USA 94: The Greek Monumental Achievement That Was Crushed - Part 4

USA 94: The Greek Monumental Achievement That Was Crushed - Part 4 

By Greg Gavalas 

The 4-4-2

Game 1: Argentina

Greece would go onto lose to Argentina 4-0 in game 1, Argentina had a star filled line-up that included, Diego Maradona, Gabriel Batistuta, Claudio Cannigia, Fernando Redondo and Diego Simeone to name a few.

They were a class above Greece and would punish poor defending, previously I have spoken about the Greek defenders committing to tackles with sliding tackles and this for me, was one of the big reasons Greece suffered in many goals conceded.

Argentina score after just 2 minutes of play, and in doing this piece I started to wonder how Argentina ended up with four attackers vs one Greek defender to open the scoring.

Well, after Tsiandakis losses possession in the Argentina half, the Argentines start to pass up field, Kalitzakis comes diving in on Batustuta in the Argentines half! Manolas then commits to an intercept pass near the half way line which catches air and then you had Batistuta with three team mates bearing down on Kolitsidakis and Minou in goals. Bastistuta’s shot is not a hard one but 36 year old Minou fails to save and 1-0 it is. Had Manolas and Kalitzakis simply stayed back this does not happen, I also argue that had Atmantzidis (25 years old at the time) started this match, he would have saved this shot.

Argentina’s second goal is also very avoidable, Jose Chamot makes a good run into the middle of the Greek half, Kalitzakis again comes lunging in and catches air, the pass then goes to Batistuta, because Kalitzakis has now left Manolas with two attackers running at him, it gives Bati goal the opportunity to fire a bullet past Minou who had to leave his line after Kalitzakis cause an avoidable overlap, 2-0 Argentina.

Argentina’s 3rd goal is all class and summarises what a team they were with Maradona in it.

Greece would concede a fourth goal, a penalty due to a hand ball by Apostolakis in the box, a very unlucky incident but again, completely avoidable if the Panathinaikos defender stays on his feet.

I find it hard to comprehend that such basics cost us so much but I think a real lack of international experience in some basic defending skills really cost the Ethinki here and this was never picked up and coached, these were experienced defenders yet would lunge in at any chance they would get which really boggles my mind.

Argentina created some great chances but Greece held the ball well, something that gets overlooked due to the overall score lines we suffered. Noplias would have an ordinary game with crosses though as almost all his crosses were over hit. 

Game 2: Bulgaria

Panagoulias had many critics, a lot around his outdated philosophies in particular around his player selections, these  went up a notch after the Cameroon defeat at the Karaiskaki Stadium as the ageing Greek team was opened up for the first time in the 3-0 loss and since qualifying for the World Cup.

The loss to Argentina was hard to take but everyone expected something to come from the Bulgaria game, the Bulgarians themselves were coming off a heavy 3-0 defeat to Nigeria although were a little unlucky in some referring calls.

Panagoulias would make 6 changes from the Argentina game, for the record two of the moves I agreed with, Atmantzidis was brought in for Minou in goals, and Hantzidis started the match, a player in his prim that provided the team with much speed and go forward.

Alexoudis over Saravakos, Dimitriadis and Alexandris I can’t figure out, he starts in his forth cap and I assume because Alketas was hoping the OFI combination with Machlas would combine well.

To allow Kalitzakis to start over Manolas after the mistakes he made in Boston and drop Manolas, a terrible call, Karataidis started next to him.

The match started as bad as it could in Chicago’s Soldier Field in front of 64,000 fans, most of which were supporting Hellas.

Just 5 minutes in, a Bulgarian free kick is delivered into the penalty area, Alexoudis would go up for a header but like always, instead of staying on his feet, would try win a foul and fall onto the grass, in doing so he lands with his hands on the ball and a penalty was awarded, now the call could have also gone as a free kick to Greece and changed everything but as the luck that was, the U.A.E referee would award the penalty which Hristo Stoichkov would score.

Ten minutes into the second half and another silly play, this time by Atmantzidis, after a long ball was played into the box that Nasko Sirakov met, Kalitzakis did well to put him off without bringing him down and his shot was saved by the AEK keeper, and with Kalitzakis all but controlling the ball, Atmantzidis then tackled Sirakov… another silly penalty to Bulgaria and despite the close save attempt by Illia, 2-0 down.

Terrible defending from Kalitzakis would lead to Bulgaria’s third goal, again, committing to the guy with the ball instead of keeping his position allows Bulgaria to play a 1-2 and Yordan Lechkov was through on goal to make it 3-0.

Greece would go close to a historic goal with Dimitriadis only to see Bulgaria make it 4-0 at the end of the game, the win was Bulgaria’s first at a World Cup in 18 games.

The result would break millions of Greeks hearts all over the globe, people cried, people were angry and the knives were out on what everyone was sceptical about in 1994.

Game 3: Nigeria

An already humiliating campaign now relied on a goal to at least end the World Cup with something to smile about although the truth is everyone had lost faith in the Ethniki and comments made about Panagoulias took every extreme.

The final match would be played in Boston, unlike the first two games which kicked off at 1230pm & 1130am believe it or not, the Nigeria game had a more familiar 7:30pm kick off.

Panagoulias would make another 5 changes to the line-up with Bulgaria, another goal keeper would be used, this time Karkamanis would start meaning we played with a different goalkeeper in each game.

Amazingly Kalitzakis would survive every match and start in all three despite his costly errors in defence and Manolas would stay on the bench again, this time for PAOK defender, Alexis Alexiou.

Kofidis, Machlas and Noplias would be the other players that would start in all three games. Alekos Alexandris would get a start in his only appearance at USA 94.

Greece would play their best overall game in this night match, and as everyone was looking to see the team not go into half time, down on the score line a Nigerian counter attack in stoppage time would again find the defence out of position, Alexiou would commit and find air as we had seen with our defenders many times, Finidi George would then delightfully chip Karkamanis to make it 1-0. Watching the lead up, why Kalitzakis is not at the centre of defence when this break is made is beyond me.

The Ethniki tried desperately get a goal in the second half and would put forward their best move when a forward pass from Hantzidis found Dimitriadis, a wonderful back hell move found Tsalouhidis in the box, his shot on target would be saved by Peter Rufai and it would be the closed Greece got to a goal we were so desperate for.

Five minutes into injury time and Daniel Amokachi would put the nail on the coffin with a rocket shot into the top corner and would be one of the goals of the tournament.

For Greece, it was the 10th goal conceded and the end of the nightmare World Cup campaign.

Half time footage would emerge from this game, showing Panagoulias shouting and swearing at his players, demanding they shot instead of dribble to get a goal.

Final Standings

Hellas Football

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