World Cup Greek Football Thread

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Crows_United_FC

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Greece will make their 3rd World Cup appearance.
Greece qualified for WC 2014 through the playoffs after beating Romania 4-2 on aggregate (3-1, 1-1)
Current FIFA World Ranking: 12

Group C: Greece is in group C with Colombia, Ivory Coast and Japan. Whilst Colombia is expected to top the group, the other 3 are all in with a chance of taking 2nd spot. I reckon Greece are still the stronger out of the 3 and will get 2nd spot.

Greece at the 2014 WC: It is well know that Greece have a strong defense and rely heavily on a defensive gameplan whist looking to counter-attack our opponents. Our CB pair of Sokratis and K.Papadopoulos could potentially be the strongest in the whole competition. Sokratis currently at Dourtmund and Papadopoulos currently at Schalke. The midfield is currently our weakest field with the coach opting to pick experienced player rather than the talented ones. With our strong defense and now we have a World class player in Mitroglou, Who knows how Greece could go into the competition.
Players to watch:

Kostas Mitroglou -
Greeces-Mitroglou-goal-2797163.jpg


Nicknamed 'Mitrogoal' and 'Pistolero' due to his goalscoring abilities, Mitroglou is a striker that any team would love in their squad. He's both good with his feet and good in the air. He's a workhorse who will not give up even when it seems like he has lost the contest. He also has a very impressive Game-Goal ratio. In recent times Arsenal, Liverpool and Dourtmund have all shown interest in signing him. He started off his career in Germany with Borussia Muchengladbach, Scoring 14 goals in 33 games before Olympiakos stepped in a signed the promising Greek striker. The thing with mitroglou is that he's always had the game but never the right mentality until recently. In 2011 he had a fall out with then Olympiakos coach and was loaned to Panionios (Greek league) where he saved them from relegation scoring 8 goals in 11 games.

His loan spell at Panionios ended and was returned back to Olympiakos who loaned him again straight away to Atromitos. During his loan spell with Atromitos he scored 17 goals in 28 games. He returned back to Olympiakos in 2012 where he improved his attitude and mentality and started to get called up to the national team a lot more that usual. He is now a key member of the Greek NT. His time at Olympiakos ended with 41 goals in 86 matches when Fulham signed him for a Club record 15 million euros. That also made Mitroglou the highest ever payed Greek player. He is currently injured but before his injury is was in fantastic form. He scored 14 goals already this year at club level with a few hat-tricks including a hat-trick in the UCL! He was a key reason in Greece's qualification to the 2014 WC. He scored 3 of Greece's 4 goals in our playoff win against Romania. He's definitely a player to watch out for this WC.






Giorgos Karagounis -
Giorgos%20Karagounis%20celebrates%20after%20scoring-887647


Karagounis is Greece's greatest ever player. Currently 36 (at the WC he will be 37) he plays like his still in his 20s. IMO he's the most passionate footballer I have ever seen. He's a freekick specialist. He announced that he will retire from international football after the 2014 WC so expect him to push his body like he has never pushed it before.

 
Last edited:
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Not really. Greece used to be embarrassingly bad. For example they conceded 10 in USA 94 and scored zip. I think the socceroos that went down to Argentina 2-1 on aggregate would have done a better job then that greek team.

If anything CONCACAF really only has USA & Mexico who are deserving of an automatic spot. Asia has Japan, Sth Korea, Australia & Iran all of who deserve a world cup place. Then there's plenty of second tier nations like iraq, saudi arabia, qatar, bahrain & uae who are capable of causing an upset on their day and are generally competitive.
 

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jd2010

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Not really. Greece used to be embarrassingly bad. For example they conceded 10 in USA 94 and scored zip. I think the socceroos that went down to Argentina 2-1 on aggregate would have done a better job then that greek team.

If anything CONCACAF really only has USA & Mexico who are deserving of an automatic spot. Asia has Japan, Sth Korea, Australia & Iran all of who deserve a world cup place. Then there's plenty of second tier nations like iraq, saudi arabia, qatar, bahrain & uae who are capable of causing an upset on their day and are generally competitive.
Big stretch saying Iran and us deserve a world cup place. Maybe in the mid 90's to the early part of the 2000's. Not anymore. We are a long way behind the rest of the world at a national level
 

darth_timon

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It's a tough group for Greece. All the other teams in the group are capable of beating them. The game has come along in leaps and bounds in both Africa and Asia and I can honestly see Greece finishing bottom.
 

Northalives

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It's a tough group for Greece. All the other teams in the group are capable of beating them. The game has come along in leaps and bounds in both Africa and Asia and I can honestly see Greece finishing bottom.
Greece's only chance of progressing is to do what Greece has done in these major tournaments in the past and that is to play with ten men behind the ball and hope a spate of nil all draws get's them through.
 

