USA 94: The Greek Monumental Achievement That Was Crushed - Part 3

USA 94: The Greek Monumental Achievement That Was Crushed

By Greg Gavalas

Road to America

It’s interesting to see how Greece performed after the qualification was finalised at the end of 1993. After all the average age of the team was for the most part in the late 20’s, Greece would on average be from 28 to 30 whilst most opposition was mid 20’s and at some point Panagoulias would need to select a 22 man squad.

Greece’s first friendly match in 1994 was in March against Poland at the Kaftanzoglio, the match would see the debut of Ilias Atmantzidis in goals after subbing off for at the time, veteran 35 year old Antonis Minou. 

Minas Hantzidis would also make his debut but only last 29 minutes due to injury. The match would also see 33 year old, Savvas Kofidis return to the squad, despite a poor scoring run at national and club level, he would feature heavily in the team.

The Poland game was not great and finished 0-0, with Greece not creating much although Machlas was a crossbar away from a goal.

Saudi Demolition

Something very interesting happened in April at the OAKA, for the first time under the Panagoulias reign, he fielded a team with an average age of 25, in the line-up we had Atmantzidis in goals, and Christos Karkamanis of Aris was also subbed on in the 73rd for some experience. 

Hantzidis, Alekos Alexandris, Kostis and Dimitris Marko all had a run with debutants, Zisis Vryzas, Alexis Alexoudis, Michalis Kasapis (an actual Left Back) and Tsartas, all made for a skilled and quick combination – this combination would demolish World Cup bound Saudi Arabia 5-1 and create more chances than we had seen in a long time. Sadly this team would not be seen in Panagoulias’s time again.

The Warnings Signs

On May 9, Hellas hosted Cameroon and it was the start of a downfall we would feel for a long time. Following the attacking vibe against a month ago, Panagoulias reverted back to the norm with the only exception being Vasilis Karapialis getting a start but that only lasted 45 minutes as he was subbed off for Kofidis. 

For the first time, Greece was down 2-0 at half time and would go onto lose 3-0, Antoniou, Tsartas and Vryzas were given some time in the second half but it would be the last time we saw Antoniou in the Ethinki colours which was a shame as I am convinced he could have offered the team some attacking prowess as however, Alketas stuck with Nikos Noplias every match instead.

Four days later Greece would host another World Cup qualified team in Bolivia at the Karaiskaki stadium.

The match more than confirmed Greece was having serious issues in attack, Panagoulias started Machlas with Alexoudis in the hope their club combination from OFI would see them repeat some goals aka the Saudi Arabia game but it didn’t. I feel this match could have been an opportunity for Tsartas and Kostis to prove something in the second half but sadly it wasn’t to be, the game finished 0-0 and the lack of attacking threat was very real but Alketas looked to be keen on giving Noplias, Tsiandakis, Kofidis and Tsalouhidis the chance to change that.

Wembley Nightmare

With the Bolivia game finishing on a Friday night, Greece had to then fly to London to take on England on Tuesday night at Wembley Stadium.

If we were worried about the Ethniki’s trajectory before this match, we were horrified after it.

The line-up would be similar to what we see in the World Cup but for Vaios Karagaiannis starting at left back and Manolas staying on the bench (for such a match I find hard to believe). Hantzidis would get the start over Saravakos and the game kicked off.

After an ok start Greece’s lack of skilful defending and some inexperience would tell, Karkamanis would gift England the opening goal after 23 minutes, in the 37th minute Kolitsidakis would lose possession and allow England to penetrate in the box, there David Platt would out class Kalitzakis who would be caught out diving into a tackle and gift England a second goal for 2-0.

The diving into or committing into a dive tackle would be a huge Achilles heel for Greek defenders against the better teams, they got away with this in the group stages for the most part but it would continue to prove costly.

Just seven minutes later Kalitzakis would again go in for a slide tackle and catch Alan Shearer gifting England a penalty and it was 3-0.

England’s forth goal is another highlight of a disorganised defence with Karagiannis kicking air and the poms able to get a 4th goal from a goal kick.

At the end Greece would lose 5-0, some good saves from Karkamanis kept the score as it and was the only highlight along with Kostis’s 20 minute performance which showcased his skill and potential in an otherwise embarrassing loss and flying to the US with horrible form.

In the States

Greece arrived in the US one month before the tournament started and they were based in New York. First test, play the hosting nation in a friendly, thankfully for the team, it would be the best performance since the Saudi Arabia game, Apostolakis’s inclusion back in the 11 elevated the performance although his slide tackle that didn’t find its target would allow the American’s to put a cross in and open the scoring against the run of play.

Noplias, Tsiantakis, Saravakos and Hantzidis had great games and it broke the Greek scoring drought as Hantzidis would score and give the Greeks something to cheer about.

It gave everyone an elpitha that maybe the team could continue this better run and in the next game with Colombia, the team would lose 2-0 but despite the loss, Greece played well at Giants Stadium in front of 74,000 fans and the Colombians spoke well about the team, rightfully so, it was a spirited performance however if I am critical, the attack still lacked polish, Greece went forward consistently but never tested Oscar Cordoba. Sliding challenges aplenty and lucky to not be carded a few times.

Spirits were good however, the team returned to the dressing rooms only to find that they had been robbed, whilst that was a slight blow the players and all staff were deeply offended when they read a story in a NY paper saying it was an inside job (which it wasn’t).

The team would then transfer to Boston in preparation for their first Group match with Argentina.

Hellas Football. Follow @GregGavalas