MASSIVE MISSED OPPORTUNITY: 2006 WORLD CUP QUALIFYING

MASSIVE MISSED OPPORTUNITY: 2006 WORLD CUP QUALIFYING

By Nick Tsambouniaris

Greece had been crowned Champions of Europe against all the odds in the ultimate underdog story, only two months before qualifying for the 2006 FIFA World Cup held in Germany had begun. The famous Euro 2004 triumph was meant to genuinely kick-start the growth of the game in Greece as the EPO had to deal with several off-field issues that had previously plagued the game. This did not happen and many of these issues are still holding the game back today. However, qualifying for the upcoming World Cup should have been a minimum expectation, especially since Otto Rehhagel remained on the bench and a large chunk of the all-conquering Euro 2004 squad was kept in tact.

The Ethniki were in Pot 3 for the draw and were drawn to face Ukraine, Denmark, Turkey, Albania, Georgia and Kazakhstan in what was a tricky group, but ultimately one where the Ethniki had enough to at least clinch a top 2 spot and obtain a play-off berth.

The team was given a very quick reality check as Albania scored twice inside the opening 11 minutes in the first game of qualifying. Stelios Giannakopoulos pulled one back in the first half but this was not enough as Greece fell to a 2-1 upset defeat. Perhaps complacency had kicked in, but this was not good enough and the team was already playing catch up in an evenly placed group where every game mattered. Despite it being the first game, this is the one that fans will look back on.

The team then picked up respectable draws against Turkey and Ukraine (away), but had to wait until the fourth game of qualifying for its first win. Greece defeated Kazakhstan 3-1 in a one-sided affair - Angelos Charisteas scored a brace and Kostas Katsouranis put the game beyond doubt in the 85th minute. The visitors scored in the 88th minute.

Impressive wins against Denmark, Georgia and Albania followed. The win over the Danes in particular was vital as the team dug deep and begun to show signs of that famous defensive resolve in the second half when the visitors started attacking with purpose. Antonis Nikopolidis pulled an array of high-quality saves and a cleverly taken free kick from Theodoros Zagorakis and a penalty from Angelos Basinas were enough to claim a win (see below for highlights).

Scoring goals was the team's biggest problem but they found enough to exact revenge over Albania. The Ethniki hit the woodwork twice in the first half, before goals from Charisteas and a long-range strike on the volley from Giorgos Karagounis sealed the win (see below for highlights).

After another respectable draw on the road to Turkey, the team was well-placed in the hunt for a top 2 spot. With only 4 games remaining, the match at home against a Ukrainian side featuring Andriy Shevchenko, was pivotal. Greece dominated this encounter in front of a raucous crowd at the Georgios Karaiskakis stadium in Piraeus, Karagounis spurned a great chance in the first half, Giannakopoulos put the ball in the back of the net but it was incorrectly disallowed as replays showed he was onside, Charisteas did likewise in the second half but he was adjudged to have been offside. The Ukrainians won the match 0-1 via a late goal completely against the run of play as the Ethniki's usually impregnable defence switched off and this seriously dented the Ethniki's hopes in what was becoming a largely stop-start campaign (see below for highlights).

The scars of this loss hung around for the remaining three matches as the team beat Kazakhstan and Georgia but lost to Denmark on the road in the penultimate game, which all-but ended any hopes of clinching at least a playoff berth. As previously mentioned, scoring goals remained the Achilles heel for the team and a relatively poor 15 goals in 12 outings was not good enough, considering how the likes of Denmark, Ukraine and Turkey were able to score freely. 9 goals conceded in 12 matches is a decent record but the team failed to hold clean sheets in games against the likes of Albania, Kazakhstan and Georgia.

Overall, it was a massive missed opportunity for the Ethniki to build on Euro 2004 glory and in turn, become somewhat of a regular among Europe's better footballing sides. Did the opposition figure out Rehhagel's perceived predictable game plan? Were the players to blame for their poor application in moments where it mattered? Only the players and the coach will know the answers, but from the outside looking in, it was somewhere in between. It was clearly not a lack of talent or tactical nous as Rehhagel regrouped the squad, added an numerous new faces and clinched qualification in the next two major tournaments.

It was just a bitter pill to swallow that the reigning Champions of Europe failed to qualify for the next major tournament (that being the 2006 World Cup), especially considering the fact that Ukraine managed to go as deep as the quarter finals in the showpiece event in Germany in the summer of 2006, a team that the Ethniki more than matched. The Ukrainians topped the group on 25 points, Turkey finished second on 23 points but failed to qualify for the World Cup, the Danes finished third on 22 points and Greece finished fourth on 21 points, meaning that a mere 4 points separated the top 4 teams of the group. What could have been...

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