Greece has appeared at two European Championship finals in 1980 in Italy and in Portugal four years ago.
How they qualified An impressive record of ten wins, a draw and only one loss brought Greece thirty-one points, the best points haul by any country in the qualifying rounds. The single loss was a humiliating one – 4-1 to Turkey in Greece – and it might of led to a meltdown in years gone-by.
Instead Greece rebounded with eight wins and a draw (Norway) while Turkey set off in a different direction with only one win in their next six games. Greece cruised through finishing seven points ahead of Turkey in Group C and eight ahead of Norway. Theofanis Gekas was Greece’s leading scorer with five goals including a hat trick against Malta.
The Coach Otto Rehhagel is now the longest serving and with a shadow of a doubt the most successful international manager that Greece has ever had. Not bad for a man who lost 5-1 to Finland back in 2001 on his debut. A sign of how far Greece has come under his management is the resilience of the team. Even failing to make it to the World Cup finals in 2006 was met with renewed vigour to make sure that as reigning European champions they would be on hand to defend their title in Switzerland and Austria this summer.
Rehhagel has been coaching since the mid-seventies although all his previous appointments had been in Germany where he accumulated all sorts of coaching records.
Key Players Theofanis Gekas has scored a lot of goals in the Bundesliga over the last two seasons and Greece’s progress may be dependent on his goal scoring exploits. Sotirios Kyrgiakos moved to Eintracht Frankfurt in 2006 after a season with Rangers and is a man-mountain of a defender who offers a threat at set pieces. Benfica’s Giorgos Karagounis is the driving force in the Greek midfield and a free kick specialist.
Great Euro Memory Well this is not a difficult one to pick. Four years ago Greece got off to a flying start beating the host nation Portugal in the opening game. Twenty-two days later they repeated the feat in the final after beating France and the Czech Republic in the knock-out stage with a smothering style of defense not seen for a couple of decades. Greece lifting the European championship was the biggest ever shock in European football.
Synopsis The current European Champions will not be slipping under the radar this time. Last time Rehhagel had the team primed and they executed his plan to perfection. Four years on he will again place his faith in many of the same players although he has found places for some younger talent. It is difficult to see how Greece can repeat but four years ago it seemed impossible that they could be crowned the Kings of Europe. But if there is one team that will play to maximum of their collective capabilities it will be Greece under Rehhagel.
Coming Up in World Cup Qualifying Group 2 will also consist of Israel, Switzerland, Moldova, Latvia and Luxembourg.
Russia - Under the guises of the Soviet Union and then the Commonwealth of Independent States in 1992 it is difficult to assign any lineage to Russia’s long term participation. However, they did compete as Russia in the 1996 and 2004 finals and at the 1994 and 2002 World Cups. However, they failed to move on from the group stage in any of their appearances.
How they qualified The group table tells us that Russia finished five points behind Group E winners Croatia and a single point ahead of third place England and Israel. However, that does no justice to the last game dramatics that saw Croatia going to Wembley having already secured a place in the finals and Russia traveling up a mountain to face Andorra.
After going two goals down to Croatia England drew level and were in a position to qualify if they could only hold on the draw. But Croatia scored again to break a 2-2 tie; Russia secured an unimpressive 1-0 win over Andorra and England’s players made plans to take a longer summer break. Aleksandr Kerzahkov scored six times for Russia including a hat trick against Andorra and a double against Estonia.
The Coach Guus Hiddink’s record in international competition is impressive. At France ’98 the Netherlands were unlucky to lose on penalties to Brazil; four years later he masterminded South Korea’s path to the last four; in 2006 he led Australia to a place in the last sixteen. Unfortunately for Hiddink the extraordinary is now expected and that is true for Russia. However, Hiddink has been trying to talk down the expectations surrounding Russia’s performance this summer preferring to cast the 2010 World Cup as the primary target.
Key Players Andrei Arshavin plays his club football for Zenit Saint Petersburg but he could be a big money transfer target this summer. Outstanding individual skills with great anticipation and has the ability to fill a number of different roles in midfield and attack – a real craftsman. There is however, one rather large problem – Arshavin is suspended for Russia’s first two matches after striking an Andorran player late in the last qualifying game.
The heritage of fine Russian goalkeepers seems safe. CSKA Moscow’s Igor Akinfeev at only 22 is one of the best young keepers in the world and will probably fight in out with Zenit St. Petersburg’s Viacheslav Malafeev for the starting spot.
Although Aleksandr Kerzahkov was Russia’s top scorer in the qualifying group stage he has been omitted from the Russian squad. Hiddink has a couple of other options in his back pocket in Roman Pavlyuchenko and Pavel Pogrebnyak – although as players with similar styles it unlikely that they will teamed together.
