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EURO 2012


pao123

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pww pwwww paidia!!!

the draw was today and boy did we come out lucky...the groups are as follows

Group A: Poland, Greece, Russia, Czech Republic

Group B: Netherlands, Denmark, Germany, Portugal

Group C: Spain, Italy, Republic of Ireland, Croatia

Group D: Ukraine, Sweden, France, England

we avoided all the toughest tests and have a BIG chance to make the knockout rounds...we will be playing the first game of the tournament against hosts Poland...group b definitely is the group of death...what a draw for us, one of the best we could have hoped for...

:gr: :gr: :gr: ELA ELLADARA!!!!!

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The opening game of Euro 2012 will be Greece against a host nation (Poland).

The last time that happened was in 2004 :rolleyes:

We were also in Group A that time and had Russia in our group too! :P

We can def do this, unfortunately if we get through we'll probably play one of Germany, Holland or Portugal. Germany and Holland (along with Spain) look miles better than anyone else in this tournament so it would be a mammoth task. Nonetheless i'd have taken this before hand. Let's dream :gr:

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The fact is there are 4 teams and 2 will go through. The Czechs are poor, we should beat them. The other 2 could go either way. I'd actually only give us 60% chance of making it through, our media is talking as if we've booked a place in the next round.

As mangas rightly states the Poles at home are a good side. They move the ball well, have plenty of pace and the atmosphere will be electric.

Where i disagree with mangas though is in saying the Russians are weak at the back. In their 10 qualifying games they only conceded 4 goals. They a counter attacking outfit that can be tight but also has an array of attacking talent in players like Arshavin, Kerzhakov, Pavlyuchenko, Zyrianov, Dzagoev, etc. They also have full backs that love to get forward in Zhirkov and Anyukov. They are a very dangerous team in my opinion so if i was Santos i'd want at LEAST 4 points before our last game against them, preferably 6.

We can do this but if we approach the games like lazy a-holes as we did in the last 2 tournaments we've been in and you can forget it

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euro, whats shakin...?

yeah, im basing russia on whati saw in the friendly, not a very good body of work mind you, but enough to formulate some type of opinion...they strike me as " the best defense is a good offense"...and I believe overall they have more talent than we do....i think they may feel they can bring more men forward against us not fearing our offense - (who does actually) which leaves them susceptible in the back....

i think we are being thrown to the lions with that first game....we are complacent to begin with - sweden, south korea - and, if as you said, we jerk we go home early....russia game is the last one and much could be decided by then, leaving the first two games more critical

but again as we say all along - we are teh forrest gump team - u never know what you gonna get...60% sounds spot on

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euro, whats shakin...?

yeah, im basing russia on whati saw in the friendly, not a very good body of work mind you, but enough to formulate some type of opinion...they strike me as " the best defense is a good offense"...and I believe overall they have more talent than we do....i think they may feel they can bring more men forward against us not fearing our offense - (who does actually) which leaves them susceptible in the back....

i think we are being thrown to the lions with that first game....we are complacent to begin with - sweden, south korea - and, if as you said, we jerk we go home early....russia game is the last one and much could be decided by then, leaving the first two games more critical

but again as we say all along - we are teh forrest gump team - u never know what you gonna get...60% sounds spot on

Couldn't agree more! They were terrible at the back when they played us, hopefully we see more of that. A win in the first game and i'll feel so much better :D
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look, the greek soccer mentality has always been counter punching - rarely if ever do you see them win by three goals or more - 1-0, 2-1, and an occasional laugher here and there....until their approach to their skills, their game their confidence changes a bit - not alot - but just a bit - they are always prone to let down...its just the way their soccer culture is...do you think all of a sudden the genetic pool got better and we started qualifying more often for tournaments? no. after euro2004 and playing overseas, those events de-mystified "success" in their collective mentalities to the point where they believe they are on par with anyone.....

soccer is a funny, subtle game...1-0 game can be soooooo lopsided yet the score looks like it was a close game...3-1 can be a veyr close game...scors are not always indicative of what actually happened.

having said al that caffiene generated hyperbole, this team MUST impose their will on the game early - right from the beginning. this poland game, they MUST come out and attack and push back polands energy and silence the crowd.

when i played football our coach would tell us - just keep hitting that guy over and over and its up to him to hit you back harder or shrivel up....we MUST come out aggressively and put them back on their heals rather than lay back and let them dictate the game....they will be nervous and that nervous enthusiasm can be exploited....

