Greece
GREECE
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Team Profile
Greece spent most of their history in relative obscurity from a an international football perspective, having participated only twice in FIFA major international tournaments prior to their 2006 European Cup Championship. They include FIFA World Cup in 1994 and the UEFA European Championship in 1980. The Euro Cup 2004 was the first major international tournament that Greece has ever reached the finals in and also win on home soil as the icing on the cake. They defeated Portugal with a score of 1-0 in the finals to take home the championship.
Greece and their wily German coach Otto Rehhagel rewrote the football history books in the summer of 2004 with their sensational European Championship triumph in Portugal. Dismissed as rank outsiders before the tournament, the Greek dream gathered momentum as some of the sport’s big names, including dethroned champions France, Czech Republic and finally hosts Portugal, succumbed to them.
German Coach Otto Rehhagel was widely acclaimed for plotting the path to glory. With his success of leading Greece to their first major title, Rehhegel was offered the job of head coach by the German Football Association to coach the German national team. However Rehhagel turned this offer down to lead Greece to the World Cup 2006 finals.
The Greeks had last appeared at the world finals in 1994 but had a absolutely terrible campaign in which they scored no goals and had no wins.
Returning to the European Championship in 2008 as the defending champions, there was high expectations for the Greek team, but did not fulfill those expectations by losing all three games of Round 1 in the tournament.
Despite the their failure, Rehhagel will be back behind the post as coach to lead Greece to South Africa 2010. Greece defeated Ukraine in the UEFA Group Stage playoff round with a final score of 1-0 in order to reach World Cup 2010. World Cup 2010 in South Africa will be their second World Cup appearance.
UEFA Group Stage Standings
| Team | Wins | Draws | Losses | Goals For | Goals Agst | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Spain (Q) | 10 | 0 | 0 | 28 | 5 | 30 |
| England (Q) | 9 | 0 | 1 | 34 | 6 | 27 |
| Germany (Q) | 8 | 2 | 0 | 26 | 5 | 26 |
| Netherlands (Q) | 8 | 0 | 0 | 17 | 2 | 24 |
| Italy (Q) | 7 | 3 | 0 | 18 | 7 | 24 |
| Serbia (Q) | 7 | 1 | 2 | 22 | 8 | 22 |
| Slovakia (Q) | 7 | 1 | 2 | 22 | 10 | 22 |
| Denmark (Q) | 6 | 3 | 1 | 16 | 5 | 21 |
| Switzerland (Q) | 6 | 3 | 1 | 18 | 8 | 21 |
| France (Q) | 6 | 3 | 1 | 18 | 9 | 21 |
| Greece (Q) | 6 | 2 | 2 | 20 | 10 | 20 |
Official Site: http://www.epo.gr
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