Maniatis: This is about football, not politics

Greece’s Euro 2012 squad may have spent more time watching election results on Sunday than they did studying Germany’s victory over Denmark, but insist they wanted to keep politics out of their Euro 2012 quarter-final.

The Greeks, shock qualifiers ahead of Russia and Poland, face Germany on Friday in the Baltic coast city of Gdansk in a quarter-final that pits the euro zone’s most troubled nation against its rich paymaster.

“No, this will not have an impact, its football we’re talking about, its sport,” midfielder Giannis Maniatis insisted. “The most important thing for us is to give some happiness to the Greek people, to make them celebrate in the street, given everything going on.”

A Greek election result on Sunday headed off for now the prospect of an exit from the euro which could have profound consequences for the European financial system.

But that has not eased anger in Athens at Germany’s enforcing of strict conditions for its international bailout which have crippled Greek households — or anger in Berlin at what many see as the country’s irresponsible financial past. “They (the Germans) have in their mind that the whole situation is about politics,” team spokesman Panos Korkodilos said.

“It is not. It is just football. This is their character, not ours, we are not saying anything about this.”

The Greeks, written off before squeezing through the group stages thanks to victory over one of the tournament favourites Russia, were also bullish about their chances against a German team who have won all their games.

“It is a major achievement. We fulfilled the first of our targets even after we had injuries and some other unfortunate incidents in the games,” midfielder Grigoris Makos said.

“Of course we respect them but we are not afraid of them. We will look them in the eyes and fight.”