Can Greece recreate History?

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Greece were in one of the easiest groups in the Euro 2012 qualifiers. They got off to a poor start dropping two valuable points against lowly Georgia after being held 1-1 at home.

But they recovered strongly from the early setback to remain unbeaten throughout the campaign and pip Croatia to the top spot.

With two games still remaining to be played Greece earned a well-deserved 2-0 win over Croatia that helped them reach the top of their group.

With the country’s economy on the ropes, the whole of Greece will be hoping against hope for a repeat of the 2004 miracle.

In the year of the Olympics Greece are in the news for all the wrong reasons and they would be hoping that their football team would give them something to cheer about.

Having qualified for the European Championships just once prior to Euro 2004, Greece, who had caused a major upset against France in the quarter-final, stunned the world of football by beating hosts Portugal 1-0 in the final in Lisbon to pull off one of the biggest shocks in the history of the competition.

The success at Portugal remains the only time Greece have managed to progress past the group stage. In fact, they hadn’t won a match either in the Euros or the World Cup prior to 2004.

After the resignation of their inspirational manager Otto Rehhagel, who masterminded their Euro 2004 triumph,the Hellenic Football Federation appointed Fernando Santos as the new boss.

Despite being handed the tough task of replacing Rehhagel, Santos has enjoyed a remarkable start to life in international football, remaining unbeaten in his first 17 matches before suffering a 3-1 friendly defeat to Romania.

Unlike predecessor Rehhagel, the experienced Portuguese, who dramatically transformed the fortunes of Greek club PAOK before taking the national team job, has demonstrated that he is not afraid to give opportunities to younger players, even handing a debut to 17-year-old Panathinaikos goalkeeper Stefanos Kapino.

Manager: Fernando Santos: Following in the footsteps of Otto Rehhagel could have been a tough proposition for Fernando Santos but the 57-year-old has had little difficulty filling the shoes of “King Otto”.

What particularly held him in good stead was Santos knows Greek football inside out, having previously managed AEK Athens, Panathinaikos and PAOK, who he guided to the Champions League in 2010.

Player to watch: Vasilis Torosidis: The young Torosidis has drawn the attention of some of Europe’s biggest clubs since establishing himself as a regular for both Olympiakos and Greece, with Roma and Bayern Munich all believed to have expressed an interest in the last few years.

The Olympiakos defender, who won the 2010 Greek Football Player of the Year award, has already made history for the national team, scoring the winning goal in his side’s 2-1 victory over Nigeria at the World Cup in South Africa — Greece’s maiden victory in the tournament.

Group A: Greece, Poland, the Czech Republic and Russia.
Fixtures: June 8: vs Poland. June 12: vs Czech Republic. June 16: vs Russia.