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German coach Otto Rehhagel led the defending European Champions Greece to the Euro 2008 through qualifying Group C, which they won comfortably with 7 points in front of Turkey. Greece had 10 wins,1 draw and 1 loss in the qualifying, scoring 25 goals and allowing 10, four of which against Turkey on March 24th 2007.
Drawn in Group D alongside Spain, Russia and Sweden, Greece will start their campaign on June 10th in Salzburg, Austria.
The Greek team is consisted of around half of the players that won the tournament under Otto Rehhagel in 2004 in Portugal. Although the usual formation is 4-3-3, Rehhagel might make a change in favour of 4-4-2 when facing stronger opponents at the tournament.
The team:
Veteran goalkeeper Antonios Nikopolidis (Olympiacos) appears certain for the goalkeeping duties, but Rehhagel also has the option to use Konstantinos Chalkias (Aris).
In the defence, Rehhagel prefers strength and height and has Traianos Dellas (AEK Athens) and Sotirios Kyrgiakos (Eintracht Frankfurt) for the role with Giourkas Seitaridis (Atletico Madrid) and Vasilis Torosidis (Olympiacos) on the left and right.
Captain Angelos Basinas (Mallorca) and Konstantinos Katsouranis (Benfica) will occupy central positions in the midfield, with Georgios Karagounis (Panathinaikos) further forward.
Theofanis Gekas (Leverkusen) has proven his striking abilities with 5 goals in the qualifying and looks set for one of the attacking roles, while Nikolaos Lymperopoulos (AEK Athens), and Angelos Charisteas (Nurnberg), both with 3 goals in qualifying, are other most serious options for Rehhagel.
Rehhagel likes putting a lot of pressure on the wings, and a header-strong striker like Charisteas fits perfectly with that strategy.
Coach profile:
Otto Rehhagel took over as the coach of the Greek national soccer team in 2001 and extended his contract in March this year until 2010.
Known as a good motivator he managed to transform the Greek team into a serious contender on the basis of collective play, without having any big names whatsoever.
Rehhagel played for Hertha Berlin and Kaiserslautern in the 60's and 70's, before starting his coaching career that took him to several Bundesliga teams, among which the most notable are Werder Bremen, Borussia Dortmund, Arminia Bielefield, Bayern Munich and Kaiserslautern.
He won the UEFA Cup Winner’s Cup with Werder in the season of 1991/92, as well as two Bundesliga titles and two German cups during his stay.
In his years with Bayern Munich, Rehhagel reached the Champions League finals in 95/96.
He also has a Bundesliga title with Kaiserslautern.
His biggest triumph on international level was leading Greece to the title at the Euro 2004.
Team record:
-Third appearance at the European Championships.
-Defending Champions from the Euro 2004.
-One appearance at the FIFA World Cup. Eliminated in the group stage at USA 94'.
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