The Dutch national team will meet Greece on Thursday evening, which is yearning for its first final tournament in ten years. For the 2004 European champion, it would be the crowning achievement of the path taken earlier under John van ‘t Schip. “He had to completely rebuild us.”
Whoever thinks of the Greek national team probably immediately comes to the goal of Angelos Charisteas in the final of the European Championship 2004. To everyone’s surprise, he gave his country the European title. Until 2014, the Greek football team built on the European Championship success, by qualifying for all final tournaments except for the 2006 World Cup.
But in 2023 the situation is very different. Greece has been waiting for nine years to participate in a European or World Cup. “We have fallen a long way after our last World Cup participation,” says Panos Bletsos, a football commentator for the Greek public broadcaster ERT.
In recent years, the Greek national team has set the line up again and in the current qualifying series it is also participating for a European Championship ticket. According to Bletsos, this is partly due to Van ‘t Schip. He was national coach of Greece from July 2019 to the end of 2021. According to Bletsos, the 59-year-old Dutchman has caused a change.
“He had to rebuild us completely,” says Bletsos. The journalist says that Greece plays defensively by nature and that is how it won the European Championship almost twenty years ago. “Under Van ‘t Schip we started to play more daring.” According to Bletsos, Van ‘t Schip made a unity of the Greek team and selected firmly.
At the time, he regularly called up relatively unknown players such as Vangelis Pavlidis and Pantelis Hatzidiakos, who then played for Willem II and AZ. They are now supporting forces within the Greek team. “He has helped the Greek national team move forward,” says journalist Dimitris Tomaras, who follows the national team for the sports website Journal.
Pantelis Hatzidiakos (right), who exchanged AZ for Bologna this summer, in a duel with the Frenchman Olivier Giroud. Photo: Getty Images
Poyet continues where Van ‘t Schip left off
The fact that Van ‘t Schip chose to exclude bigger names from the selection could not always count on the approval of the Greek people. Tomaras: “He has not selected experienced defenders such as Kostas Manolas (former AS Roma) and Sokratis Papastathopoulos (former Arsenal). There were serious questions about that.”
The Dutch trainer was therefore not popular with every Greek. He alternated good results against, for example, Spain (1-1 draw) and Sweden (2-1 win) with lesser results against weaker countries. Partly because of this, Van ‘t Schip did not qualify for the 2020 European Championship and the 2022 World Cup with the Greek team.
In 2021, he chose not to renew his contract expiring at the end of the year. The passionate Uruguayan Gustavo Poyet succeeded him. “He continued on Van ‘t Schip’s path and then took the Greek national team one step further,” says Bletsos.
Although Poyet is criticized in Greece for not selecting several talented players and Olympiacos midfielder Kostas Fortounis, he seems to be doing well. The Greeks convincingly won their Nations League group last year.
In this European Championship qualifying series, the team of Poyet defeated al Gibraltar (3-0) and Ireland (2-1) and defended itself valiantly on a visit to France (1-0 defeat). In comparison: the Dutch national team got away well in the Stade de France with a 4-0 defeat.
Greek internationals with an Eredivisie past
Konstantinos Tsimikas (Willem II) Dimitris Limnios (FC Twente) Lazaros Rota (Fortuna Sittard) Vangelis Pavlidis (AZ, heden) Pantelis Hatzidiakos (AZ) Giorgos Giakoumakis (VVV-Venlo)
“The players walk across the field with a smile again”
According to Bletsos, the strength of this Greece is that the team consists of a good mix of experienced and young players and that many internationals are active abroad. This group includes six players with a past in the Netherlands.
Including Pavlidis and Hatzidiakos, but also former Eredivisie top scorer Giorgos Giakoumakis and former Willem II back Konstantinos Tsimikas. “He now plays for Liverpool and is a very important player for us. Our defense is the best line anyway,” says Tomaras.
Although Greece will miss Konstantinos Mavropanos on Thursday, who moved to West Ham United for 25 million euros this summer. The central defender has been suspended after his red card in the duel with France. Attacking midfielder and captain Anastasios Bakasetas (main photo) is present. “All our attacks go through him. He is a player to watch,” says Tomaras.
The Greeks believe in a good result in the important duel with the Orange. Although the enormous yearning for a final tournament is a potential pitfall. “The pressure is therefore very high. The experienced guys can handle that, but I wonder if everyone can do that,” says Tomaras.
If the Greeks eventually qualify for the 2024 European Championship in Germany, Van ‘t Schip can also be proud, according to Bletsos. “The Greek players walk across the field with a smile again. Van ‘t Schip has laid an important foundation.”
Presumed lineup Greece
Vlachodimos? Baldock, Hatzidiakos, Koulierakis, Tsimikas; Siopis, Kourbelis; Masouras, Bakasetas, Mantalos; Giakoumakis.
Standings group B European Championship qualification
1. France 4-12 (+9)
2. Greece 3-6 (+3)
3. Ireland 3-3 (+1)
4. Netherlands 2-3 (-1)
5. Gibraltar 4-0 (-12)
2023-09-07 02:59:49
#Greeks #dream #Van #Schip #laid #foundation #Football
