missed a lot. They are both capable of hanging on to the ball even in crowded situations.

Ninis is younger and has more speed than the other Greek midfielders. He has to come back completely healthy and someone else with speed needs to join him.

The team seems unified in the sense that they pull together to get the results required despite the fact that it usually lacks style points.

Next year...karagounis is 34. He should remain on the team but should be used as a sub. My guess is that it won't happen.

I would like to see a younger player or two really step up in the exhibition matches. They have to prove that they belong. Who that person or persons will be, I have no idea but to go far in the Euros you can't have an older and slower team.

All matches will be against good teams.

Imagine the weaker listed teams right now based ON THE EURO RESULTS

Turkey

Croatia

Portugal

Sweden

Bosnia

(3 weaker teams not listed here)

Maybe a couple of weak sisters but really all teams are capable of making a run in the Euros provided that they are healthy and playing unified.

There are no gimmes which is why a couple of changes have to be made for the Greek team and it's gotta be younger, faster and athletic players.

Time will tell if that happens

Team gets some time to celebrate their achievements but then it's time to look forward.

Good luck to them.

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(goal.com)

Sit up and take notice, the Greeks are contenders

Fernando Santos, the Greece coach, has presided over 16 matches without a single defeat - a national record. The 2004 European champions are about to embark on their third consecutive appearance at the finals and they sit just outside the top 10 in the current Fifa World Ranking. Although the Greek Super League, with its financial issues and explosive match fixing investigations, among other issues, has never seen its profile drop so far, the national team is single-handedly keeping the reputation of Greek football buoyant.

They have emerged undefeated from a group containing Croatia and Israel and, following a dismally poor World Cup 2010 effort, they have that indefatigable swagger back in their step. Greece boast some of the continent's most promising talents in the shape of Kyriakos Papadopolous of Schalke and the currently injured Soitiris Ninis and have the nous and experience provided to them by the veterans elsewhere in the team. Like France and Italy, the other European teams to win trophies before the Spanish 'big bang', Greece have re-emerged from the chastising of South Africa as a better, more cohesive unit.

There is no reason to consider the Greeks as underdogs; they have qualified for four major tournaments of the last five, only missing out on the 2006 World Cup, and it is time for observers to consider them as the veritable threat that they are.

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We can't let the fact that we've gone 16 unbeaten mess up our analytical view.

could not have said it better...but it seems we used to be on the OTHER side of theses types of games, so SOMETHING has changed that permits us to send the OTHER fans home grumbling "man those greeks were lucky".....

having said that, euro is spot on....the big pic - 16 undefeated - is something to be proud of but looking at it closely you can see the fleas.....all in all, another small step forward for greek soccer, but now we need to start going DEEP in tournaments because that is a MUCH better barometer of how good we are....i mean we tie latvia and georgia and STILL won the group...we still play to our competition - that has to stop...i think alot has to do with the fact that we are a countering team instinctively, so we cant "take it to them" because our defense is our strength....so i think if we are going to play above our competition we need to establish some kind of offensive identity that we can push hard without regard to "defensive superiority and counter"...

i was at the ecuador game, and its the most "offensive" ive seen them - kone/fotakis/etc. and they were dictating the pace and rhythm of the game....i think that ninis/fotakis/fefta/samaras/torosidis/katsourani/kyri/papa/kouts on the field at teh same time will be an exciting team to watch develop....

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Well its certainly great to advance but the last 2 games we didn't play well due to the lack of midfield players; it was basically a back line and a front line w/ no middle to create anything. In the event you have injuries (Ninis and Fetfa) plan b should be, or could have been, Fotakis STARTING, Makos, Lagos (haven't been following him lately) Georgiadis on the right, Kafes, Xristo (I know he's injured). Not all those guys together but that could be the players to start instead of Kats and Kara; these 2 create nothing and should not be starting.

Good thing is we're undefeated and he's breaking in up and coming players...so I'm still positive about next summer.

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we need several good friendlies against top teams - and we need to take them seriously so we can get some kind of "identity" on the offensive end of things.

I still beielve and have barked about this for ages - we need strong, fast mids who can push up further.....there is always ssssssssssssoooo much room for a trailing player at the top of the box when the ball is deep in the corner....rather than donky ball in the middle, cutting back to the top of the area (samaras/katsourani in the croatia .georgia games) gives those player(s) so much room for a good shot or pass......most of the rest of the world does not play defense like we do, so i think those holes can be exploited.

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Play-off draw

Turkey v Croatia

Estonia v Republic of Ireland

Czech Republic v Montenegro

Bosnia and Herzegovina v Portugal

The playoff draws are listed above.

Some tough pairings there.

Glad that Greece gets to sit back and watch.

Any thoughts on who is going to go through?

My guesses

Croatia

Rep of Ireland

Cz Rep

Portugal

but anything can happen....................and usually does.

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