Greece and Italia

2010 World Cup South Africa

GROUP B	GROUP F
Argentina Nigeria Korea Republic GREECE	ITALIA Paraguay New Zealand Slovakia

Greece squad

Michalis Sifakis (Aris Salonika)
Alexandros Tzorvas (Panathinaikos)
Kostas Chalkias (PAOK Salonika)

Giourkas Seitaridis (Panathinaikos)
Loukas Vyntra (Panathinaikos)
Vangelis Moras (Bologna)
Sokratis Papastathopoulos (Genoa)
Sotirios Kyrgiakos (Liverpool)
Avraam Papadopoulos (Olympiacos)
Vassilis Torosidis (Olympiacos)
Nikos Spiropoulos (Panathinaikos)
Stelios Malezas (PAOK Salonika)

Kostas Katsouranis (Panathinaikos)
Alexandros Tziolis (Siena)
Giorgos Karagounis (Panathinaikos)
Sotiris Ninis (Panathinaikos)
Christos Patsatzoglou (Omonia Nicosia)
Sakis Prittas (Aris Salonika)

Angelos Charisteas (Nurnberg)
Dimitris Salpingidis (Panathinaikos)
Pantelis Kapetanos (Steaua Bucharest)
Fanis Gekas (Eintracht Frankfurt)
Georgios Samaras (Celtic)

Italy squad

Gianluigi Buffon (Juventus)
Morgan De Sanctis (Napoli)
Federico Marchetti (Cagliari)

Salvatore Bocchetti (Genoa)
Leonardo Bonucci (Bari)
Fabio Cannavaro (Juventus)
Giorgio Chiellini (Juventus)
Domenico Criscito (Genoa)
Christian Maggio (Napoli)
Gianluca Zambrotta (AC Milan)

Mauro Camoranesi (Juventus)
Daniele De Rossi (AS Roma)
Gennaro Gattuso (AC Milan)
Claudio Marchisio (Juventus)
Riccardo Montolivo (Fiorentina)
Angelo Palombo (Sampdoria)
Simone Pepe (Udinese)
Andrea Pirlo (AC Milan)

Antonio Di Natale (Udinese)
Alberto Gilardino (Fiorentina)
Vincenzo Iaquinta (Juventus)
Giampaolo Pazzini (Sampdoria)
Fabio Quagliarella (Napoli)

Rehhagel and the national side arrived in Durban, South Africa.

In an awsome opener hosts South Africa took the lead with a wonderful goal by Siphiwe Tshabalala, but Mexico's
Rafa Marquez put the game on par.

June 12, Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium, Port Elizabeth
SOUTH KOREA - GREECE 2-0

From Greece the expectations are never very high. But one wonders why the team has not been working
to maintain the high level of defensive ability and cohesion that gave it its distinctive character and enabled
it to face difficult opponents in the past. Given its mediocre talent in the mid-field, that necessary hinders
its attacking ambitions, a water-tight defensive performance is a sine qua non for the Greek team.
STEP IT UP GUYS!

June 14, Green Point Stadium, Cape Town
ITALIA - PARAGUAY 1-1

All the way, All the way, All the way...

June 17, Free State Stadium, Bloemfontein
GREECE - NIGERIA 2-1

STEP IT UP MORE, GUYS! A POINT AGAINST ARGENTINA AT PETER MOKABA AND ON TO 16!!

AN ASIDE
One of the predominant features of South Africa 2010 is the sloppy defending by many of the teams,
not least by the respective goalies. This is unfortunate because it reveals, perhaps, a trend in recent
coaching priorities shifting away from establishing solid defences before embarking into more
ambitious adventures, but, more importantly, because it allows unskilled teams, of questionable
overall level and quality, to score so much more easily than if they had to make an honest effort
against defences of higher caliber. Here are a few examples that come to mind right away:

