Soccer World Cup 2010 / Greece

This article covers the Greek national soccer team at the 2010 Soccer World Cup in South Africa .

qualification

The Greeks started successfully in the World Cup qualification with a clear victory in Luxembourg. In the following two games, Latvia and Moldova were also defeated. After the Greeks survived the first three games without conceding, the Swiss Alexander Frei broke this series in the following game. With a converted penalty just before the break, he gave the guests the lead. After Angelos Charisteas equalized, Blaise Nkufo ensured the victory of the Swiss national football team .

In the following two games against Israel , Greece recorded a draw in Ramat Gan and a few days later a home win in Heraklion. The second game against the Swiss also ended in defeat. Stéphane Grichting and Marco Padalino were recognized as goalscorers, while the Greek defender Loukas Vyntra was sent off the field. In the following game against Moldova, the Hellenes could not collect three points and had to be content with one point after the late equalizer. In the final two qualifying games, the team managed to retract two wins against Latvia and Luxembourg. Here cared Theofanis Gekas scored four goals against the Latvians almost single-handedly for the victory of the hosts after the Latvians had even led to the break.

After ten games in the group, Greece finished second and fought in two barrage games against Ukraine for participation in the World Cup. After the first leg in Athens ended goalless, Dimitrios Salpingidis provided the only goal of the game in the second leg. Greece qualified for the 2010 World Cup . Greece's top scorer during qualifying was Theofanis Gekas, who scored ten goals. Greece started the 2010 World Cup in a group with South Korea , Nigeria and Argentina .

rank	country	Gates	Points
1	Switzerland	18: 8	21st
2	Greece	20:10	20th
3	Latvia	18:15	17th
4th	Israel	20:10	16
5	Luxembourg	4:25	5
6th	Moldova	6:18	3

	Luxembourg - Greece		0: 3 (0: 2)
	Goal scorers: Vasilios Torosidis , Theofanis Gekas , Angelos Charisteas
	Latvia - Greece		0: 2 (0: 1)
	Goal scorers: Theofanis Gekas (2)
	Greece - Moldova		3: 0 (2: 0)
	Goal scorers: Angelos Charisteas (2), Konstantinos Katsouranis
	Greece - Switzerland		1: 2 (0: 1)
	Goal scorers: Angelos Charisteas ; Alexander Frei , Blaise Nkufo
	Israel - Greece		1: 1 (0: 1)
	Goalscorers: Omer Golan ; Theofanis Gekas
	Greece - Israel		2: 1 (1: 0)
	Goal scorers: Dimitrios Salpingidis ; Giorgos Samaras , Elyaniv Barda
	Switzerland - Greece		2: 0 (0: 0)
	Goal scorers: Stéphane Grichting , Marco Padalino
	Moldova - Greece		1: 1 (0: 1)
	Goal scorers: Valeriu Andronic ; Theofanis Gekas
	Greece - Latvia		5: 2 (1: 2)
	Goal scorers: Theofanis Gekas (4), Giorgos Samaras ; Māris Verpakovskis (2)
	Greece - Luxembourg		2: 1 (2: 0)
	Goal scorers: Vasilios Torosidis , Theofanis Gekas ; Avraam Papadopoulos (own goal)
	Greece - Ukraine		0: 0 (0: 0)
	Goal scorers: Nothing
	Ukraine - Greece		0: 1 (0: 1)
	Goal scorers: Dimitrios Salpingidis

Greek contingent

No.	Surname	Club before the start of the World Cup	birthday	Games	Gates
goalkeeper
1	Konstantinos Chalkias	PAOK Thessaloniki	05/30/1974	0	0	0	0	0
12	Alexandros Tzorvas	Panathinaikos Athens	08/12/1982	3	0	0	0	0
13	Michalis Sifakis	Aris Thessaloniki	09/09/1984	0	0	0	0	0
Defender
2	Georgios Seitaridis	Panathinaikos Athens	06/04/1981	1	0	0	0	0
4th	Nikolaos Spyropoulos	Panathinaikos Athens	10/10/1983	1	0	0	0	0
5	Evangelos Moras	Bologna FC	08/26/1981	1	0	0	0	0
8th	Avraam Papadopoulos	Olympiacos Piraeus	December 3rd, 1984	3	0	0	0	0
11	Loukas Vyntra	Panathinaikos Athens	02/05/1981	3	0	0	0	0
15th	Vasilios Torosidis	Olympiacos Piraeus	06/10/1985	3	1	1	0	0
16	Sotirios Kyrgiakos	Liverpool FC	07/23/1979	2	0	0	0	0
19th	Socratis	CFC genoa	06/09/1988	2	0	1	0	0
22nd	Stelios Malezas	PAOK Thessaloniki	03/11/1985	0	0	0	0	0
midfield player
3	Christos Patsatzoglou	Omonia Nicosia	03/19/1979	2	0	0	0	0
6th	Alexandros Tziolis	AC Siena	02/13/1985	3	0	1	0	0
10	Giorgos Karagounis	Panathinaikos Athens	03/06/1977	3	0	0	0	0
18th	Sotirios Ninis	Panathinaikos Athens	04/03/1990	2	0	0	0	0
21st	Konstantinos Katsouranis	Panathinaikos Athens	06/21/1979	3	0	1	0	0
23	Athanassios Prittas	Aris Thessaloniki	01/09/1979	0	0	0	0	0
striker
7th	Giorgos Samaras	Celtic Glasgow	02/21/1985	3	0	1	0	0
9	Angelos Charisteas	1. FC Nuremberg	02/09/1980	1	0	0	0	0
14th	Dimitrios Salpingidis	Panathinaikos Athens	08/18/1981	2	1	0	0	0
17th	Theofanis Gekas	Hertha BSC	May 23, 1980	2	0	0	0	0
20th	Pantelis Kapetanos	Steaua Bucharest	06/08/1983	1	0	0	0	0
Trainer
	Otto Rehhagel		08/09/1938

Games

Preliminary round

rank	country	Gates	Points
1	Argentina	7: 1	9
2	South Korea	5: 6	4th
3	Greece	2: 5	3
4th	Nigeria	3: 5	1

After the team lost the first game against South Korea, the win against Nigeria was not enough to advance, as the Greeks lost the game against group favorites Argentina, as expected. Nevertheless, it was the most successful World Cup participation of the Greeks so far, after they had been eliminated in 1994 without points and goalless. Coach Otto Rehhagel resigned as Greek national coach after almost nine years.

• Saturday, June 12, 2010, 1.30 p.m. in Port Elizabeth South Korea - Greece 2: 0 (1: 0)
   
• Thursday, June 17, 2010, 4 p.m. in Bloemfontein Greece - Nigeria 2: 1 (1: 1)
   
• Tuesday, June 22, 2010, 8.30 p.m. in Polokwane (Pietersburg) Greece - Argentina 0: 2 (0: 0)
   

Web links

• Results of the Greek national team during qualification
• All matches of the preliminary round at a glance
• Squad Greece

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Luxembourg - Greece (match report)
2. ↑ Greece - Switzerland (match report)
3. ↑ Switzerland - Greece (match report)
4. ↑ Moldova - Greece (match report)
5. ↑ Greece - Latvia (match report)
6. ↑ Ukraine - Greece (match report)