WCq: Turkey - GREECE

[plato-ny]

Its a good result for us. Turkey, which kept boasting about their attack style, scored no goals in 2 games against us. I dont understand why some of you think its a bad result. The result is much worse for Turkey than it is for us and they are our main competition for second place. I dont expect Greece to get first place based on schedule comparison to Ukraine's but we are still in good shape.

Now, we must beat Ukraine to hold our lead...

[Iliana]

dokari

[chameleon65]

Hi boys, just got home from Coin du Metro in Montreal...

To the match then. Well considering we got the tie and with total Turkish possession (impressive but no finish) I would have hoped and expected our boys to be more offensive and put more pressure on their defense.

So this lack of shooting at the goal or making some basic plays to create something didnt thrill me at all. I guess that was the game plan to shut them down and remove any opportunities for them.

I thought the few minutes we put pressure like Stelios's and Karagounis's shots there was going to be more of it cause the Turks calmed down their attack..

No spark up front and positions mixed so nothing to create really. Stelios right wing? Lakis? why? Basinas was invisible.

We got very lucky.

Anyhow, the pressure is on our NT for a win against Ukraine to at least maintain important points for top 2nd place.

I'm going for a nice snooze..the heat and beer got to me B)

[plato-ny]

This was a hard game for Greece. We were the road team in Turkey and the atmoshere was electric. We should be thankful walking away with a tie.

[miko]

Watching this team play requires tremendous nerves. I can't begin to imagine what the players go through while playing this style of football.

Although the draw is a positive result, I can't help but feel that a win was not as alusive as Rehagel's approach indicated. The first half went according to plan with Turkey palying at a frantic pace early on, only to watch the Greeks hold their shape very well. The line-up and the tactics employed by Rehagel in the opening half were brilliantly orchestrated and executed perfectly by the team.

Again, in the early going of the second half Turkey took their run at Greece, and again they lacked the final ball or any sense of finish. What followed was a crucial spell for our lads which should have given us the all important first goal. Stelios and Karagounis struck well and then the Turks were lost; they could not put two passes together or cross the midfield with the ball. Why Turkey was allowed to breathe after this is beyond me.

I have heard complaints about Vryzas, but his performance today was wasted. Vryzas won many balls and he did an excellent job of holding it while being pressured (often by two or more defenders). I say the efforts of Vryzas were wasted because he could only hope to find Charisteas (as expected he too was marked constantly). Our midfield played too conservative as far as positioning goes. I am not asking for gambles or unnecessary risk, instead, we should have sought out more possession when the Turks stopped their sprints and chasing. Obviously our strengths lies in defence but our offence was unreasonably predictable today. It is a shame because Turkey's deffence was questionable at times.

Finally, I don't make it a habit to criticize Rehagel or his motives but I can't help but feel that Gekas or Papadopoulos should have come on in the last 5 minutes to relieve Vryzas or Charisteas. Even Tsiartas could have been used to provide more up front (or at least be present for that last free-kick from 25 yards out with 3 minutes to go).

Good result but this leaves us with only one option against the Ukranians on Wednesday: win at all costs (we can't rely on Ukraine to drop points with their current form as good as it is). This is added pressure that I feel could have been avoided if we pushed a little more today.

:gr:

[aek21]

If you want to download the game go to greek-torrents.com (that one is in greek)or fbtz.com and register to their forums. Go to june 2005 section look for the thread Greece turkey english com look at the first post and clikc the link and voila.

[evalagoal]

i'll say one thing, otto must be the luckiest football manager alive. the positioning of players doesn't make logical sense, greece almost never statistically (ball possession, opportunities for goal) outplays any opponent and yet we keep getting results we need.

no 3 in the back today. the announcer told us it was a 4-4-2 with karagounis as left midfielder and stelios as right midfielder. yeah right...the only thing i know is that we played a flat back 4. from there up to the 2 forwards, who knows?

it's amazing how greece can have maybe 30-35% of ball possession and not lose matches. stelios looked totally out of it today, yet he came the closest to scoring..other than that, if greece is going to play 90 minutes of passive football, our players better be supermen when it comes to stamina. it's harder physically to chase than to be chased, and greece kept chasing because we have no one who can hold the ball. all of our players were virutally out of gas by the 65th minute. poor fyssas almost collapsed in the 2nd half, and the turks tried to exploit fyssas' left side...time and after time with attacking runs and crosses from the left...but, we were lucky, we have lucky otto.