Pavlyuchenko came against England and scored twice to give Russia and come from behind 2-1 win while Pogrebnyak has scored four times in nine appearances for the national team and scored ten times in Zenit St. Petersburg’s successful UEFA Cup run just past. Pogrebnyak missed the UEFA Cup and he is battling an injury that has him doubtful for the Euros.
Great Euro Memory If you consider the Soviet Union’s participation then the greatest achievement is winning the first competition in 1960. Metreveli equalized for the Soviet’s just after half time following a first half goal from Yugoslavia’s Galic. The final went to extra time before Ponedelnik scored the winning goal with seven minutes left.
Synopsis Any side coached by Dutchman Guus Hiddink cannot be discounted although Russia was the recipient of a couple of fortunate breaks during qualifying. Replacing Arshavin for the first two games may be impossible and the lack of pace in defence may haunt Russia.
Coming Up in World Cup Qualifying Liechtenstein, Azerbaijan, Wales, Finland and Germany will be the opposition in Group 4.
Paul Doyle lists six outstanding goalkeeping displays.
Carlos Bilardo is not impressed with the quality of the play or the tactics in the Premiership. There again England has never been in love with the doctor.
Last weekend while Arsenal were putting five goals past Derby County, Liverpool were forced to settle for a scoreless draw with their Premiership bogey team Birmingham. This weekend Arsenal faces what could be considered their bete noire – West Ham United. As well as beating Manchester United twice last season, the Hammers also did the double over Arsenal – and didn’t concede a goal in the four games. A fantastic accomplishment for a team that only avoided the drop on the last day of the season.
In fact West Ham are looking for a fourth straight Premiership win over the Gunners having won 3-2 on their final trip to Highbury in February 2006. The other game that season between these two London rivals was a scoreless draw so Arsenal fans’ memories need to stretch back to January 2003 for the last time their favourites took three points off of West Ham.
Back then Thierry Henry notched a hat trick. Last weekend a hat trick from Emmanuel Adebayor claimed the first hat trick to be scored at Emirates Stadium and took his season tally to six in the Premiership. Arsenal will be hoping that the Togo international can strike again given that the Gunners have never lost in the 18 games in which Adebayor has scored.
While West Ham’s summer signing of Craig Bellamy (the only British player to have been transferred for $10M or more on five occasions – good or bad, discuss) has been the usual centre of attention it could be argued that the return of a fit Dean Ashton will prove to be of greater value to the Hammers. The now bottle-blonde Ashton (trying to become the first footballer to improve his game after dyeing his hair!) has scored in the last two Premiership games as well as scoring a very late winner in the Carling Cup in midweek.
A continuation of the scoring streak and Steve McClaren will find it difficult not to pick the former Norwich and Crewe striker for vital European Championship qualifying games in October. Three former Arsenal players will be in the West Ham squad - goalkeeper Richard Wright, Matthew Upson and Freddie Ljungberg. Former Charlton, Chelsea and Newcastle midfielder Scott Parker may finally make his Premiership debut for the Hammers.
Liverpool’s improvement away from home can be gauged by comparing their record on the road this season with their visit to Wigan last December. Liverpool thumped Wigan 4-0 but that was their first away win of the season and it came at the eighth time of trying. It also took their goals scored away from Anfield to five after being shut-out for 6 straight away games.
This season Liverpool have already won two away games, drawn the other and they have still let in a goal from open play this season. Since Wigan arrived in the Premiership Liverpool hold a perfect Premier League record with four wins from four matches, 10 goals scored and none against.
After leaving Fernando Torres out of the starting line up for the last two games (don’t mention rotation to Liverpool fans, I did once but I think I got away with it!) and then being held scoreless it is hard to see how Rafa Benitez cannot start the Spaniard on Saturday.
As for Wigan there is a sense that after two wins in their first three games their record of two losses and two draws in the last four games is a fairer reflection of their overall quality. However, Wigan are a team that manages to get on the scoreboard – albeit in the second half. They have only been shut out once this season but seven of their eights goals have come after a cup of tea and a pep talk.
Chelsea might have cruised to an easy midweek win over Hull City in the Carling Cup but the first priority has to be to stop the Premiership bleeding that has seen the Blues drop to their lowest league position in five seasons. Chelsea have only three wins in last 12 Prem games stretching back to last season and are currently without a goal in 329 minutes – their longest streak in nearly a decade.