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  • 2 weeks later...

clove what was the extent of the injury and did he have surgery?

on another note: merry Christmas and a happy and healthy new year to everyone.....

always enjoy everyones input.....

if u have kids go give'em a big hug....

if u married, tell your wife you love her....

if u married and u also have a mistress send her some flowers....

and of course if mom and and dad are still around, they more than anyone will appreciate a little attention....

these quiet simple moments that, in the end , mean the most......

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  • 1 month later...

Gia sas pedes!

Long time no visit but we're getting closer to heart ache time and Zeus knows I already feel it coming :box: I don't believe it'll be easy at all and Rusia always scares me. Remember what happened to us in 2004? They stumped or popous.

New uniforms I read today for the NT, a nice semi dark blue instead of that corny white and shiel. Maybe it'll bring us luck cause my opinion is we'll need it.

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  • 2 months later...

Fernando Santos has selected his 25 players today.

GK: Chalkias, Tzorvas, Sifakis

DF: Malezas, Torosidis, Papastathopoulos, Avraam, K. Papadopoulos, Holebas, Tzavellas

MF: Maniatis, Tziolis, Makos, Katsouranis, Karagounis, Fotakis, Fortounis, Kone

AT: Ninis, Fetfatzidis, Samaras, Salpigidis, Gekas, Mitroglou, Lyberopoulos

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(Sorry Irlandos, I've got a fancier version of the list :) )

Goalkeeepers: Costas Chalkias (PAOK Salonica), Michalis Sifakis (Aris Salonica), Alexis Tzorvas (Palermo).

Defenders: Avraam Papadopoulos (Olympiakos Pireaus), Sokratis Papastathopoulos (Werder Bremen), Vassilis Torosidis (Olympiakos Pireaus), Jose Holebas (Olympiakos Pireaus), Stelios Malezas (PAOK Salonica), Yiannis Maniatis (Olympiakos Pireaus), Giorgos Tzavellas (Monaco), Kyriakos Papadopoulos (Schalke).

Midfielders: Yiannis Fetfatzidis (Olympiakos Pireaus), Grigoris Makos (AEK Athens), Costas Katsouranis (Panathinaikos), Giorgos Fotakis (PAOK Salonica), Costas Fortounis (Kaiserslautern), Giorgos Karagounis (Panathinaikos), Alexandros Tziolis (Monaco), Sotiris Ninis (Panathinaikos), Panayiotis Kone (Bologna).

Forwards: Giorgos Samaras (Celtic), Dimitris Salpigidis (PAOK Salonica), Costas Mitroglou (Olympiakos Pireaus), Nikos Liberopoulos (AEK Athens), Fanis Gekas (Samsunspor).

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Thanks for the fancier list as I couldn't remember whom Sifakis played for as I haven't seen him in a dog's age.

The goalkeeper position is our weak spot with one spot totally wasted (Chalkias) and the two others VERY questionable. :tdown:

What about Chiotis? What about Karnezis or even Kapino? :huh:

Personally, I think if I were allowed only one spot I would've picked Chiotis. What is Santos thinking??? :huh:

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Personally I'm stunned that Chiotis has been left out. I mean let's consider this for a moment.

Tzorvas was never a good keeper and had a torrid time towards the end of his PAO career before moving to Italy and becoming a laughing stock. He's not getting any playing time and isn't sharp at all.]

Sifakis is a good keeper but has been injured all season, if he's half a second too slow, a little rusty, etc, at a major tournament then we could be made to pay for it.

Chalkias has had a season riddled with injuries, has barely played and during the play offs has looked shakey and made another error that led to a goal the other day.

Chiotis has been superb for APOEL domestically and in Europe for years now (he was class in the CL for them last time too - 2-3 years ago). He put in a string of world class performances, literally match-winning performances, and helped an underdog to the last 8 of the CL. The last time a Greek keeper played in the last 8 of the CL was how many years ago? And he didn't just feature, he was inspirational in dragging APOEL to that level. He's proved that he can play at the highest level, when his team is playing well and when they are incessant pressure, and games with intense atmospheres.

It was a no brainer and proves that all the rumours about "cliques" and Katsourani picking the team are true. I mean there's no logic behind not picking Chiotis. I usually hate it when a player moans about not being selected but Chiotis has a point, voicing his righteous indignation today by saying that the selection process is not based on merit but on public relations! Who can blame him for being bitter.

I'm interested to see who the 2 players that will be cut from the current provisional squad will be. My money is on Fortunis and Mitroglou, personally I'd cut Makos and Malezas from the squad his picked. I'd have also found room for Klonaridis, kid looks good.

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...there's no logic behind not picking Chiotis. I usually hate it when a player moans about not being selected but Chiotis has a point, voicing his righteous indignation today by saying that the selection process is not based on merit but on public relations! Who can blame him for being bitter.

Hear, hear! :)

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