i knew it all along, but karagounis showed everyone today why he is a decent midfielder, but certainly not world class who can demand a place in inter's starting 11. 2 greece x turkey matches, and 2 times karagounis was invisible. at inter, you have players who can pass him the ball, the greek national team is not known for passing...karagounis needs to wake up and be smarter on the pitch.

my ratings:

nikopolidis: 6.5 (steady hands today, 1 major block...wasn't caught out on every turkish cross)

seitaridis: 6 (got caught a few times up the pitch, but seitaridi finally decided to use his speed in a few attacks)

fyssas: 6.5 (very steady, confident player..knows his offensive limitations and rarely made runs up the left side. i don't think greece will ever get burned on that side when fyssas plays)

goumas: 6.5 (played well, turkish center forwards did nothing)

kapsis: 6.5 (same as goumas)

giannakopoulos: 5.5 (poor game. 2-3 very poor back passes that put greece's defense under turkish pressure. almost scored...but, basically a non-factor)

karagounis: 5 (90 minutes and 1 pass for our 'creative and hold-the-ball' midfielder. poor tackling getting booked. invisible today, despite being in good form for inter)

basinas: 6.5 (he runs and he runs and runs...wins 8 out of 10 tackles a match)

katsouranis: 6 (nothing major, katsourani did make 2-3 key tackles and win most of his headers)

vryzas: 5.5 (non-factor, but deserves credit for running back to help the defense)

charisteas: 6 (ran back, made the play for stelios)

lakis: 5 (i shook my head when lakis came on, and he missed a great chance. what is this guy doing playing in this type of key match? lakis can't defend and he doesn't have the best offensive skills...so, why is playing for the euro champs?)

today, i'm giving otto a grade. otto gets a 4. otto wastes stelios by playing stelios on his wrong foot. if lakis plays as a right midfielder, then use stelios there. otto's passive football tactics today almost cost greece...and greece needed it's goalkeeper and defenders to be good today. lucky for otto, they were.

i expect a different greece this wednesday, otherwise, turkey will be right back in the hunt for 2nd palce.

kinda harsh rating I think my friend...

Greece played well overall. I don't think tha tthat the players we're between 5-6 more like 7-8. Lets not forget this was a match that was played in Turkey and they are our neighbors. It's always difficult to get points from there and I think that they did great..

Great Job Men!

:tup: :gr: :gr: :gr: :tup:

[cimbom]

nobody booed Turkey when they came to Greece.......

Our anthem was also booed in Greece, and there was a flag writing "Good Turk Only Dead One". After that, a part of the stadium applauded our anthem. Your anthem was unfortunately booed and I don't appreciate it because I don't see something more idiot than booing the anthem. But you must remember that before this game there has been the 3rd game PAO-EFES in Euroleague and lots of people had bad feelings because of this. It is sad anyway.

We had lots of occasions but we couldn't conclude them. We missed a tall player to score at least one goal from these aerial balls and we missed experience. That is why the stadium was singing for Hakan Sükür at the end of the game. But our idiot coach don't want to see the reality : with Hakan, Turkey would have won the game tonight with a high probability, as Turkey would have won in Danemark with Hakan. How sad that he doesn't want to change. Congrats to greece and I see you writing in Greek so as we don't understand. if you are honest, please speak in English, even if you want to say bad things about us. we can discuss and nobody is perfect.

greetings

[chameleon65]

We had lots of occasions but we couldn't conclude them. We missed a tall player to score at least one goal from these aerial balls and we missed experience. That is why the stadium was singing for Hakan Sükür at the end of the game. But our idiot coach don't want to see the reality : with Hakan, Turkey would have won the game tonight with a high probability, as Turkey would have won in Danemark with Hakan. How sad that he doesn't want to change. Congrats to greece and I see you writing in Greek so as we don't understand. if you are honest, please speak in English, even if you want to say bad things about us. we can discuss and nobody is perfect.

greetings

The majority in here right in english and respect our turkish neigbours.

Even I was surprised Sukur was not playing. Turkish fans that were sitting at the same table with us told me even that your NT coach is disliked. We even shared some good souvlaki and laughs.

Turkey has a very good team and play very good ball.

It's still a difficult battle to the end.

[GoBlue]

What us this about lucky!!

The whole game was played as Rehagel set up his team. Granted it was not pretty. But it was played as it was choreographed by the greek coach.

