USA 94: The Greek Monumental Achievement That Was Crushed - Part 5

USA 94: The Greek Monumental Achievement That Was Crushed - Part 5

By Greg Gavalas

The Conclusion

There are many things to consider here and many things that have been said over the years, so let’s have a look at that.

1.New York

An early issue that could be pointed at was Panagoulias and the Greek Federation taking the team to New York one month before the tournament started, the team was taken to too many events to be shown off to omogenis at various events, players were bored and this tired them, there was also a big amount of poorly organised events that tired the team and created a tough moral in the squad.

Much media was also in the same hotel as the team and this did not help, the team leaving The Big Apple for Boston was a welcome relief it turned out.

So you have to consider, was the team better off staying in Greece and focusing on football, or get to NY and not have the many social commitments they had, for all the if’s and but’s, truth is the players did a good job against America and Colombia in the friendlies played there, you cannot discount that.

2.Panagoulias

Firstly, you need to look at the coach – Panagoulias himself, I do believe his philosophies were outdated and watching his reactions, comments and actions does confirm this for me, the very fact he went for aged players did not do him a lot of favours although this group of players did salvage qualification in 1993, at the same time it’s clear many had seen their best years before this campaign and our qualification group was one were we should have been able to qualify from.

Before I dive into that, it was clear Panagoulias “demanded” players respect him and did not like any form of liberal actions from them, this is highlighted in a contra that happens with him and Manolas just before the team left New York for Boston, Manolas had told reporters about his disappointment at their reporting (they were saying the team went to NY for the money) and that it had made the team look like a circus.

I was surprised to see this angered Panagoulias so much and it caused a real stir, Panagoulias even asked the entire playing group if they wanted Manolas to stay with team or be excluded back to Greece, the players voted he stay but why this created such a reaction from Alketas I don’t know exactly, the reaction spoke for itself and he would get very fired up if he saw any form of criticism to his approach.

The two would clash again, when Manolas confronted the 60 year old coach about events that were happening in New York City when the team were training and playing in Boston which of course did not go down well and this created a heavy atmosphere within the group.

A fan from Chicago who happened to be at the hotel the team was staying at before the Bulgaria game described the look on the player’s faces after the line for the match in Chicago as “they looked like they had seen a ghost” case is confirmed as the fan asked Dimitriadis why that was, and the AEK striker responded with, “I can’t tell you but look at the starting line up tomorrow”

3.Honouring an older generation

A glaring topic was this – was this tournament used to honour off players who had served the Ethniki well over the 1980’s till then, Panagoulias took over the team in September of 1992, the team had already played their first match with Iceland, the Ethniki was a different team before Panagoulias took over, of the USA 94 group, only Manolas, Kalitzakis, Tsalouhidis and Tsiandakis were regulars, and there was some regulars who would be weeded out under Alketas, they included AEL legend Mitsibonas, Stefanos Borbokis, Giorgos Toursounidis and Karapialis.

4.Talent Available

Added to that there was a growing list of very talented players coming through the ranks and they were getting caps, these included: Donis, Giorgos Kapouranis, Petros Marinakis, Kostas Haniotakis, Marinos Ouzounidis, Dimitris Markos, Alexandris,  and Frantzeskos to name a few from mid 1992. By 1993 there was some great talent that Alketas only gave a sniff of the Ethniki too, they included; Tsartas, Toursounidis, Giorgios Georgiadis, Vryzas, Kasapis and I have to say, whilst not a youngie, I though Kostas Antoniou showed pieces of skills and vision that the regular bunch didn’t in midfield.

The only dekari we had on the team was Noplias, very fit player but never possessed the attacking ability of Tsartas, even if the AEK midfielder was 21 at the time. Frantzeskos was 25 at the time and simply should have been there.

Kofidis, who was called up at the age of 33, at the expense of Toursounidis is another opportunity missed, as is playing Tsiantakis on the left instead of Donis who was 24 at the time.

5.Players Picked

Players picked – this is a big one, it should be noted going into the Argentina game some ages of some players:

Mitropoulos – 36

Minou – 36

Kofidis – 33

Saravakos – 32 and about to turn 33

Kofidis was called up after the qualifiers, prior to this, his last game for Hellas was in September 1991, his scoring record was very poor for a midfielder and the last time the Ethniki scored with him in the line-up would be in April 1991 in a friendly with Sweden.

