Greeks proud of Herculean efforts

If Greece can reach the quarter-finals, why can’t Ireland?

Greece’s heroic and romantic victory over Russia which guaranteed them a place in the quarter-finals of Euro 2012, eight years after they dramatically won the same tournament in Portugal, must have left supporters across Ireland screaming the same thing out loud: If they can do it, why can’t we?

They wouldn’t have been alone, however. Every small and mid-sized international team across the world has studied Greece’s results at some stage over the last decade and wondered what lessons could be learned from the way they have punched above their weight so hard and so consistently.

How does a country of only 11m people, with a domestic league ranked 11th in Europe and only 359,000 registered players, have a more successful record in modern international football than England, home of the multi-millionaire footballer and the richest most successful league on the planet?

On reflection, people were probably asking the same question of Jack Charlton’s boys back in the day; and the answer was Ireland had a settled and unique way of playing that every player bought into; backed by a remarkable team spirit.

Not everybody approved, of course; the big boys sneered and talked of long-ball tactics — but England were among the teams to pay the price before they realised it wasn’t just the system but the quality of the players that made Ireland so competitive.

So what of Greece? It’s easy to forget that, despite having the tag of underdogs, the Greeks went into Saturday’s match against Russia with several players in their squad who boast Champions League experience and who play for big European clubs ranging from Monaco to Schalke, Parma to Werder Bremen and Panathinaikos to Kaiserslautern.

Their five strikers have almost 270 caps between them and their population although small is still more than twice that of the Republic.

“We don’t really think of ourselves as underdogs but if that’s what people say, then so be it,” said midfielder Sotiris Ninis.

“We are not Brazil, we are not a big team. But we try all the time for the best. We have one way to play, the same for all of these years. We always try to play like this- and it works.”

In fairness to Giovanni Trapattoni that kind of intense team spirit and collective belief in a specific style of play was exactly what he was trying to achieve in Poland and Ukraine; but when it really mattered his tried and trusted defence didn’t perform as well as the Greeks, who were also able to use giant striker Giorgios Samaras as an effective hold-up man.

What the Irish didn’t have, either, was the ability to draw on the perceived lack of respect from their peers that seems to drive Greece on. Let’s face it, everybody loves the Boys in Green. It’s a fiesta when they play, a party for the world.

But the Greeks feel differently. “Not everybody shows us respect,” insisted Karagounis.

“But we have nothing to prove to anyone. Greece has such a history that is going to be really difficult for others to reach.

“What was decisive in our victory was our willingness to work for each other and to believe. We had all the soul and the heart.

“So much is happening back home for people and when we left Greece, we all said in one voice ‘We will give everything’. We will give everything either way, let alone now, when our compatriots don’t have the best of times.”

That’s the kind of passion and drive Ireland — and all teams — need to be successful against the odds; and the one consolation is Greece, at least, have shown anything is possible.