Greece Earns Respect but Few Friends
Congratulations to the Greeks for making it to the Euro 2004 final.
The way they did it, however, may not be good for the game.
No one can deny that Greece surprised everyone by beating host Portugal, defending champion France and big-favorite Czech Republic. That the Greeks had never before won a game at a major championship makes it all the more remarkable.
But their tactics didn’t win many friends.
German coach Otto Rehhagel, whose team plays Portugal again in today’s final, didn’t have a lot of talent. So he employed a system in which his players sit back on defense, stifle the creative play of opponents and try to catch a lucky break.
Look at Thursday’s 1-0 semifinal victory over the free-scoring Czechs:
After the Greeks had restricted them to a handful of chances, defender Traianos Dellas scored with seconds to go in the first period of overtime. It was the first “silver goal” of the championship, meaning the Czechs had to tie the score immediately or the game was over.
They didn’t even have time to restart.
The result of Thursday’s semifinal is that Greece now has a rematch with the Portuguese in Lisbon. And the Greeks beat the host 2-1 on opening day.
Like the Greeks’ other Euro 2004 victims, however, the Portuguese didn’t know what to expect. Spain also was held to a 1-1 tie by Rehhagel’s team, and the French were unable to impose their classy style in their quarterfinal and lost 1-0.
Oddly, the only team to beat the Greeks at Euro 2004 was Russia, which already had been eliminated from reaching the next round.
If the Greek journey to the final had been filled with top quality passing, shooting, dribbling and goals, no one would have doubted their performance. But they admit their game is nothing like that.
“It’s work, work, work,” defender Mihalis Kapsis said. “We have 11 players with one only target: to help each other on the field.
“We are used to each other. A lot of the players played on the same Greek teams together. We are always talking and know exactly what the other is going to do.”
The fact that Greece made it to the final while powerhouse teams like France, three-time winner Germany, Italy, Spain and England didn’t even get past the quarters suggests that there is a changing of the guard in European soccer.
Big stars like France’s Zinedine Zidane and Thierry Henry, England’s David Beckham, Spain’s Raul Gonzalez and Italy’s Alessandro Del Piero performed poorly and even five-goal scorer Milan Baros of the Czech Republic couldn’t find a way past the Greek defense.
Italian paper La Gazzetta dello Sport offered some respect.
“Greece doesn’t play a spectacular kind of soccer, but it has proven itself balanced and resistant like its German coach.”