He set up his defense first and foremost and accomplished waht he wanted. No score by the Turks. And second as has been his trademark full presure on the ball pactically everywhere on the field did not allow the turks to develop hardly any clear cut chances. And finally, the greeks developed several very good opportunities and could have very easily left with a win.

That is his stategy and that is why the greek team has been and is successful. Once this is established then and onlty then depending on the circumstances the offense develops as conter attacks or again depending on opponent and circumstances can even develop in ball control and at time very beautiful and efficient combinations and scores.

This is not luck it is by design and it takes a lot of work and committment. And his team duplicates this design over and over again.

Anyone who thought that greece would go into Turkey and play like Brazil and/or come away with a win is dreaming. A tie is a very good result and like I said it could have been a win with a llitle bit of luck!!!!

[Clover22]

Well I thought we played quite well and just a few more inches and we would have scored. Turkey played quite well also though; we went defensive for too long in the second half. The game would most likely have been different w/ Kyrgiakos; why wasn't he played? Also do you think Tsartas should have been there for the last 20 minutes? Amanatidis? A bit of a bummer but upwards and onwards. I'm looking forward to a positive result on wednesday.

[Clover22]

I agree there is too much emphasis on the luck factor but we gave our opponents too much freedom in midfield in the second half. A couple of substitutes in the second might have made the difference.

[GoBlue]

Rehagel does not seem to like many changes. He does like Goumas though. He went with him instead of Kirgiakos. Which is surprising to me as most people. But Goumas has played well and I think he has not disappointed Rehagel.

Basinas was pulled back some and had defensive responisbilities just like the first game with Turkey. Fyssas nad Seitaridis got tired the second half but the middle of the defense stayed strong. As Rehagel went with five backs it would be reasonable that the half back line would suffer some.

The turkish defense was not all the strong possibly because they concetrated on offense so much. If our fowards were a little more sharper in the second half we would have scored. But then again they seemed tired of all the pressing they did on the turks. Subs may have helped.

But this is Rehagel . How do you second guess. He has made us winners and he is still doing it. His way.

[GoBlue]

Rehagel stated that the defense played well. Rehagel was not satisfied with the offensive development. And the inability of the fowards to finish exceptional opportunities. haristeas and gianakopoulos were 2 against 1 in the turkish box and same with lakis. gianakopoulos was alone, by the time got himself together he had a defender on him but still managed a dokari. Both of them should have ended up tet a tet with the goalkeeper instead of thinking.

The development and finish left a lot to be desired but the opportunities were there and should have been taken advantage of. That may have been the reason he took Gianakopoulos out but lakis repeated his mistake.

[Batigol]

Whew, where to begin?

The match was largely dominated by Turkey in the first 20 minutes of both halfs. Greece did not control the midfield at all during those times as their passes never connected, the long balls clearances always found their way to a Turkish player, and there were Turkish players pressuring the Greeks every time that they had possession, something Greece didn't do when the Turks had the ball.

I can't say I was really impressed with Seitaridis or Fyssas. Turkey exposed those flanks all game and they were allowed way too much room to create crosses and potential scoring chances. Thank God for the solid defence in the middle. They cleared just about everything that came thier way...save for one or two spots. Emre comes to mind..

I thought Giannakopoulos played well considering his positioning. Basinas did an adequete job but that's not enough at this level or at this stage of the competition. He really needed to step it up for this one and he didn't.

Up front, Vryzas, God love him, probably ran the length of the pitch a million times over but his lack of pace was evident by the half way mark of the game when he was being out run by guys he had a 5 yard lead on. Charisteas also helped out in the back but was pretty ineffective because of the lack of solid passing from the midfield.

The reffing was abysmal. Merk missed the plot on a great many clear fouls on both teams. Thank God for the 4th official who saw that one Turkish player kick at Goumas. Otherwise, Merk wouldn't have called it and the guy wouldn't have received that yellow card.

FIFA are apparantly looking into punishing Turkey because some of the fans threw bottles and other objects onto the pitch at the Greek players. I never saw it during the match and the commentators never mentioned it but it seems that Merk collected a boatload of material and gave it to the 4th official as evidence. Don't know what is going to result of that.

