Greek miracle

In one of the biggest shocks in soccer history, Greece won the European championship by defeating hosts Portugal by 1-0; that feat was given 100-1 odds before the tournament. If you'd ranked all 16 participants before the tournament, Greece would've been the greatest outsiders, save newcomers Latvia.

What made this triumph so enormous was Greece's soccer history. Or lack thereof. Not only had they never won a major tournament. They'd never won A GAME in a major tournament before this year. Their only previous major tournament participations were Euro 1980 and World Cup 1994. In those, they combined for 0 wins, 5 losses, 1 draw... scoring 1 goal and allowing 14.

The Greeks won on defense and organization. There were hard tackles and catenaccio and 10 men behind the ball. Greek games weren't pretty. But coach Otto Reihagel had them doing exactly what they needed to be doing. They didn't have the personnel to offer beautiful flowing play or Total Football. They had Zagorakis (former Leicester City man) and Trellas, not Figo and Zidane.

The triumph of Greece was the triumph of teamwork and unity over individual talent. It was a bit like the Pistons crushing the Lakers in the NBA Finals, except several magnitudes more shocking.

But as shocking as the Greece's championship was, it was not, by any stretch, lucky. In the knockout stages of the tournament, they defeated, in order, the defending champions (France), the favorites (Czech Republic) and the host nation (Portugal). According to FIFA's world ranking, Greece beat the #1, #7 and #11 teams in Europe, in consecutive matches, without conceding a goal. In the opening round, they drew against Spain (#2). Lightning doesn't strike that often in one month. In other words, Greece played the best teams in Europe and none could beat them. Pretty or not, they are deserving champions.

It's tough for me to give credit to Greece, though I obviously have to. I'm as apt to support the underdog as I am to cringe at negative, cynical football. It would be nice if the underdogs could play nice, flowing soccer, though that's not always possible. Though in World Cup 2002, I was pleased to see smaller (soccer) nations like South Korea and the USA progress deep into the tournament while maintaining an attacking mentality. It's always nice to see the self-important 'big boys' get a stick in the eye every once in a while.

Frank over at Internet Commentator speculates that the Greek win might shake up complacency among soccer's powers.

As for whether this is a triumph for football, the answer is: It depends. The danger for football is not, as one might imagine, that coaches will en masse, abandon exciting attacking football and embrace catenaccio. Many of the "big" teams who failed did so not because they were insufficiently cautious. The effect of the Greek win will surely embolden other "small" countries and encourage them to be more positive. In future, few "small" teams will display the attitude which so frustrated Roy Keane when he detected it in Ireland's 2002 squad, of being simply "happy to be there". "If Greece can win it", the new motto should be, "so can we". A more open competition should be more appealing to punters than a fixup between the powerful countries.

This Greek win presents those powerful countries with an opportunity and the danger for football lies in which course of action they choose. What they should do is get better, improve their game, live up to their reputations. If the existing manager is no good, sack him. If a player is unfit, drop him until he proves his fitness. There should be no "automatic selections", there should be no room for complacency. The "big" countries' failure was the aggregate of individual failures. It will be good for football if, in an act of "creative destruction", the Greek win has exposed the big countries' weaknesses and the teams which emerge are leaner, meaner.