Greece

www.greece.com

World Ranking 8

Squad

Team Review

Greece were the eventual winners last time the European cup took place but I doubt they will have the same impact as they did last time around as their squad is ageing and the group they were placed into is strong with the likes of Spain, Russia and Sweden. Another thing I think Greece lack is a true goal scorer, they might have a capable defence but if you’re not scoring goals they will find it difficult reaching the heights of 4 years ago.

Star Man

Georgios Karagounis, has been a rock in midfield for Greece during their qualifying campaign and has done a similar job for his club side Panathinaikos.

His experience will be vital if they are to progress to the knockout stages as he has the ability to run a game from the middle of the park.

Also check out who we think will be the 'players to watch' in the tournament

Tournament History

Match Reports

Greece 0 - 2 Sweden

(Ibrahimovic 67, Hansson 73)

The game started well enough with Sweden having the greater possession, but as the game progressed Greece’s tactics allowed the game to slow down and become dare I say it, boring. But then in the 67th minute a piece of individual brilliance lit up the whole stadium as Zlatan Ibrahimovic let rip from outside the area with the ball nearly bursting the net, leaving Greece’s highly experienced goal keeper Nikopolidis with no chance.

The game carried on in as it had began, a sorry spectacle for the football purist but to add a bit of humour to the game the Greeks hap hazard defending landed them in hot water when Sweden’s Hansson bundled the ball between Nikopolidis’s legs after the Greek defence were in all kinds of trouble trying to clear the ball from inside their own penalty area.

All in all this was certainly not a game for the neutral with the only highlight being Ibrahimovic’s wonder strike. Sweden will be very happy with the result, on the other hand I think the reigning champions should be omitted from the tournament for such boring, negative and uninspiring football that was so bad I could barely watch.

Greece 0 - 1 Russia

(Zyryanov 34)

The game was never going to one to remember with neither side having any flair players included within their line ups although the Russians would have if Arshavin wasn’t suspended for the game. The game started off well enough even though Otto Rehaggel again went with his favoured yet ultra defensive 4-5-1 formation but neither team looked like scoring until the 34th minute when a mistake from the experienced Nikopolidis gave Sergei Semak a chance after he has inexplicably charged off his line to pass it to Zyryanov who calmly placed the ball into the open net. The Greeks did try and pull one back but their lack of fire power up front was clear for all to see as they couldn’t even muster a chance in the last hour giving Russian the win even though neither team in my eye had done enough to deserve the win.

Greece 1 - 2 Spain

(Charisteas 42) (De la Red 61, Guiza 88)

Spain were already through and Greece already out so this game was just a formality for either side but gave Aragones the chance to shuffle his team round and see what his second string team could do, which he duly did leaving out 9 of his starting 11 that played against Sweden in the previous game. Greece on the other hand were playing for pride after losing both their first games and in doing so not retaining the European cup that they won 4 years ago in a miraculous fashion.

Spain started like they did against Russia and were threatening the Greek back line within minutes. Alonso let rip with an audacious 50 yard effort which just went over but had Nikopolidis beaten. A surprise came in the 42nd minute when Greece took the lead with a header from a Charisteas who capitalised on some lapse defending by Spain from a set piece to take the current European champions into a one nil lead at half time.

The Spaniards came out all guns blazing and it took them under 15 minutes to level with great header form De la Red. Spain carried on battering the Greeks and eventually found their winner with Guiza firing in a thunderous shot from just inside the area easily beating Nikopolidis who was to retire on the back of this game. After that the game was only going to finish one way and that was with a Spanish victory which is exactly what happened.