Do or Die for Ellas

Tomorrow's game versus Nigeria - Thursday at 10 am eastern time - is a do or die game for Ellas.  It will be interesting to see how Greece responds after a lackluster performance versus Korea.  Hopefully Rehagel will make some long overdue changes to our line up, and Greece shows some thrasos versus Nigeria.


Specifically, I hope King Otto inserts Sotiris Ninis, the young and speedy Panathinaikos player and Liverpool's Sotiris Kyrgiakos, neither of whom got off the bench versus South Korea, into the starting lineup.  Greece could really use Ninis' energy and creativity and Kyrgiakos' presence (anyone is better than Louis Vyntra who really stunk versus Korea).  Finally, Rangers's Antonis Samaras needs to play as energetically as Fanis Gekas did.  Those two, along with Ninis, need to pace the Hellenic offense against Nigeria.


And we desperately need offense.  In four World Cup games Greece has yet to score, let alone lead or sniff a win.  But it's still doable.  Nigeria is no big deal, played a lackluster game versus Argentina, and are without their leading scorer.


But the real Greek key is if Ellas fights rather than display the annoying fatalism that has held us back, at least in Europe but not in the United States, since the fourth Crusade of 1204. Seven minutes into the game versus South Korea the fatalism took hold, and the game was over despite 83 minutes being left on the clock.  I think Ninis and Kyrgiakos can help hold the fatalism at bay, at least long enough to pick up 3 points.


Greece has to win versus Africa's largest country if they hope to even think about advancing out of their group.  Best case for Ellas is to defeat Nigeria and somehow tie Argentina next week, and finish with four points.  Even then, Greece needs lots of help to advance.  Korea has to lose to both Nigeria and Argentina.  If that happens Argentina will finish with 7 points (2 wins and a tie versus Greece), Greece with 4, Korea with 3, and Nigeria with 3 (their win over Korea).  


Of course, if Greece manages to defeat Nigeria AND upsets Argentina they should be home free with six points.  Looking at that scenario leads me to one logical conclusion: GO USA!

• If our goalkeeper, Tim Howard, is healthy I like the US's chances to make a deep run in the World Cup. A hot goalie can take a team a long way.
• A couple of Slovenian players have been talking a little smack prior to the game versus the U.S.  Note to Slovenians: I know we don't care about soccer, but invent rock and roll, jazz, baseball and basketball; have a Bill of Rights like ours; and develop TV shows like The Simpsons and Seinfeld before talking smack to the United States. 

Speaking of the United States, the baseball team representing our nation's capital seems to have hit a wall.  Prior to Straburg's call up, starting pitching was a strength of the Nationals.  But Lannan, Livo, and Atilano are in a collective funk, and J.D. Martin has not make anyone forget Scott Olson (how damning is that?).  The only good news is that after leaving Detroit the Nats host the White Sox and Royals, so a 6-game winning streak, potentially kicked off by Strasburg on Friday night, could be around the corner.

In addition to improved starting pitching I'd feel better about the Nats if Manager Jim Riggleman dropped Guzman and Morgan down in the order (to seventh and eighth, respectively).  Neither get on base enough - a real problem when you consider that Zimmerman, Dunn and Willingham have great on-base-plus-slugging numbers in the 3, 4 and 5 spots on the order. 

I say give Desmond and Bernardina a chance at the top of the order. 

Simply terrible game from Ellas

Greece's 2004 European championship has to be one of greatest upsets in sports history.  That unlikeliest of championships raised expectations, expectations that were once again dashed this morning against South Korea.

Greece's defense is supposed to our strength; the Greek strategy is to bottle up the other team and score off of set pieces. But seven minutes in, Greece's defense committed a silly foul deep in their end and gave up a goal on a sloppily defended corner kick from Korea.

Then, seven minutes into the second half Greece's Louis Vyntra got beat twice on the same play, resulting in a 0-2 deficit and effectively ending the game with 38 minutes left to play.

Actually, it looked like the game ended after Greece got down 0-1.  Ellas was incredibly passive in the first 45 minutes, and played with no passion or urgency - played very unHellenic.   

At halftime Greece's German coach, Otto Rehagel, substituted liberally and replaced arguably his three best players: Karagounis, Charisteas, and Samaras.  The tactic worked in that Greece was much more aggressive and at least took a number of shots in the second half, primarily due to the play of reserve Dimitri Salpingidis, whose goal against Ukraine sent Greece to South Africa. Leading scorer Fanis Gekas got some shots, too.

But despite the improved play Greece could not score - they have yet to score in the World Cup, ever - and are now in serious trouble of advancing out of the group.

As bad as losing, there are two more disturbing take-aways from this game. 

One, the lack of fight in the Hellenic squad after they fell behind 0-1. One essential trait of American teams, people, anything really, is the willingness and determination to fight back. Greece is the opposite; when things get bad too often the initial Greek reaction is to give up. That happened in the first half of today's game. 


Rehagel is the greatest coach in Greek history, but one wonders if he has sacrificed too much Greek passion in exchange for not enough German precision.  Both were lacking today.

Two, as it did in the 1994 World Cup, Greece played as if it was simply happy to be here. I shouldn't take for granted that this is the golden age of Greek football. For a team that rarely qualified for international competitions, in Europe or worldwide, to appear in the 2004 and 2008 Euros and the 2010 World Cup is a huge accomplishment. You would think after winning the European championship in 2004 Greece would strive for more than simply showing up. But in the first half it appeared that they were simply happy to be in South Africa.

Another American trait that Greeks do not often possess is looking on the bright side, and looking forward instead of backwards (to the fourth Crusade, to the catastrophe in Asia Minor, etc.). There ARE some positives for Greece:

• at least we lost to a democracy! Koreans are often compared to Americans in their temperament and fought like Americans and won the game;*
• the reserves played well in the second half, especially Salpingidis; he should start so perhaps it's time to bench Charisteas, the hero of 2004;
• Fanis Gekas was active; his energy was high and he'll hopefully break through against Nigeria;
• defender Sotiris Kyrgiakos, coming off a great season at Liverpool, should be back for the next game against Nigeria; no news on if he's injured but he did not even get off the bench;
• Nigeria's best player is hurt, so getting 3 points is NOT impossible, and if, IF, Argentina has six points after 2 games they could rest their stars and Greece can eek out a tie; that would give Ellas 4 points and a chance to qualify.

It takes a Greek-AMERICAN to write that last bullet. A lot has to go right for Ellas to advance, but it is still doable. The key will be if Greece fights, and resists the urge to resort to the infamous Hellenic fatalism that was on display seven minutes into the game.

Elate tora pedia!

The other good news for today will hopefully be supplied by Evan in his baseball game, and by the US versus England. A US tie or win would wash the bad, stale frappe taste out of my mouth from this morning's 0-2 loss. 

* Coincidentally enough, Korean-Americans are often compared to Greek-Americans, not just Americans.  Not to dwell in stereotypes, but some of the parallels are interesting:   

• in New York City, Greek immigrants were famous for owning flower shops; now Korean-Americans predominate;
• until recently Greek-American shops could be found in most inner cities; in many US cities Korean-Americans have replaced those formerly Greek-owned inner city businesses and grocery stores;
• we're both supposed to hot heads, a trait that could have come in handy this morning in Greece's 0-2 loss to Korea.