UEFA Euro 2012

Can Greece repeat their shock triumph of 2004? No…I think they’ll do well to qualify for the knockout stage.

The country’s Portuguese coach, Fernando Santos, has changed the team’s style of play slightly since taking over a year or so ago.

It has a more controlled look about it right now, while the team he inherited was based around a rock solid defence.

Having said that, the current back four set-up has remained pretty miserly under Santos, conceding just five goals in ten qualifying games.

Highly-rated Schalke 04 centre-back Kyriakos Papadopoulos has impressed observers with his maturity and he will be a key figure at the heart of the Greek defence.

Santos asks his defenders to try to build from the back, allowing the midfielders to take over and then hopefully create (or attempt to create) a chance for the striker.

Sounds easy, doesn’t it?

But Greece, unlike several other top-line countries, simply do not have many naturally gifted and/or world class footballers.

“We don’t have the big stars” said Santos. That’s true, but the players they have certainly give it a go, men like giant striker Giorgos Samaras (Celtic) and Giorgos Karagounis and Kostas Katsouranis, who all played in 2004.

Unfortunately, I doubt whether one of their best midfielders, Albanian-born Sotiris Ninis, who suffered serious a ligament injury against Israel last September, will be 100 per-cent fit.

If he isn’t, then Greece will struggle. NB: Unbeaten in their qualifying campaign, winning seven of their ten matches, including victories over Croatia, Georgia, Latvia, Israel, Malta. Greece scored only scored 14 goals, fewer than any other side who qualified for Euro 2012.