Korea Republic - Greece 1-0: After a well executed South Korean foul kick the Greek defence freezes;
England - USA 1-1: Receiving a weak shot from outside the box, the English goalie Robert Green helps it inside the net;
Netherlands - Denmark 1-0: Simon Poulsen heads up the ball in such a way that it ends up in Denmark's own net;
Italy - Paraguay 1-1: Paraguay's goalie Justo Villar allows the ball inside the area where the clumsily guarded De Rossi equalizes;
Brasil - Korea DPR 1-0: Maicon sends the ball into the North Korean net almost from the goal line while the North Korean goalie dances the samba;
Greece - Nigeria 0-1: No defender, goalie included, moves towards the ball as a Nigerian foul kick ends up at the back of the net;
Greece - Nigeria 2-1: Uncontrolled save by - an otherwise excellent Nigerian goalie - Vincent Enyeama gives Torosidis the opportunity to put Greece ahead;
Slovenia - USA 2-1: Donovan kicks in almost from the goal line and the Slovenian goalie, who guards the correct corner of his net, instead of jumping up to deflect the shot, cowards down to avoid the ball, as if he is afraid of it (or, maybe, as a show of respect for the highest overall scoring player of the only remaining superpower);
Netherlands - Japan 1-0: The Japanese goalie redirects Sneijder's shot at the back of his own net;
Cameroon -Denmark 1-0: The Danish defence just serves mindlessly to Cameroon close to the area. This was repeated more than once, but the Danes had Saint Canute on their side, generously abetted by Cameroon's incompetence, which ended up helping them out of the competition.

Another unfortunate feature is that many teams have been forced to play for long intervals with
10 players due to red cards. And when the cards are deserved, that's (football) life and you have
to live with it. But what about the way the Spanish referee Alberto Undiano directed the game
Germany - Serbia? Every second foul in the first half, regardless of its severity, was a card!!!
(End of aside)

June 20, Mbombela Stadium, Nelspruit
ITALIA - NEW ZEALAND 1-1

ANOTHER ASIDE
One does not know whether to laugh or to cry. Obviously, judging from both Henry's goal, that left
the Irish out of South Africa 2010, and by his compatriot referee Stephane Lannoy's decision, which
allowed one of the dirtiest goals in football history (up there with that of Maradona) "scored" by Luis
Fabiano against the Ivory Coast, the French do not have a good grasp of what exactly are the rules
of the game. Maybe there is some kind of language problem that makes them misinterpret football as
handball and misunderstand how this game is supposed to be played... And of course the Brasilians
will, once more, be exhilarated by an unfair and dirty win from a player that should be inducted in the
Football Hall of Shame...

(End of aside)

June 22, Peter Mokaba Stadium, Polokwane
GREECE - ARGENTINA 0-2

Argentina and South Korea advanced as first and second, respectively, from Group B. Despite
the disappointing performance against South Korea in the opening day, Greece's appearance in
the South Africa 2010 World Cup was the first decent one, relative, of course, to the available
talent and material in the team as compared to that of her opponents. It is very clear in my mind
that the overall performance calls very strongly for Otto Rehhagel to stay with the national side
and continue building it up to the 2012 Euro and beyond. But, it is also clear, in my opinion, and
despite the tremendous respect that is due to these players because of their career-long
contribution to the side, that it is time for Karagounis, Katsouranis and Charisteas to withdraw
voluntarily (exactly as Nikopolidis did in the past) and allow the coaching staff to rebuild the
team around younger talent that would be more energetic and durable and less likely to argue
more and play less...

I just read also that Yannis Topalidis, Rehhagel's right-hand man, has decided to leave the
national side regardless of the Coach's decision. It is a sad moment losing a Greek that
has helped so much this side with his level-headed approach and his skills and professionalism,
an exemplary figure throughout the team's successes. Thank you, Coach, and good luck!
Σ' ευχαριστούμε, Γιάννη, για όλες τις χαρές που μας έδωσες και για ό,τι έχτισες.

June 24, Ellis Park Stadium, Johannesburg
SLOVAKIA - ITALIA 3-2

No nerve, no passion; and when the lion roared it was indeed too little too late...

At least, the female fans from the world over are adding some beauty to the tournament
that has to go on without the world champions.

The Panzers win again... What an annihilation from the team of Joachim Löw.

It was very fortunate that a team consisting of players that are such a disgrace for the game, such as
Felipe Melo, who stomped on the leg of his opponent, Luis "the hand" Fabiano, who cannot do much
with his feet but can use his hands very skillfully, and Robinho, who argues and misbehaves more than
he actually plays, is out of the tournament. They paid for their own demeanor and behavior as a team,
that showed from the first to the last minute of their game against the Dutch... Dunga teaches soccer
and tactics but forgets to teach character and ethos. Poor coaching indeed...

The Panzers win again... What another annihilation from the team of Joachim Löw.

So much blah blah for an Argentina, that joined the South American "powers" humiliated
by the central European powerhouses. A team that has the answers against Greece and
South Korea may be an OK team. But a superb team must have the answers against the
equals of Germany and its peers and Argentina and its coach were too little for the Panzers.
Bye Dieguito, hasta la vista...

The Panzers finished their engagements in South Africa in style. They beat Uruguay 3-2
to clinch 3rd spot in a fascinating game at Nelson Mandela Bay in Port Elizabeth.