Pame Moundial: Greece qualifies for South Africa

November 19th, 2009 | by: Peter Katsiris | Comments(1)

On a chilly night in Donetsk, the Greek National Team warmed the hearts of its supporters as Dimitrios Salpingidis netted a quality strike to post a 1-0 win over Ukraine at the Donbass Arena on Wednesday.

After a score-less draw in Athens on Saturday, Greece secured their spot in next summer’s FIFA World Cup in South Africa on the final day of qualifying. A sweet pass from Giorgos Samaras found Salpingidis with plenty of space as he slipped past the Ukrainian defense and released a grounded effort past Andriy Pyatov, which flirted with the right post before catching the corner of the goal.

It wasn’t just Salpingidis or Samaras that contributed to the Greek victory. No, Greece isn’t a team that revolves around one player’s performances. It’s a team that plays and wins like a team. Therefore, the performance of Alexandros Tzorvas in the Greek goal should be duly noted. The Panathinaikos ‘keeper was sensational as he turned away Oleksandr Aliyev, and Andiry Shevchenko on numerous occasions.

Furthermore, the Greek defense, despite late injuries to Vasilis Pliatsikas and Vaggelis Moras after substitutions ran dry for Otto Rehhagel, gave a performance that resembled the magical run from EURO 2004.

Giorgos Karagounis has truly evolved into the team leader, and seems fit to play the same role that Thodoris Zagorakis feature in as captain of the EURO 2004-winning Greek squad, while Kostas Katsouranis’ move back to Greece is paying off on his international career.

In attack, the golden-boy Angelos Charisteas was a surprise starter for me as I expected Theofanis Gekas to partner up with Samaras, but he did his country proud with another blue-collar performance. Samaras, however, as my friend put it “looked like a real Spartan out there.” Granted the Celtic striker is actually from Crete, he managed to earn a second hometown with a commanding performance in the Greek attack as he looked untouchable at times when dribbling through a handful of Ukrainian defenders.

So thanks to a moment of brilliance and a lot of hard work, or what can be classified as a near replica of a 1-0 win over Turkey that clinched a berth at EURO 2008, Greece are heading back to the World Cup for the first time in nearly sixteen years and for just the second time in their history.

Their maiden-appearance at USA ’94 saw Greece finish the group-stage with a winless record as Argentina, Bulgaria, and Nigeria claimed wins to leave the Greeks at the foot of the table and on the first charter back to Athens.

It might be that sort of legacy that allows for fans of the game not pledging to the Blue-and-White to conspire against Greek football, with remarks such as “I hate to say it, but the loser here isn’t Ukraine, but SA 2010 if Greece qualify. 90 mins of naptime,” or “Greece are through, by the by. So 31 watchable teams at SA2010 at most.”

As you can see there is a lot of hate towards Greek football, just because the Ethniki doesn’t employ talents such as Cristiano Ronaldo or Lionel Messi. But on a night where France’s Thierry Henry showed talent comparable with compatriot and NBA star Tony Parker to provide an assist for William Gallas and mastermind an undeserved defeat of the Irish in Paris, Greece isn’t the side that is undeserving of their World Cup berth.

In fact, teams like France and Portugal displayed anything but “watchable” football as their play-off detour suggests – particularly Titi with his criminal activity against the Irish.

So to all the anti-Greeks out there, I tell you to “F*** OFF, and have a good day!” To the rest of the lot, “See you in South Africa!”