posted Jun 5, 2008

Andrew and all,

Talking of Greeks, miracles and Puskas, Panathinaikos reaching the European Champions' Cup final at Wembley back in 1971 under Puskas's management, with amateur players and no foreign players at all (when all major clubs, including Ajax had some) must be a strong contender for football's greatest upset (or, at least, club football's). Also mentioned in my 2004 radio report [here: http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/euro_2008/greece/7413507.stm], but I think it's very relevant here...

Sadly, for the Greens, they lost 2-0 to mighty Ajax on the night. Since then, they never managed to repeat the feat - only reached the semis twice, in 1985 (if they had beaten Liverpool, no Heysel would have ever happened) and 1996 (lost to Ajax again...).

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posted Jun 5, 2008

Hi fellow footie fans.

Don't get me wrong, but I reckon that Denmark's Euro92 win was a surprise, mainly because they were called in from their holidays to replace Yugoslavia only a few days before the kick-off, which means they were not expected to be physically and mentally fit for a major tournament.

Greece although, were what I'd call (despite being Greek) one of the three weekest teams before the first game.Still, they went from strength to strength to beat the hosts(Portugal) twice, France and dissappoint Spain in the group stage. Above all, I believe, was the win against - probably - the best national team in the history of Czech Rep.A team as motivated as Greece, a lot more technical and quick, but as proven eventually, a bit arrogant.

Being Greek and living in Scotland, I had the chance to celebrate both Greece's wins and Scotland's double triumph against France.Their is no better feeling than being the underdog but the winner.

Greece, good luck.Enjoy!

MaCGoT

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posted Jun 6, 2008

"The Danes made the semi-finals of the Euros in 1984 and also did pretty well in the 1986 World Cup.

That's not to take away what a fantasic achievement their win in 1992 was. Not by a long stretch, it was still a huge upset and a great achievement.

I just think that they were not as much an outsider as Greece was in 2004."
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Gotta disagree, Andrew. The Danes may have made the semi finals in 1984, but that tournament was ridiculously weak. In '86, they were reasonable but were beaten by the Spanish 5-1 in the 2nd round. Following that they didn't actually qualify for a tournament until 10 years later such was the sub standard of their team at that time (Michael Laudrup, their best player, didn't play and didn't return until the 1996 qualification campaign).

Their win was so random, and so impressive (beating the world champions and European champions in consecutive games - teams that unlike Spain and Portugal (perennial underachievers) had actually achieved on the world stage, and very recently too.

Denmark's trumps Greece's victory in every aspect.

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posted Jun 6, 2008

"Gotta disagree, Andrew. The Danes may have made the semi finals in 1984, but that tournament was ridiculously weak. In '86, they were reasonable but were beaten by the Spanish 5-1 in the 2nd round. Following that they didn't actually qualify for a tournament until 10 years later such was the sub standard of their team at that time (Michael Laudrup, their best player, didn't play and didn't return until the 1996 qualification campaign).

Their win was so random, and so impressive (beating the world champions and European champions in consecutive games - teams that unlike Spain and Portugal (perennial underachievers) had actually achieved on the world stage, and very recently too.

Denmark's trumps Greece's victory in every aspect."

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I agree that Greece's triumph is among the ultimate Cinderella stories in football and is in fact, tops.

They have had real whipping boy status.

1994, they go to the World Cup for the first time, 10 goals against, 0 for!

Sweden is always in these tournaments more or less and Norway and Denmark go ever so often among the Scandinavians. These teams are probably rather competitive with second tier power Sweden and with each other as well.

Peter Schmeichel, Henrik Larson, famous players from Denmark, I'm sure there are more.


Denmark, for the 1982 World Cup, defeated Italy in qualifications, 1986 World Cup, "Danish Dynamite" and 1984 to the Quarterfinals of the Euro. A nice run.

Articles:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denmark_national_football_team

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greece_national_football_team

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posted Jun 6, 2008

Just in my humble opinion all!

I'd also add, Qualifications are not the endof of who's the best even taking away the case of England (who is what? FIFA 10th?) and Scotland in this case.

Would any team in the world dismiss playing Colombia in competition? Probably not and they play games and hold their own against tough neighbors, but they've certainly had problems qualifying for World Cups even taking away from their tragic and turbulent past. The same thing, with African giants Nigeria.

10 appearances in the Euro and World Cup for Denmark I think going back to '64, 4 for Greece going back to I think '80.

I know one would have to go back in time to measure it more closely to cerca 1992, '94 but the '92 win isn't that far off from the prosperous eighties.

It's like if Belgium could put together a great team reminiscent of their glory years with Pfaff, Cuelemanns, etc. it would be where we would see a once great team return to the heights many know they have reached in the past.

Apparently, Denmark have had some history as opposed to Greece and even Turkey in fact, in the far reaches of Europe.

That's why, in this tournament, I think it is possible for someone like Romania to come out and turn a few heads.

This tournament too, there are obvious teams missing from this who played well in the qualifiers like Scotland certinaly, Norway and to a lesser extent Finland just missing for qualifying a first time again, I think.

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posted Jun 9, 2008

comment by Mr Moon (The Ray Stanz of WUM-Busting) (U9541106)
posted 4 Days Ago

What about Costa Rica beating Scotland in Italia 90?

Barthez was never best keeper in the Prem btw

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Yes he was

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/1304001.stm

Like I said, his first season he was outstanding. Then in his 2nd season he had a nightmare against Deportivo and Arsenal and never recovered.

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posted Jun 10, 2008

>What about Costa Rica beating Scotland in
>Italia 90?

No shock there. We are the anti-surprise. Just in the same way i was NOT surprised that we beat France twice last year and the Ukraine. Just the way we are.

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posted Jun 10, 2008

Can't think of any event in football that comes close to this upset.

Luck, team spirit, good coach as well as talent all played a role. The individual players were far better than the international media thought they were and that added to the surprise felt by many. Seitaridis and Katsouranis would have easily fitted in an England side, Karagounis would have been useful and little used Tsiartas had as much raw talent (but not much else) as any other player on the tournament, his passing skills easily comparable to Beckham's. Watch out for his pass that led to Greece's equalizer against Spain or the corner kick that beat the Czech republic. In Seville, they still recall his increadible influence in the team's comeback from obscurity.

What may be more surprising for non-Greeks is that for us Greeks this feat is NOT as highly regarded in Greece as one would have expected. Yes, we won it, but in 1987 Greece performed the greatest sporting achievement of all time in a different sport. Most Greeks identify with 1987 with an emotion that 2004 will never command.

1987 turned every Greek playground and school into a team sports incubator and transformed Greece into the current status of fielding in every major international team sport a national team ranked in the top ten. Thats globally unique and I bet very few people would rank greece as the no1 global team sporting nation. 2004 and Charisteas had little to do with that achievement - 1987 and Gallis is the ultimate achievement and sporting role model.

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posted Jun 10, 2008

Peter Schmeichel, Henrik Larson, famous players from Denmark, I'm sure there are more.

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Errr Larson is Swedish

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posted Jun 10, 2008

Peter Schmeichel, Henrik Larson, famous players from Denmark, I'm sure there are more.

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Errr Larson is Swedish

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Just What i was thinking. :\

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