In a country spiritually and economically shattered by the imposed austerity, beating the tournament's strongest team Germany in the quarter-finals will provide it with new pride
'We are a fighting team. When we are together, no one can stop us,' says Greece's talisman Giorgos Karagounis. Photograph: Sampics/Corbis
The Greeks were happy last Saturday and it was due to their national football team and the efforts of Georgios Samaras against the Russian defence. The next day there was another Samaras, namely Antonis Samaras, the leader of New Democracy, who made the Germans, among other European countries, quite happy by winning the Greek general election by a marginal 2.5%, a victory that resulted in a "yes" on the "yes or no to the euro" pseudo-dilemma.
But there never really was a dilemma. Greeks want to stay in the euro and they will fight for their right to be in it. Despite the "lazy and corrupt" stereotypes that are attached to them lately, there is a young, well-educated generation who are working hard and are not afraid of bruises while working their way through austerity and reform.
This is the mentality of the Greek national team and their players. They don't have the talent of the Dutch, they don't possess the flair of the Spaniards, they didn't inherit the footballing culture of the Italians, they don't even have the automated style of play of the Germans. But they have a fighting spirit and refuse to give up without giving their all.
"We are a fighting team. When we are together, no one can stop us," said the man of the match against Russia, the team captain and Euro 2004 champion Giorgos Karagounis.
The Greek team are at their best when they are the underdogs, when they feel cornered and are up against a villain that they must prove wrong. In the opening game against Poland, it was the referee who sent off Sokratis Papastathopoulos following two harsh, yellow cards. It gave the team the shock they needed and Greece produced a stunning second half, scoring once, missing a penalty and having a goal disallowed for offside while being a man down most of the game.
On their way back from the subsequent defeat to the Czech Republic they asked the pilot to wait on the Wroclaw tarmac for a couple of minutes until the other game in the group, Poland v Russia, had ended and as soon as it did they started discussing the possibility of a win over the Russians in the third match ensuring qualification.
For this game the villain came from within their ranks. A former member of the squad and part of the Euro 2004-winning team had criticised them on national television. That was it. They repelled attack after attack from their superior opponents before, just as the referee was preparing to blow the whistle for half-time, the Russians lost concentration, allowing Karagounis to run clear and power a shot into the back of the net. For the first time in years, Greeks were out in unison on the streets, not to protest against the government's harsh measures or to join a public sector strike but to celebrate a much-needed moment of joy.
And then there was Germany. The team who have won all three of their group stage games and before that achieved 10 wins in a row during theEuro 2012 qualification campaign. The team Greece have faced eight times in the past without victory. The team who are representing the country seen by many, not necessarily objectively, as the driving force behind the European Union and its enormous pressure on Greece and its people.
The political and economic chemistry may be off-kilter and the Greek and German governments may not be getting along smoothly as of late but, football-wise, they have never been closer.
The Greece squad have two footballers raised in Germany (Kostas Mitroglou and Jose Holebas), four who are playing there (Kyriakos Papadopoulos, Sokratis Papastathopoulos, Kostas Fortounis and Giorgos Tzavellas) and two more who have played there in the past (Nikos Liberopoulos and Fanis Gekas), with one of them, Gekas, having previously won the Bundesliga Golden Boot. Otto Rehhagel, the German coach who led the Greek team to their Euro 2004 moment of glory, will attest to the strong ties between the two countries. And so will the Greek fans who even today call him "König" (king), or its Greek equivalent "Vasilias".
But what do the Germans believe about their quarter-final opponents? "The Greeks are the champions of efficiency," Joachim Löw said. He was not referring to the state of the Greek economy but was making a point of how the Greeks capitalise on the few goal chances they create, having a better ratio than – gasp – the Germans.
When he was asked to comment on the political situation between the two countries, Löw said: "We have decided that Angela Merkel will not be commenting on football and I will not be commenting on politics. We remain focused on football." He clearly did not include a "do not attend" clause in that agreement since the German chancellor will after all be attending the Germany-Greece game, her first of the tournament, after her Italian counterpart conveniently agreed to move the time of their Friday meeting.
Quick to react to the news of her presence, the Greek Tourism Bureau has, according to Contra.gr, contacted all major TV networks in order to make sure that the crowd volume will be set at its lowest while the German national anthem plays, due to fears that Greek fans in the stadium will jeer. Admittedly, not the country's finest hour.
But in that hour of need, the Greeks have found a Portuguese ally. It is Fernando Santos, the national team's coach. He witnessed the Greek triumph in 2004 against his motherland as a commentator for a Portuguese TV channel before working for AEK, Benfica and PAOK. As the Greeks have been saying this week: "In 2004 a Portuguese saw a German coach guide us to victory against Portugal. This time it's a Portuguese coach that is asked to guide us to victory against Germany." How does Santos feel about that? "I feel Greek. And as a Greek I can promise you that whoever wishes to beat us has to try as hard as he can and then some more in order to have a chance of doing so."
On Sunday Santos was asked by a British journalist to comment on certain remarks made by Merkel that were deemed derogatory by the Greek public. "Greece is where it all started and people ought to respect that … What inspires us, what inspired my team are not remarks of that type but the huge history of Greece and we take lessons from no one on that."
Santos is no fool, his patriotic war cries are a result of his deep knowledge of the Greek mentality. He knows that in order for his team to win, they need a villain and they need a footballing miracle. The mighty Germans can provide both. In a country spiritually and economically shattered by the imposed austerity, beating the tournament's strongest team will provide it with new pride and may be the first step to a recovery – just like the Germans enjoyed when they beat the Mighty Magyars in the 1954 "miracle of Berne" World Cup final.
Stavros Drakoularakos is a writer for Sport24.gr and a contributor to theGuardian Experts' Network. You can also follow him on Twitter.
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