As the countdown to the first whistle of the 2014 World Cup continues, Forza Italian Football brings you everything you need to know about each of the 32 participants, including their previous quests for glory, some more memorable than others.
Today we turn to Greece, a country known not only for its beautiful beaches, olive produce, and rich history, but also with its passionate football fans, uncompetitive football league dominated by Olympiacos, winner in 16 of the last 18 Superleague seasons, and their shocking Euro 2004 title.
After missing on the first 14 World Cup editions, the Ethniki debuted on the big stage in 1994 in the United States. In their first ever Mundial fixture, Greece suffered a crushing 4-0 defeat to Argentina. Former Fiorentina and Roma forward Gabriel Batistuta netted a hat-trick in Antonis Minou’s goal and set the beginning of a rather dismal tournament for the Ethniki.
The fiasco against the Albiceleste was followed by another 4-0 loss to a Bulgarian team that went on to claim fourth place in the tournament, and a 2-0 loss to Nigeria.
Greece went on another dry spell and missed the competitions in France, Japan/South Korea, and Germany, but came around again in South Africa four years ago. Call it fate or coincedence, the Ethniki once again had to play Argentina and Nigeria, as well as South Korea.
They began their tournament in a similar manner as in 1994, by losing 2-0 to the Asian representatives on goals by Lee Jung-Soo and the captain Park Ji-Sung, who then played for Manchester United.
History was made seven days later when Greece came from behind to beat the Black Eagles of Nigeria 2-1, picking up their first ever points at a Mundial. The memorable goals came from current Roma player Vasilis Torosidis and Dimitris Salpingidis.
With a chance to advance from the group with a good result, the Euro 2004 champions were much more of a match for Argentina once the two teams met at the final day of group play. Although they worked the Albiceleste to their last muscle, Greece fell 2-0 on late goals from Martin Demichelis and Martin Palermo and once again exited the competition early on.
On their way to Brazil, the Ethniki just fell short of punching a direct ticket to the competition and had to go through play-offs despite collecting 25 points in their qualifying group. In the two-legged play-off, Greece were victorious 4-2 on aggregate against Balkan rival Romania and earned its third participation at World Cup finals.
Interestingly enough, although Greece entered the qualification process in a pot with teams such as Spain, Netherlands, Germany, the Balkan country, which was ranked No. 10 in the world in May 2014, is considered by betting houses as one of the underdogs in Brazil.
The betting house Skybet calculates the odds of Greece winning the World Cup to 200/1, the highest among all European countries in the tournament. Teams like Switzerland, Ecuador, Japan, and newcomers Bosnia and Herzegovina are some of the teams thought to have better chance to lift the trophy in mid-July.
However, Greece already managed to shock the football world once. Given their group opponents, the Ethniki may just need a little bit of third-time lucky charm to make history and advance beyond the group stage.
