Greece at the World Cup

Greece

Manager: Otto Rehhagel

Captain: Giorgos Karagounis

FIFA Ranking: 13

World Cup appearances: 1

Best World Cup: Round 1 – 1994

Profile:

Surprisingly, despite being the 2004 European Champions, Greece will be making just their second ever appearance in a World Cup and their first since 1994. They have a solid fan base and several thousand Greek supporters are expected to make the trip to South Africa in a bid to urge their team towards success, or at least to better their previous performance in a World Cup – That being their exit at the group stages back in 1994.

The Greeks will be an ‘Awkward’ opponent rather than dangerous, although they do have the potential to cause a shock as they proved eight years ago in the 2004 European Championship in which they won outright. However, they have struggled ever since and could only get as far as the group stages of the 2008 European Championships held in Austria/Switzerland. The fans back home weren’t happy with their display that year and the pressure on the players to at least bypass the groups this time around is enormous.

Key Player:

Theofanis Gekas -

The Hertha Berlin forward, whom did have a brief spell with Portsmouth in England, has been quite prolific in front of goal, both at club and international level. He is currently plying his trade with Herth Berlin after an unsuccessful spell at Portsmouth but he’s been an ever present figure for Greece up front, despite not being the tallest. Gekas has played 45 times for his country and has scored 20 goals for Greece. He averages nearly a goal every-other-game and will be a player opposing managers will need to keep one eye on. He has this predatory instinct which has gotten him plenty of goals during his career.

Strengths – Greece are a very stubborn side who don’t give anything away. When they get hold of the ball they generally retain it for long periods of the game, often passing it all the way back to the defence and keeper if needs be. This style of play, sluggish in some peoples eyes, doesn’t always go down too well with the fans but they are widely renowned for being a tough team to break down and they do work hard for each other.

Weakness – Very dull. Greece aren’t pleasing on the eye as they lack any sort of pace, especially in attack. They prefer to pass the ball around and patiently build up an attack instead of going out all guns blazing. The problem we can see arising is Greece will find some nations particularly hard to break down, just like themselves, because they are predictable and it’s easy to read their attacking plays. They also don’t have too many players with eccentricity or the ability to take on a man and supply a good ball.

Qualification:

Sector: European

Group: 2

Position: 2nd

Win-Draw-Lose: 6-3-1

Goals Scored: 20

Goals Conceded: 10

The Greeks booked their place in the finals via a two-legged play-off with Ukraine. The Greek’s could only manage a dull 0-0 encounter in Athens, Greece, but made amends in the away leg with a 1-0 victory in Donetsk. It wasn’t pretty but Greece prevailed.

World Cup Potential: 1/5

If we’re completely honest, we don’t think Greece will go far and, quite frankly, we don’t want them too either. They are one of the dullest footballing nations to watch and the sooner they leave the better. It’s very, very rare that you come across an entertaining affair when Greece are involved and in the greatest sporting spectacle on the planet, everyone wants to be treated to exciting games. The Greeks are too slo in their build up and often turn games in a snooze-fest, while world-class talent is at a premium to really make any serious in-roads anyway.

Current World Cup Odds (Outright): 150/1 Boylesports

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