HELLAS FOOTBALL REWIND: 1998 WORLD CUP QUALIFYING

HELLAS FOOTBALL REWIND: 1998 WORLD CUP QUALIFYING

By Maik,

Given the predicament the World finds itself in. We thought we’d look back at one of the most exciting yet infuriating qualifying campaigns of the Ethniki, as we retrace Greece’s road to the 1998 FIFA World Cup.

The euphoria of Greece qualifying for its 1st ever World Cup at USA 94, was followed by the embarrassment of losing all 3 group matches quite convincingly, without scoring a goal in the process. All be it, it must be said, to some very good teams at the time in Argentina, Bulgaria and Nigeria.

USA 94 was a major letdown for all Greek fans. To those who bought tickets and travelled from Greece, to the Greeks in the USA and Canada who did the same, to those waking up at ungodly hours down in Australia eager to watch Greece at its first World Cup. Immediately following the tournament, the recriminations had begun and questions of why so many older players were chosen ahead of some of the younger talent were being raised. What a recurring theme that has been.

During what turned out to be the failure to qualify for the next tournament at EURO 96, under new coach and former Olympiakos player Kostas Polychroniou. We at least started to see some good football being played again and we saw the likes of Tsiartas, Zagorakis, Dabizas, Vryzas, Nikolaidis, Georgatos, Machlas make appearances in that qualifying campaign and later on, the likes of Stelios Giannakopoulos.

After some good showings, the Ethniki unfortunately ran out of steam and missed out on qualification for EURO 96, finishing 3rd in their group behind Russia and Scotland. But many observers felt the introduction of some new blood, meant we were in good stead heading into the campaign to qualify for France 98.

For the 1998 World Cup qualifying campaign, EPO kept faith with Polychroniou, as qualification began against Slovenia in April of 1996. Which saw a 2-0 victory for the Ethniki at the Olympic Stadium in Athens, Daniel Batista and Demis Nikolaidis were the scorers, getting the campaign off on the right foot.

The 2nd match of the campaign saw the Ethniki travel south to Kalamata in September, to battle it out against the newly independent team of Bosnia and Herzegovina. It turned out to be not much of a battle, as Marinos Ouzounidis, Stratos Apostolakis and Demis Nikolaidis sealed a 3-0 victory and put the Ethniki 2 from 2, to start off the qualification campaign.

Match 3, saw the Ethniki’s first real test of the campaign, travelling to Copenhagen in October of 1996, to face an excellent Denmark outfit. The Ethniki players gave a good account of themselves and things were looking good when Donis equalised. Unfortunately, the Ethniki were pipped by a Brian Laudrup goal in the second half, as the Ethniki went down 2-1.

The squad did not have long to dwell on the result, as the 4th match of the campaign a month later, saw the Ethniki having to travel to Zagreb to take on an extremely talented Croatian team. The team seemed to learn from their Danish experience, taking an early lead in Zagreb thanks to a goal from Demis Nikolaidis. Croatia would equalise just before half time via Davor Suker. The Ethniki could not capitalise on some good play during the second half and could not find a winner, fortunately, Croatia could not do so either. The 1-1 full time result suited the Ethniki fine, as they looked forward towards 1997 and securing a place at France 98.

The 5th match of the campaign saw the Ethniki in Sarajevo in April of 1997, which had been a war zone only a few short years earlier, for the return match with Bosnia and Herzegovina. In what was a fairly scrappy affair, a trademark freekick by set piece King Kostas Frantzeskos late in the match, saw the Greeks pick up a vital 1-0 away victory, to continue the team’s momentum.

After 5 matches, the Ethniki had registered 3 wins, 1 draw and 1 loss and were leading their qualification group. All was set for a nervous final 3 matches, to see if the Greeks could hang on and qualify for France 98.

Match 6 saw the Ethniki up north at the Kaftanzoglio stadium in Thessaloniki, to host Croatia in a vital qualifier. After an even contest, a draw looked likely and to be honest it wouldn’t have been the worst result. Sadly though, Davor Suker did the damage once again, poking home a late winner for the Croats and condemning the Ethniki to a devastating defeat, dealing a blow to our qualification prospects.

The Ethniki had to bounce back in the penultimate qualifier in September of 1997, which saw the Ethniki travel to Ljubljana to take on the bottom feeders of the group, Slovenia. After a nervy, tense and what turned out to be a goal-less first half, the Ethniki turned on the afterburners after the break. 3 unanswered second half goals from Alexis Alexandris, Kostas Konstandinidis and Nikos Machlas sealed an impressive 3-0 victory. Setting up a date with destiny.

So it would all come down to the final qualifier in October of 1997 against Denmark in Athens. In what looked like a déjà vu moment from 4 years earlier against Russia, a win for the Greeks, would secure the Ethniki a place at the 1998 FIFA World Cup.

65,000 fans created a cauldron like atmosphere at the Olympic Stadium in Athens and the pressure was on for the players to perform and to get the desired result.

In what was a pulsating contest, the Ethniki put in one of their best performances at least that I have seen in my lifetime.

The Ethniki were positive, while also remaining ready and wary of a good Danish side. The Greeks created chance after chance, but could not find that all-important goal.

The Ethniki hit the woodwork on multiple occasions during the match while also finding an inspired Danish goalkeeper, Peter Schmeichel, hard to beat.

As the match wore on, the Ethniki pushed even harder for the breakthrough, creating more and more opportunities. The defining moment came in the last 5 minutes, Alexis Alexandris, who had come on as a substitute only minutes earlier, found himself one-on-one with Peter Schmeichel. His attempt was hit right at the goalkeeper and with that, the chance was gone, as well as the dream of going to the World Cup.

What makes it even more disappointing, if that were even possible, is that the Ethniki had a very good group of players at this point in time and realistically could have achieved something in France.

You only had to look what Croatia and Denmark did at the 1998 World Cup to believe it was possible.

Denmark made it to the Quarter-Finals of the World Cup, losing 3-2 to defending Champions Brazil, who also made it to another World Cup Final in 1998. While Croatia went 1 better, making it all the way to the Semi-Finals, losing 2-1 to hosts and eventual Champions, France.

As a fan following the campaign, you could not help but feel proud of the Ethniki but following the Denmark result, there was raw anger also. The disappointment was real, as you definitely felt that it was the result that got away. It will always be what might have been, had the Ethniki made it to France.

Hellas Football