From what I have read in some of the reports, and this is the part that really disappoints me, have to do with some of the banners that were displayed. Some have already been alluded to by Cimbom with reference to Cyprus. And I want to thank him for being so honest and upfront about his own disappointment. But from what I have read there was one banner that read:

"Turkey awarded Greece a gold medal in 1922 for swimming/diving"

Obviously referring to the Smyrna tragedy. I mean, how low can you get? Imagine making light of such a dark and tragic period in one nation's history? "Gee, we killed thousands of your people. In your face! HAHAHA! Absolutely brutal.

Now I know nationalistic things are always displayed at these sort of events. After all, it's great to see loads of people wearing their country's colours and waving flags. But some of those banners were a mockery. I wish FIFA could step in and do something about it. Imagine if Germany played a game against Israel and did the same thing. I wonder what the world reaction would be then?

Otherwise, this was an exciting match and I'm glad Greece came out with the tie.

[loup]

Boys- not bad I think - once again I think although it may have not appeared so to the untrained eye - we dictated our style on the other team and when all was said and done we had the 2 best chances to score

Basinas - as said by others - was invisible

Giankopoulos was brutal - what the hell was he doing out there - yes he almost scored - but he shoukld have put that in with a better first touch

I though Giorkas played well - went all over the place

Charisteas played tough too - although I think this game showed what we are really lacking since Demis has left the team - that is someone who can produce his own chances - Charisteas can finish - but don't expect him to make somehting out of nothing on his own and Vryzas is tough but limited - I don't know if Gekkas is this type of player - but if Demi was there I think we win

Tsartas was not going in we played for the draw after the first 65 minutes

next game I expect a toatlly different effort and result vs Ukraine

By the way I Nikopolidis rocked today

:gr: :gr: :gr:

[loup]

P.S. Lakis stinks - so does Kafes - get Zikos a uniform

[Euphoria]

Quite an enjoyable match. Too bad Stelios' shot was just a few cms too high.

Why did Otto put Lakis on? He doesn't look very good to me

[loup]

i think it also indicates that Peloponisos is Turkish too - I didn't know that :LOL: :LOL:

:gr:

[Manolis]

ESTI BRAVO HELLAS well played.

We had less oppurtinities but were more threatning in front of goals, Stelio unlucky mate, if it was triha lower, the keeper would broken his hand, thats how hard he ripped it, how did the cross bar not fall off.

For the banners it's a shame but hey....we can't say anything on this forum.

As for the Turkish fans it must be a bit dissapointing, the atmosphere was great, the music pumped, and the crowd looked great with their flags, unlucky they went home with a draw as the team pressed forward all day with nothing....koulouri.

[NYC_Olympiakos]

Tough hard fought game

could have gone either way

but we had hte best chance in the game to end Turkey's WC hopes

Stelios missed it

but we must now focus on Ukraine

From wut i heard Ukraine rested many of there first 11 players

Kastouranis will miss the Ukraine game through suspension

key loss but i expect his sub to play great

this is very vital here

we are behind Ukraine by 5 points

while Turkey is breathing down our throats behind 2 points from us

they will beat Kazhanstan so we must beat Ukraine

our home fans will need to give us the spirit and energy to win

Lets go and win

[panatha_boy]

NOOOO!!!! another draw, oh well. we had a great chance with stelios, but i guess s**t happens. now we need to concentrate on ukraine and win in athens.

[CH-Thrylos]

unfortunately i couldnt watch the match. but i think it is a good result. we are still 2 points ahead of turkey and with a win against ukraine we could nearly secure the second place. if then the ukrainian team makes a bad match against one of the smaller teams we could even get a chance for the first place.

just saw the replay of stelaras chance. :tup: :( :nw: :(

rehagel did a good job once again setting up the team the way it had to be. just because we are ahead of turkey doesnt make them a bad team. in the beginning i thought it would be turkey fighting for the first place. so the result is very good since we played away.

if we go on like this in the upcoming matches it should be possible for us to end at least on the second place, which isnt bad since we have a tough group.

[Panathinaikos_Trifilli]

Why does every1 say ukraine must fall against easy oposition, dnt they have to play the turks and danes still???

[Guest Protathlitis]

Greece will never beat Turkey ---Greece can only defend their own side against such a stong team like Turkey .

:LOL: :LOL:

I theres one thing I realised watching Greece play with soem of our best players out its that turkey is not a quality side. the national team is crap to be honest

we got what we wanted against an average side. turkey could not get a goal to keep their hopes alive

it looks like all the millions of little turks in germany will have to support Greece in 2006