GREECE COULDN’T MANAGE THE KOREANS
Croatia’s main competition in Euro 2012 qualifying, Greece, had an absolutely horrible showing today in their World Cup opener against South Korea. In the 7th minute, Greece conceded a stupid foul by the corner flag and left a Korean wide open on the following free kick for the opening goal. Seven minutes into the second half, A Greek defender couldn’t handle a simple pass in the backfield and had it stripped away for a break away and 2-0 South Korea win.
GREEK DEFENSE IN SHAMBLES
If Greece plays like this during Euro qualification, I would fear Latvia and Israel more than them. Greece had no heart, speed or intelligence in this match against South Korea and will surely be bounced out of the World Cup as they still have to play Nigeria and Argentina; and I definitely don’t see them beating Maradona’s Argentina.
WILL IT BE A CAKEWALK FOR CROATIA OR IS IT STILL TOO EARLY TO TELL?
greece are a very poorman's italy, with no spark upfront and no creativity in the midfield. cro should dispense of them in euro qualifiers without much trouble. but what should happen and what will happen aren't always the same with the cro NT.
i was happy to see the US benefit from an english goalkeeping blunder the way cro did in zagreb in euro 08 qualifiers. classic. i watched the game with an old college teammate (from england). he was dismissive of US chances (as was all of England), but he was silent after green's flub. it was priceless.
i like the way the US team played. solid D with a few exceptions, and lots of hard work in the midfield. i hope they kick slovenia's ass.
F slovenia.
USA! USA! USA!
Aside from Gekas and Samaras, I really don't rate anyone else on the Greek team too highly. 75% is either pushing 30 or is 30+. If they keep a lot of these dudes (Chariesteas, Kyrgiakos, Karagounis, etc.) on for EURO 2012, we should run right through them, I feel. Hopefully, for Greece's sake, they have some youngsters in the fold or else they'll have an extremely hard time qualifying…and make life for us a lot easier! hahaha
But, their situation reminds me a lot of our situation post WC 1998. For EURO 2000and WC 2002, we were still hanging onto our Golden Generation and we paid the price for it, by stinking it up in both those tournaments.
Just watched a bit of a boring Slovenia game. If they win V U.S they'll actually through. Was watching Bostjan Cesar who has strong links with us and Mamic's agency and he just seems the ideal centre back for us. Gone to Chievo now, but we had a chance to sign him rather than wasting our time on Robert Kovac.
I hope you know if Croatia conducted themselves properly it should have been our slot. I do not rate Greece. This is a aging side with no special players. Sound very good players in their day, but i'm confident we'd beat them if everyones fit.
I was really rooting for U.S V England today. You've got to respect how U.S work so hard. They defending great and Tim Howard never looked like he'd get beat.
As for Robert Green, sorry but there is a reason why West Ham were nearly relegated and why Croats had a field day against him in the Prem. When Klasnic took the ball of him in the Bolton V West Ham game that should have been a message to Capello that he's got a dud keeper. i was happy to see England win, but its the English media over here. As soon as they started saying they are gonna win the world cup before the game started and said they'd win 4-1, you just suddenly feel happy to see England lose. The media over here are prats…
Yes Greece had a bad day, but I assure you it will be far, infact very far from a cakewalk if Cro play the way they did in WC Q's,There needs to be much improvement to assure we qualify, dont forget Croatia struggled with Ukraine not once but twice, & Greece managed to come out on top of Ukraine in a must win game..
By looking at the talent Cro has & comparing it with Greece,Israel,Latvia,then youd expect the group to be easy, But Then again after witnessing a 4-1,5-1 drubbing by the hands of England,& a sloppy WC Q's campaign, Cant be sure of anything at the moment with our Hrvatska..