We are so used to hearing that the first goal is so important in a game – and it is – but it has been a curse in Fulham games this season. The side scoring first in a Fulham league game this season has yet to win and on five occasions it has been the Cottagers. Conversely Chelsea has gone behind five times but still recovered to pick up seven points.
The dilemma for Avram Grant is how to come good on his commitment of playing attractive football when the platform for success comes from a strong defense – something that Chelsea has failed to deliver on this season. In seven games this season Chelsea has conceded 8 goals. That’s not a lot for a normal team but in the first 7 games last season they recorded 4 goals against and 4 shut outs - the season before it was 1 goal and 6 shut outs.
This weekend in MLS we may have a preview of a first round play off game in store. If the Chicago Fire can maintain a hold on 5th in the east and stay ahead of the western conference Colorado Rapids then there is a very good chance that they will “cross-over” and run into Chivas come the play-offs.
Chivas are now guaranteed place in the final eight and are also unbeaten in their last eight games. Their next challenge is to catch DC United in the race for the Supporters’ Shield. They are three points behind but with a game still in hand.
Chivas’ home record has been outstanding so far with ten wins and no losses in 12 games and they have only trailed at home in one game this season – 2-0 to DC United but still rebounded to share the points. Ante Razov has been hot with 6 goals in the last 4 games but the Fire will be confident of dousing his streak.
Ten of Chicago’s 14 away points have come in the last 6 games; the other 7 away games only generated 4 points. What’s more Chicago are also unbeaten in their last four games although three have been drawn. All things considered an excellent game in prospect.
In the Bundesliga it is the team currently sitting second – Bayer Leverkusen – trying to ensure that the four point gap on league leaders Bayern Munich does not grow larger this weekend. It also brings together the Bundesliga’s leading scorers from the last two seasons.
Miroslav Klose notched 24 goals two seasons ago for Werder Bremen but signed for Bayern Munich this summer. Around the same time the 2007 top marksman Theofanis Gekas moved from Bochum to Bayer Leverkusen. While most of the soccer world knows of Klose, Gekas is also a man with a nose for goals. He was the top scorer in Greece in 2005 and the runner up the following year before moving on loan to Bochum. He almost single handedly kept Bochum in the top flight while finishing as the Bundesliga’s top marksman in the 2006/07 season. This past summer a complex three deal that also involved Panathinaikos saw him land at Bayer Leverkusen.
So far this season Klose has got the jump on his Greek rival outscoring him 8 goals to 3. However, if Klose is to add to his total then he will have to do something that has not been done so far this season – score against Bayer at home. There again Bayern has averaged three goals a game away from home this season and this fixture has delivered 17 goals the last three times these sides have clashed in Leverkusen. I’m willing to bet that Bayer’s shut out streak is about to end.
Roma started a tough run of games last weekend with a draw against Juventus after leading 2-1 at half time. In midweek there was a reprise against Fiorentina. These two results combined with an Inter draw at Livorno and a win against Sampdoria means that Roma and Inter are now tied at the top of Serie A with 11 points from five games. Inter have not lost in their last five Serie A matches away to Roma although Roma can look back to a comprehensive Coppa Italia win last spring and a 1-0 Italian Super Cup win last month.
Totti was rested for Wednesday’s game but is almost certain to return for this table top clash. Totti was Europe’s leading marksman last season and has already scored 5 goals in his four games although he trails Zlatan Ibrahimovic of Inter who has two more – he’s tied at the top with David Trezeguet of Juventus.
After relinquishing their position at the top of the table for 24-hours to Villarreal (apparently their first time atop La Liga) Real Madrid leapfrogged three teams after beating Real Betis 2-0 on Thursday evening. Now manager Bernd Schuster returns to his old stomping ground where he will find his old charges in anything but fine fettle.
During his two years with Getafe, Schuster led them to consecutive ninth place league finishes and a Copa del Rey Final appearance last season.
His replacement Michael Ladrup – also a former Real Madrid and Barcelona player – has not got off to an au####ious start. Getafe is still winless after 5 games although they are undefeated at home with two draws. Getafe’s “success” during Schuster’s tenure – and his predecessor Quique Sánchez Flores - was very much built on performances at home. An illustration of that is the fact that Real Madrid has lost twice and drawn once at the Coliseum Alfonso Perez since Getafe were promoted for the 2004/05 season.
I am the soccer analyst for the Fox Soccer Report and appear twice a week - every Monday and Friday at 10:00 EST. I have also been a regular contributor to the Fox Soccer Channel website since the summer of 2004. Over the last twenty years I have contributed to various radio and television programs throughout North America as well writing about the game for newspapers, magazines and websites.
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