Greece
Wednesday, 04 Jun 2008 00:00
The Greeks are hoping to become the first country to retain the trophy
Greece are one of the hardest teams to place in the tournament as their hopes rest on which team decides to show up.
They showed their capabilities when surprising almost the entire football world when winning the last European Championships in 2004 at odds of 150-1 in some places. Greece also looked strong in qualifying, winning ten of their 12 games, but they were in a fairly simple group and have since made a mess of two tournament preparation matches against Hungary and Armenia.
Group B fixtures
Greece v Sweden
Salzburg, June 10th, 19:45 BST
Live on ITV1
Greece v Russia
Salzburg, June 14th 19:45 BST
Live on ITV1
Greece v Spain
Salzburg, June 18th 19:45 BST
Live on ITV1
European Championship history
This is only the third time that Greece have qualified for the European Championship finals. They lifted the trophy at the second attempt four years ago in Portugal but prior to that the only time they reached the finals was in 1980, where they failed to win a game.
The man in charge
Many would argue that coach Otto Rehhagel remains Greece's biggest asset. He has created a team of players that, in the main, ply their trade in the Greek league or at mid-table teams in other European leagues like Germany and Spain and moulded them into a very competitive outfit.
He is loved by all in the squad and, despite being a little cranky, gives off the aura of a Jose Mourinho type in that he is hard to dislike.
Team forte
There is no doubt that the team is based around a set of big defenders that are strong in the air and don't mess about. Traianos Dellas is six-foot five inches and defensive colleague Sotirios Kyrgiakos, who scored three goals in qualifying, is six-foot four.
Rehhagel has managed to keep together nine of the team that started the 2004 final against Portugal and he will be hoping that the ageing midfield of Kostas Katsouranis, Angelos Basinas and Giorgos Karagounis will be willing to run for as long as ever to thwart the opposition - a ploy that worked so successfully four years ago.
Achilles heel
Their inconsistency. Following their success at Euro 2004, Greece finished last in their group at the 2005 Confederations Cup and then failed to qualify for the 2006 World Cup. They did win ten of their 12 games to qualify for Austria and Switzerland, although this was from a group which boasted not a single World Cup qualifier and included the likes of Malta and Moldova.
But just when it seemed they were returning to form bang on time, their two friendlies ahead of this tournament saw the team return to their underachieving ways - losing to Hungary and drawing with Armenia.
Player to watch
Greece are much more of a team outfit rather than one of superstars. Rehhagel will probably stick with the 4-5-1 formation that has worked so fruitfully for him in the past, which may mean a lack of opportunities for promising striker Theofanis Gekas.
Euro 2004 match winner Angelos Charisteas is likely to lead the line again but Gekas, who scored five times in qualifying and won the German Golden Boot when playing for Bocham two years ago, could prove to be a livewire substitute capable of swaying a game.
Chances of victory
Looking from a judgmental perspective, reaching the quarter-finals would be a decent starting point for the Greeks, with a semi-final appearance showing a solid performance.
They are in a competitive group, which many would argue Spain should top, and it would then be between Greece and Russia for the other spot in the quarter-finals. If they get though this then it wouldn't be wise not to suggest another Greek upset.
The bookies have definitely learned their lesson from last time, though, offering odds of only 33-1 this time around.
Squad
Goalkeepers
1 Antonis Nikopolidis
12 Costas Chalkias
13 Alexandros Tzorvas
Defenders
2 Giourkas Seitaridis
3 Christos Patsatzoglou
4 Nikos Spyropoulos
5 Traianos Dellas
11 Loukas Vintra
15 Vassilis Torosidis
16 Sotiris Kyrgiakos
18 Ioannis Goumas
19 Paraskevas Antzas
Midfielders
6 Angelos Basinas
8 Stelios Giannakopoulos
10 Georgios Karagounis
21 Costas Katsouranis
22 Alexandros Tziolis
Forwards
7 Giorgios Samaras
9 Angelos Charisteas
14 Dimitris Salpigidis
17 Fanis Gekas
20 Yiannis Amanatidis
23 Nikos Liberopoulos