Crows_United_FC

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Greece's only chance of progressing is to do what Greece has done in these major tournaments in the past and that is to play with ten men behind the ball and hope a spate of nil all draws get's them through.
We don't always play that defensively. Only against big nations like Germany, Argentina etc... Yes, I'm a bit against our defensive setup at times but it's something we have built for years. We definitely deserve more respect from the football world. After all, we have won a European championship within the last 10 years. During Euro 2004..We defeated the host Portugal (Twice), Drew with Spain, beat France and Czech Republic. We have been one of the most consistent international football teams in the world over the last few years. Even though our major tournament record over the years hasn't been great, Our Win-Loss record in one of the best in International football. We aren't a minnow in World Football and we certainly deserve more respect from the general football public than we currently receive. Mitroglou will carve through defenses at WC 2014.....I'm certain about that!!
 

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Crows_United_FC

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I repeat, in what way is Mitroglou world class??
Because he's everything a perfect striker is! He's good with his feet and he's good with his head. A work horse that never gives up! Just because he doesn't play for a big team (yet) doesn't consider him anything less than World Class.
 
Because he's everything a perfect striker is! He's good with his feet and he's good with his head. A work horse that never gives up! Just because he doesn't play for a big team (yet) doesn't consider him anything less than World Class.
World class puts you in the top 10ish strikers in the world, which he is not. Hence he is not world class
 

LFTWNG11

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I repeat, in what way is Mitroglou world class??

He's not.

Our CB pair of Sokratis and K.Papadopoulos could potentially be the strongest in the whole competition.

I mean they won't concede 10 like past Greek teams have, but they are barely top 10 for CB combination, let alone best in the world.

The Greeks should get out at the group stage but they are really hard to predict. Best defensive team within their group shoudl bode well. I would bet Gekkas scores more goals than "world class" Mitroglou.
 

Crows_United_FC

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He's not.


I mean they won't concede 10 like past Greek teams have, but they are barely top 10 for CB combination, let alone best in the world.

The Greeks should get out at the group stage but they are really hard to predict. Best defensive team within their group shoudl bode well. I would bet Gekkas scores more goals than "world class" Mitroglou.

We conceded 10 goals at WC 94. We are a much better team than then. Our WC 94 team were 'happy to be there'. These days we make major tournaments with the mentality that we could go 'all the way'. Also regarding Gekas, he wouldn't get a lot (if any) of minutes at WC 2014. He hasn't been good since Euro 2012. All I'm going to say is that I can't wait for Mitroglou to show what he can do in the EPL and WC! Lets face it, if he was Italian, German, Spanish, Brazilian etc.. everyone would be calling him 'world class' but since he is Greek, people look at that and it puts them off. Same goes with his price tag. If he was one of the above nationalities, his price tag would be double what is now.
 

LFTWNG11

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We conceded 10 goals at WC 94. We are a much better team than then. Our WC 94 team were 'happy to be there'.

According to the many Greeks I know, Greece threw those World Cup games for profit.

Also regarding Gekas, he wouldn't get a lot (if any) of minutes at WC 2014. He hasn't been good since Euro 2012. All I'm going to say is that I can't wait for Mitroglou to show what he can do in the EPL and WC! Lets face it, if he was Italian, German, Spanish, Brazilian etc.. everyone would be calling him 'world class' but since he is Greek, people look at that and it puts them off. Same goes with his price tag. If he was one of the above nationalities, his price tag would be double what is now.

He is not World Class, even if he somehow manages to score a few goals at the World Cup. He is a good solid striker, nothing more. Nationality has nothing to do with it. Most international teams don't have a world class striker, and Greece is one of them. I don't think you understand what world class means.
 

ioppolo

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Will probably finish in 4th/last spot. Japan and Ivory Coast are underrated outside their respective continents.
 

Crows_United_FC

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Greece's Home and Away shirts for the 2014 World Cup:

OMADIKI_600_444.jpg


ASPRI.jpg


BLE.jpg


I really like it. It's similar to Australia's shirt with the collar and all. I will be getting both the Australian Home and the Greek Home (White)
 

Barry Zuckercorn

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I don't share the same optimism as the OP for Greece but come on, people calling Japan class??? In my humble opinion, Colombia will top the group with the other 3 in a dog-fight for second spot. I don't reckon any combination from 2nd to 4th would surprise me.

PS: Mitroglou is definitely not world class. Being an Olympiacos fan I rate him as good-very good but he's a way off world class. I just hope his decision to go to Fulham isn't career suicide.
 

Grechy

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Worst thing about Greece/Italy doing well in these tournies is the bandwagoners that jump on board and riot as if the games mean more to them then their very own existence.
 

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