footballspectator

…or at least they should! Tonight’s 4-2 defeat to Valencia, for whom Fernando Morientes scored a hat-trick, was the upteenth time that the team had conceded crucial goals in the final 5 minutes of a European match.

In 2004, a last minute goal from Gerrard gave Liverpool a 3-1 win and qualification from the group stages which eventually lead to them lifting the trophy. Last September, Thrilos conceded a goal in the 88th minute away to Real Madrid, which resulted in a 2-1 loss. In October, Kafes looked to have given Olympiakos a point in the 84th minute, but Govou had other ideas, an 89th minute goal giving the French Champions a 2-1 win also. Then in November, a Helstad goal in the 88th minute gave Rosenborg a point in Trondheim, 1-1 the final score.
Then tonight, with 5 minutes left, the match was being drawn 2-2. Up comes Albiol and it’s 3-2. Just to make sure Morientes heads in another for good measure in the 89th minute……

Lack of concentration or poor fitness? It’s probably more to do with the fact in the Greek Super League, Olympiakos don’t have to concentrate for more than 60-70 minutes to win a  match, such is the lack of competition.

I am talking here about two examples - Claude Makelele and Theo Zagorakis. Makelele said that he wanted to retire after Germany 2006. Fair enough - he is 33 after all and no one can say he has not given his all for Les Bleus. In fact he has already retired once before, after Euro 2004, but Domenech convinced him to reconsider. Without his presence and that of ZZ and Thuram (who also came out of retirement) France would probably not have qualified for Germany. You would have thought therefore that the least Makelele could expect would be for his wish to retire this time to be respected. Instead Domenech (who in my opinion was more of a hindrance than a help during France’s World Cup run) picks him .

Let’s now turn to Zagorakis who hasn’t had a decent game in over a year. He was surprised to be called up by Rehhagel having intimated that he no longer thought he was up to the task of playing international football and wanted to go out on a high. He was even more shocked to see his name in the starting line-up of Greece’s qualifier away to Moldova. Clearly off the pace, he asked to be substituted at half-time. Again, here is a player that has given his all for the national cause and who has earned the right to leave at the top of his game, but is not being allowed to.

Let me ask you this. If your employer were to give you a new and exciting piece of work to do once you had resigned, would you give your all? would you be motivated to do your best and bust a gut? probably not. Your mind would be focussed on your new job. You would have no incentive. However, because of their fame and the fact that patriotism is a strong emotion, these players are being forced to. The stigma of being unpariotic is too great.

So why do these coaches do this? Maybe they are worried about a lack of alternatives - more believable in the case of Greece but unlikely. For me it shows a lack of respect toward players who have helped them achieve their success.

Manchester United are apparently interested in 6 Juventus players: Gianluigi Buffon, Gianluca Zambrotta, Patrick Vieira, Fabio Cannavaro, Emerson and Lilian Thuram. Alex Ferguson said, “We were waiting to see what the situation with Juventus was. Now we know in which direction to go in terms of inquiries and, possibly, definitive offers for one or two players“.

However, according to AS, Ferguson may be too late for at least three of these. Real Madrid’s Sporting Director Predrag Mijatovic is in Turin to finalise the signings of Cannavaro, Emerson and Zambrotta. He will meet with Juve officials tomorrow to negotiate the final price - Juve are asking for €40 million and Real’s current offer is €30 million for all three. Mijatovic may also pick up Cristiano Zanetti, a favourite of Capello. These players may be joined at Real by Ruud Van Nistelrooy and Kaka.
To add a further twist Zambrotta’s agent says that his client would rather stay in Italy with AC Milan his destination. He may be joined there by Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who Carlo Ancelotti believes is the ideal partner for Alberto Gilardino.

Inter have had a €38 million bid for Fernando Torres rejected by Real Madrid. Torres is also wanted by Manchester United to replace the outgoing Van Nistelrooy. But new coach Javier Aguirre has insisted that Torres is not for sale. Marseille chairman Pape Diouf has issued similar statement regarding World Cup star Franck Ribery.

Javier Saviola’s agent has said that his client will either stay at Sevilla or move to Panathinaikos after Arsene Wenger declared yesterday that he was not interested in signing the player. Saviola spent last year on loan in Seville from Barcelona who are keen to offload the Argentine. Other players on the way are Jared Borgetti from Bolton to possibly Racing Santander and Liverpool duo Jan Kromkamp (a PSV target) and Djimi Traore who may go to Bolton or Charlton.

Finally tow players who completed moves today were Holland’s Denny Landzaat who joins Wigan from AZ Alkmaar and Croatian World Cup playmaker Niko Kranjcar who is moving to Celta Vigo from Hajduk Split.

In an interview with Greek sports newspaper Protathlitis, Brazilian legend Rivaldo, who has spent the last two years in Greece with Olympiakos, said that this year will most likely be his last in the game because he was, “tired of playing so many matches and of so much pre-season training“.

