Confed Cup: GREECE - Brazil

[almamatter]

What are you taliking about buddy. If you wach closely the games one of the most repeated plays is Basinas long ball to Gianakopoulos and most of the times it works. Then Gianakopoulos can feed Haristeas or anybody near in the offence. And I am quite certain you are not aware that the whole talk is not only about Gianakopoulos but the way Greece played before or during the Eurocup.

The bottom line is thatif anyone can score, that is Gianakopoulos who has a killer touch.

[Korisos]

Hi everyone,

I read some of the many posts about this game.

Here are my observations:

1) The passing was absolutely terrible. The 2nd goal was a direct result of a terrible pass near the center line which was intercepted by a Brazilian player.

There were countless instances in this game of weak passing. These men are professionals and they can't make a simple square pass. In Portugal the passing was exceptional.

2) Brazil pressured relentlessly in the midfield. Greece did not do it like they did in Portugal or the result would have been better. If you allow the Brazilians to control the midfield you're dead. You must press them for 90 minutes to nullify their superior ball handling skills.

3) Nikopolidis was at fault on the first goal. Watch the replay. He was cheating to his right in anticipation of a cross and was not in the center of the goal where he should have been. Adriano obviously saw this and it's 1-0.

4) This isn't the team that won Euro 2004 so it's like comparing apples and oranges.

5) I realize we are a small country but you would think that we could produce one attacking player of world class quality. Vryzas is terrible and Haristeas is marginally better but still not that good.

6) Does anybody slide tackle anymore besides Greek players? Watch any game in this tournament and you will see that only Greeks slide tackle on a consistent basis. If you have to slide tackle it means you are out of position defensively. Slide tackling is a sophomoric tactic. I don't remember a Brazilian slide tackling even once in this game. They don't need to because they are disciplined and in position all the time.

And the worst thing about all the slide tackling we were doing is that it never worked. The Brazilians either side-stepped or hopped right over the sprawling defender. It was embarrassing to watch. Truly.

you make all good points, I think Nikopolidis was also cheating a bit on juninho's goal. he seemed slow to react, anyone remember the goal he allowed vs. Albania? he could have saved that. I think he lacked awareness like Goumas on the 2nd goal, he just stopped playing and went to sleep. can't really fault Vyntra there, if he had over comitted himself to Gilberto then Gilberto could have passed it off on the wing and the result could have been just as disastrous.

you make a good point about slide tackling. we obviously are no match for their technical abilities so we have to resort to these kind of tactics. Brazil didn't need to slide tackle you say, they didn't need to because our passing was so terrible that posession would be given back to them anyway.

[loup]

I too am wondering why stelio is taking all the set pieces - not his strength

His kicks were all slightly too high - if Basinas is on the field why is he not taking the kick are they scared he will be out of position if he moves too far up?

Also Stelios is excellent at getting on the other end of set pieces

Anyway lets beat up on the Yaponesi - prediction 2-0 yia ti patritha Amanitidis with a double :gr: :gr: :gr: :gr: :gr: :gr:

[au-thrylos]

PEOPLE ALL I HAVE TO SAY IS BE PROUD OF GREECE WERE THERE PLAYING THE BEST TURKEY AND OTHER EURO TEAMS ARE NOT EVEN THERE , SO TAKE EVERY STEP AS IT COMES AND BE PROUD , NO BODY HAS THE RIGHT TO JUDGE A TEAM WHEN THEY ARE PLAYING THE WORLD NO 1 TEAM THANK YOU.

:box: :box: :box: :box: :box:

[Panathinaikos_Trifilli]

When Greece play at 100%, there almost super-heroes, just like in 2004, there unstoppable.

Lately, Greece have been at 80% (loss in Dellas, Fyssas, Kapsis) and have transformed into an average team. We need these players back, these three great defenders, to make the ultimate defence we saw a year ago. The team and formation is slowly falling apart without them.