Saravakos was called up in the second last game of the qualifiers against Luxemburg, in that game he scored an amazing goal and everyone knows what Saravakos can do and no doubt one of the best Greek players we have seen, by the time of the World Cup his better days were behind him however I would have used him at the very least over Alexoudis in the last two matches, he only played against Argentina.

Antonis Minou was the goalkeeper used for most of the campaign, a satisfactory keeper, he had previously played 5 games for Greece, the last in 1988! Panagoulias brought him back into the National team at the age of 36! Unheard of stuff and really, Atmandzidis should have been the clear number 1 with Karkamanis and Haniotakis next to him.

Tasos Mitropoulos was another player Panagoulias brought back in, his last game for Greece was in May 1989, he was last a regular for the team in 1988 (he only played twice for Greece in ’89). Rambo as he was called then, was also 36 years old when he played in the away game against Iceland, he turned 37 a month after USA 94 finished.

To be fair, Rambo played well in the qualifiers but by the time 1994 came around he had clearly lost some pace and it would have been good to see younger players have this chance.

The fact most of the squad and key players used would finish with international football after this World Cup speaks volumes about Panagoulia’s selections.

Of all the players picked, only Aposotolakis, Kalitzakis, Tsalouhisids, Alexandris, Atmantzidis and Machlas would go onto have an international career with the Ethniki that is 6 players of the 22 in the squad whilst a vast majority of the squad retired or was never picked again. This is a huge stat that for me highlights a wasted opportunity and I will tell you why

6. Tactical and defensive mistakes

Despite the heavy score lines, I have highlighted the silly goals the Greek team conceded, even before the World Cup the signs were there but if you look purely at USA 94, the mistakes Kalitzakis makes are incredible.

Panagoulias played a 4-4-2 most of the time, in many games I struggle to see who was playing left back, and when we did we had Karagiannis there and not Kasapis… the difference in class between the two is gigantic.

Most of the time Greece played with just Tsalouhidis as a defensive midfielder, Noplias, Kofidis, Tsiandakis, Hantzidis and Marangos were all midfielders in front of him.

In analysing the games, I see Kalitzakis especially makes many mistakes that are very costly by constantly committing to slide tackles that created easy opportunities to the opposition, he was used to playing under a 3-5-2 (or 5-3-2) system at PAO, this had the help of a libero and defensive midfielders like Markos and Eric Christodoulou, Markos was an incredibly underrated talent who I think would have helped the team considerably, the mistakes kept coming in all games from Kalitzakis, but clearly this was never identified by Panagoulias and his staff.

Even if that is missed though, Manolas should have been next to the PAO defender in both remaining matches instead of watching on from the bench.

Besides Markos, I believe Zagorakis, who was 23 at the time, could have helped in a holding midfield role, he would be capped in Greece’s next match in September against the Faroe Islands and go onto become a regular in that spot.

7.The sign that was missed

So take all these selections, tactical, and on field mistakes into on bowel, there was one game in our path that makes you really wonder what Hellas could have done at USA 94. Remember, even with these selections that Panagoulias made, the team did qualify well – warnings signs were there in the meantime with a real lack of goals, even in qualifying, we only scored more than 1 goal in the matches with Luxemburg.

The friendly match against Saudi Arabia, a team already set for the World Cup, and who would make the round of 16, in April 1994, Panagoulias used Atmantzidis, Markos, Kasapis, Tsartas, Kostis, Alexandris and Vryzas, Greece won 5-1 and played nice open football, as well as creating many more chances with the real younger talent we had at our disposal, those players would not play again together till after the 1994 World Cup in another 5-1 win that kicked off the Euro 96 qualifiers, that was followed with a 4-0 win over Finland in Piraeus and by then only four players that has been through the Panagoulias World Cup 1994 saga played for the Ethiniki.

I'll close by saying, what could have been, had we seen these talented players, continue after the Saudi Arabia game and taken us to America, with some better tactics it could have been something pretty special I think.

Hellas Football Follow @GregGavalas