Greece

Ukraine tie is our reward (vids)

So after finishing second behind Switzerland in Group 2 of UEFA’s qualifying for South Africa 2010, all that stands in Greece’s way now is Ukraine. I realize saying “all that” could sound a bit derogatory, but I use that phrase to emphasize how close Greece is to a return to the grandest stage of international football – the FIFA World Cup.

Beating Latvia and Luxembourg on the final two matchdays of preliminary play in Europe was not enough to book a direct ticket to South Africa, despite a 0-0 draw for the Swiss against Israel.

So play-offs is the route we must take, a slight detour from the once thought direct passage to South Africa. Last Friday’s release of the October FIFA World Rankings confirmed Greece’s spot as one of the four seeded teams in Monday’s draw in Zurich.

We were joined by France, Portugal, and Russia as the four seeded teams, while Ukraine, the Republic of Ireland, Bosnia & Herzegovina, and Slovenia were placed in the unseeded pot.

Although it is obviously a great benefit to have been a seeded team in the draw – eg. we avoid Russia, France, Portugal (we kick their ass every time) – the way the draw results worked out it still seems like Greece is an unseeded team. Not because Ukraine is our opponent, but the fact that some bullshit manoeuvre by FIFA sees Greece host the first match on 14 November, and play visitor in the second leg four days later.

Like seriously, what kind of bullshit move is that? We were ranked as a seeded team, so in my opinion, and traditionally UEFA’s as well, we should have home advantage on the second matchday. That’s what they use for the UEFA Champions League, it was used for the UEFA Cup, and it will be used again for the UEFA Europa League. So why the fuck does it not apply for international competitions? Beats the fuck out of me.

Anyway, I’m not going to complain too much about that. I have the utmost confidence in the national team to beat a really solid Ukraine team. In all fairness to Ukraine, but from the most objective perspective I can take, Greece is the more complete team in this tie – despite the whole Shevchenko factor (who, might I add, is NOT the only Ukrainian player I know).

There are many Ukrainians which pose a threat, and Greece has encountered this threat in recent qualifying campaigns – notably during their bid to reach the 2006 World Cup in Germany. Greece tied Ukraine in the first fixture in Kiev, before slipping to defeat in Piraeus – thanks to that schmuck Basinas.

The draw in Ukraine, the more admirable of the results leads me back to some vintage Greek videos. The clip below is Greece’s strike from ex-footballers Vassilis Tsiartas, who AEK Athens FC fans know as their clutch free-kick taker.

That right there is a GOLARA my friends.

Author’s Note: It’s obvious after yesterday’s post by offside.com and worldcupblog.org blogger Chris on the main page that Greece is not taken seriously on this website, and that’s fine by me – Greeks will take the underdog ranking any day.

FIFA or UEFA rankings for us mean absolutely nothing. They’re never accurate so when Greece is ranked highly all you’ll hear – from a general standpoint – is a “meh”. We only care about being ranked above our bitter rivals/thorns in our side “nations” – eg. Turkey, Albania, Bulgaria, FYROM (the parentheses around nation refers directly to the last named chunk of land we in Greece refer to as Skopia) Note: Lack of political correctness…awesome