Other in our group (Group 9) are Albania, England, Finland and Germany. The way I see it, taking into account...

a) the fact that in the past 4-5 years, (which is after WC 94, probably the last time you saw us), Greek footballers' level has risen dramatically to an international level (we have seen, for instance, Tsartas with Sevilla, Machlas with Vitesse and Ajax, Dabizas and Georgiades with Newcastle, Zagorakis with Lester, Georgatos with Inter and of course the likes of Choutos, Eleftheropoulos, Lyberopoulos and Nikolaides)

b) the recent performances in friendly matches under probably our best coach in years (V. Daniil)

c) the non-existance of Finnish and Albanian football and the tragic performances of England (which could improve in time, though) and Germany (which stands no chance of improving) at EURO 2000

...Greece should have an easy time quallifying for the World Cup.

Just wait until September 2nd when, at Hamburg, we will crush Germany by 2 goals.


[This message has been edited by PAOK F.C. Fan (edited 06-30-2000).]

whooaa, easy big fella...nothing's easy in football these days...despite disapointing performances at Euro2000, England and Germany are still stronger than Greece, and don't underestimate Finland, thier football has improved a lot in recent years and they have players like Litmanen, Kotilla, and Forsell who can score and win games. Anyways, good luck to Greece.

Dabizas is a brilliant player, but I don't think Georgiades plays for us (Newcastle) anymore.

Isn't he at Panathinaikos?

Kill4Benfica,
U also forget the 2nd best defender in the Premiership - Sami Hyypia - he's Finnish too. http://www.soccergaming.com/ubb/smile.gif

I tottaly agree with PAOKfan. Our football has changed dramatically since the 94WC. Then only one or two players played abroad. Now it is a tottal of 64 playeng on ellite teams around europe, some are even the backbone of there clubs. I won't say much about the future but our game has totally changed for the better. Even our clubs Olympiakos, Panathinaikos and AEK are amongst the big teams in europe, once upon a time tems hoped to play against them in european cups, not anymore though, they try to avoid them as much as they can. The league has also improved dramatically. Its no longer a to man horse race against Olympiakos and Panathinaikos. Teams like PAOK and Iraklis are throwing tons of money at players and are making exellent squads. Big name players are also comming to play for the teams like Giovanni, Zetterberg, Ze Ellias, Vlaovic, Paolo Sousa and more. As far as the national tem, well I think this time around they have right, they have good chemistry.

Benfica, you call Kottila a good player? Nonsense! He played for us in Brann for a season and he hardly scored one goal! He is a lousy player.
And, you now, Greece won't go through! They just aren't good enough!

BTW, a_shearer, we (PAOK) got Georgiades last summer

Guys I agree with u that we can qualify and that Greek Football has gotton ALOT better since WC 94,but to say it like it's gonna be a walk in the park is automatic defeat!!! WE HAVE TO GO IN THERE WITH A FIGHTING SPIRIT!! The talent is there and now so is the coach.We just need to put is together!

But please,don't act like it will be nothing!It's still Germany and England!Finland has always been no pushover,and we tied Albania 0-0 in EURO 2000!We haven't qualified yet.....