Hellas Football

A Generation of Lost Talent... lost again. By George Weve seen this story before for the last decade. Today it hurt more than the rest. Take nothing away from Georgia. They did a job that was required of them, and they will be heading to Germany whilst we will lament another failed campaign where we have likely seen the end of Gus Poyet's reign as the Ethniki Coach.  Depending on where you are, as we cry into our morning coffee, eat our lunch in anger or try go to sleep. the same question will ring through into our heads. What happened? And who is to blame?  The coach? His pragmatic approach to games was evident. He may as well have written his tactics on an email and sent them to every coach we played against because nothing ever changed with him. Whilst it got us favourable results it also allowed the opposition to know what we were doing and generally who was going to be subbed on and where.  He had his favourites. all coaches do. Unfortunately, his favourites have on...

Georgia vs Greece: Post match reaction By Alec McQuarrie Cyprus, Montenegro, Armenia, Estonia, Saudi Arabia, Belarus, Iceland, Luxembourg, Finland (twice), Northern Ireland (twice), Faroe Islands (twice). They all can count themselves conquerors of Greece since the Ethniki last reached a major tournament. They all find themselves below Greece in the FIFA rankings. Georgia is now one of them. Despite its immeasurable influence on the English language, ‘underachieve’ is not a Greek word. But perhaps it should be. ‘Catastrophe’ fittingly does have Hellenic roots, as does ‘tragedy’ - which literally translates as ‘goat song.’ The mercury was down to 4ºC (39°F) in Tbilisi on Tuesday evening, in stark contrast to the oppressive, red-hot atmosphere inside the Boris Paichadze National Stadium. And so, the stage was set for the latest Greek goat song. You could see the effect the partisan crowd had on the home side almost immediately. Georgia set up compact in defence and explosive in transitio...

Georgia vs Greece Preview | It Is Time For The Drought To End By Konstantinos Massaras, Happy Independence Day to all Greeks around the world. March 26, 2024, the day after we celebrate our independence, could be the day the tortuous ten year major-tournament drought finally ends.  The ten years following Gekas’ missed penalty against Costa Rica have contained the most agonizing results a fan of any team, of any sport, can endure The Ethniki have ripped through six managers, with Poyet being the seventh, they have had internal conflicts, heartbreakers, and downright embarrassments.  Following the disastrous tenure of Angelos Anastasiadis, EPO hired John Van’t Schip, who laid a foundation for the next generation of Greek talent. While I still believe JVS parting from the Ethniki was the best decision for both parties, he does deserve some credit for pulling the national team back up from the dirt. Although, some may say that most of the credit belongs to the rising talent itsel...

Lasha Shergelashvili previews Georgia vs Greece   By Nikolas Fil    With Georgia and Greece setting to face each other on Tuesday for a place in this summer’s Euro in Germany, the former Pas Giannina midfielder Lasha Shergelashvili previews the big game as well as speaking about the differences between football in Greece and in Georgia.   What are the main differences between Georgian and Greek football?   “Georgian and Greek football, while both part of the broader European football landscape, have some distinct differences in terms of their history, structure, and characteristics. Greek football has a longer history, more established league structure, and greater success on both the club and international levels compared.    The most important part of Georgian football lies in its role as a catalyst for national pride, community engagement, talent development, and the professionalisation of the sport within the country. While Georgian football may fa...

 Greece 5-0 Kazakhstan: Reaction By Alec McQuarrie A decade is a long time. 10 years ago, Ebola was ravaging West Africa, Russia annexed Crimea, and Pharrell Williams was top of the charts with ‘Happy’. 10 years ago, Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 vanished into thin air, Justin Bieber was arrested for drunk driving, and everyone was chucking buckets of icy water on their heads. 10 years ago, Robin Williams took his own life, Oscar Pistorius was sentenced to five years in prison, and Snapchat was most teenagers’ app of choice. 10 years ago, Greece played their last game at a major international tournament. Note the inclusion of ‘last game’ instead of ‘most recent match’ because, frankly, who knows?  There are no guarantees in football and there are certainly no guarantees in international football. There were no guarantees that Greece would beat Kazakhstan in Athens.  On paper, it was a must-win match pitting the former European Champions against would-be debutants ranked lo...

 Maccabi Tel Aviv vs Olympiakos:  UEFA Conference League Round of 16 Preview By Stephen Kountourou  UEFA Conference League Round of 16 Second Leg: 14/03/24 Kick-off Time: 22:00 Greek Time Venue: TSC Arena  Where to Watch: Cosmote Sport 2 HD In some ways, it feels futile writing this preview. After last week's events in Karaiskaki, Olympiakos are almost certainly out of Europe.  Always the Israeli clubs.  Thrylos in general have taken huge steps back, after a poor display against Maccabi Tel Aviv and a few days later, on the club's 99th anniversary, and in the derby against Panathinaikos.  All the good work Jose Mendilibar did in his first few weeks in charge feels wasted. But despite all of the recent disappointment we carry on.  It's quite obvious what fans of the Piraeus side want to see when their club travels to Serbia. A response. Qualification, while not impossible, is highly unlikely. So a strong end to the campaign with a win is needed to ...

Ethniki  Omada   Squad   Selection   Analysis |   Tzolis   Finally   Breaks   Through,   But   So   Do   Tzavellas,   Zeca   and   Four   Goalkeepers By  Konstantinos  Massaras, We  have  made  it  to  the  most  pivotal  international  break  in  six  and  a  half  years  for  the  Ethniki  Omada,  who  aim  to  qualify  for  their  first  major  tournament  since  the  2014  World  Cup  in  Brazil.  This  is  much  different  from  2018  however,  as  failure  to  qualify  from  this  play- off  would  be  an  absolute  catastrophe  that  would  lead  to  the  immediate  firing  of  Gust...