In truth Rivaldo’s career has been in decline since his glory days at Barcelona in the late 90s when he helped the Catalan giants to successive championships and also won World and European player of the year. He was part of the fearsome 3R attacking trident at the 2002 World Cup along with Ronaldo and Ronadinho. He then moved to Milan but never managed to reproduce his Barca form. After a brief stint in Brazil he returned to Europe and the promise of the Champions League with Olympiakos. However like compatriot Giovanni, Rivaldo seemed to find the Greek football dull. He performed when he had to - in Europe and in the derby matches against AEK and Panathinaikos. This would buy him enough time with the fans who would then ignore his mediocre games against teams like OFI, Kallithea or Egaleo when it was obvious he could not be bothered. However, even in his better games with thrilos he was a shadow of the player we all knew. Let’s face it, if he wasn’t, he would not be playing in Greece. So well done Rivaldo for finally bowing out while we can still remember your undoubted qualities! For those of you that can’t,  here’s a taste of Ribo at his peak: his hat-trick goal in the 88th minute at the end of the 2000-2001 season which guaranteed Barcelona Champions League football:

What a difference a year (or two) makes. Two summers ago Greece were celebrating being crowned European champions. A year later, they are left wondering when they will play international football again as FIFA suspended them from all international competition over government interference in the sport. The ban extends to the involvement in international club competitions. A spokesman for the Hellenic Football Federation claimed that “it was not something we had expected“. This is a strange statement to make given that FIFA had warned that a ban would follow as early as 2004 unless the state stopped interfering. Instead of heeding the warning however, the Greek sports minister George Orfanos introduced a law effectively legalising state intervention in the sport. Since then there has been constant bickering between the HFF and the government leading to today’s embarrassing outcome. Only in Greece….

Australia 1, Greece 0. Admittedly a friendly, but yet another defeat and goalless performance from European champions Greece on Thursday. Undoubtedly victory against all the odds at Euro 2004 was the outstanding moment in Greece’s sporting history, eclipsing even the iconic 1987 European basketball championship, Greece’s first major international team sport title. Results since have been poor. The World Cup qualifying campaign got off to a terrible start against Albania in Tirana with a lacklustre which included gifting 2 goals, ended in a 2-1 defeat. and never really improved. This was followed shortly by a series of hapless performances in the Confederations Cup. Has Rehhakles lost his magic touch?

One reason for Greece’s recent failure is that since Euro 2004, the catenaccio style which was used there so successfully has been taken to another extreme - the argument apparently being “if it worked well let’s do more of it”. Unfortunately two major problems are de-railing this plan. First the goals (of which there were few anyway) have dried up for one of the Euro heroes Angelos Charisteas. Second the defence has aged and become injury-prone meaning it is no longer as disciplined as before. The combined effect is that when a goal is conceded, Greece are in real trouble, lacking the creativity and pace to really trouble top-class opposition.

A second reason for Greece’s demise is the Greek mentality. Greeks tend to perform better when nothing is expected of them - witness a rousing performance at Old Trafford in 2001, in which victory was only denied as a result of some dubious refereeing and a superb performance by Beckham. Witness also Euro 2004 - the only game in which Greece really struggled was the final group match against Russia, which they were expected to win. The pressure this created almost resulted in elimination. Forward wind to the post Euro 2004 and this expectation is now constant - Greece are the European Champions after all, a tag they are struggling with.

Finally and most importantly, the team is old and in need of an overhaul. Captain marvel Zagorakis is now 34. Stelios Giannakopoulos, arguably Greece’s most successful export is 32. Dellas, Basinas, Kapsis and Vryzas are all the wrong side of 30 as well. Unearthing these gems of the future is particularly difficult in a country where players are often considered “emerging talents” until the age of 25 or 26 and where the pressure for success on managers is so great (many clubs changecoach at least 3-4 times per year) that it is preferable to bring in a cheap but experienced Brazilian import than a raw but talented youngster.

So what next for Greece and Rehhagel? Following World Cup elimination, Rehhagel’s star has waned considerably among the fickle Greek press, who are quick to point out his mistakes but who appear oblivious to reality. Victory did not turn the players into Ronaldinhos or Zidanes overnight, as highlighted by the fact that no player from that squad joined a really big club post tournament. The key to victory was organisation and discipline, two words you would not readily associated with the Greek temperament, were the foundation of success and demonstrate the value of Rehhagel’s work. The Greek press now seem to have forgotten this however. Yes there need to be some changes and younger players do need to be brought in - some such as Manchester City’s Georgios Samaras altready have been with considerable success. But if Greek football is to have lasting success, the changes really need to come from the big club sides: Olympiakos, Panathinaikos and AEK in the form of nurturing young talent and giving it its chance rather than imorting expensive has-beens such as Flavio Conceicao and Emerson.

As for Rehhakles, he would be better of retiring now because if poor results continue, Greece’s most successful coach is likely to be remembered as a failure in the illogical world of Greek football.