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Georgious Karagounis: “What offended us were the lies”

19 June 2010 / 09:06:12  GRReporter
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A day after the victory of Greece over the team of Nigeria the joy of the success is still felt in the air. As if the national team sent the ball in the opponent's goal poast just minutes ago ... As it could have been expected the dark tone and serious criticism of the Greek media switched places with praise articles, in heartfelt patriotic tone. Both for the players and for Rehhagel. "Greece is not dieing", "Otto Rehhagel created a team following the "golden recipe" from 2004", "A completely different national team kept the dream alive" or "From the mountains of South Africa began... the revolution in the Greek football during 19th World Cup Championship" are just some of the comments of the media in connection with the huge success of the team. Almost everywhere are cited the words which the coach of Greece said minutes after the victory. About how the first goal was allowed to happen and how the team was nevertheless able to stand back up on its feet, to turn the score in its favor and to take control over the game.

Impressive was the fact that as the German said a while before the game George Papandreou himself wished success to him and to the team. Rehhagel said that success is not attributed to the fact that Greece had one player more in the game. "The team has lost a match when one player more played ", he stated clearly.

These lines of the German come in contrast to the cool greeting by the coach of Nigeria Lars Lagerbak. He argues that it is not seen with their eyes on the details of a punt kite, because the place which he held there was no visibility. Swede is not satisfied, however, judging from a Colombian Oscar Ruiz. "The bad thing is that you can participate only once every four years in the league for the World Cup. It is a pity that the results of matches depend on seconds of referee decisions. I am disappointed. Unfortunately this is the way things are ... Congratulations though to Greece "- told the media Lagerbak.

With one player more or not the victory is a victory. The success caused a wave of great joy among the Greek inhabitants in the South Africa. The 5-thousand fans who were at the stadium made a small festive party, which was at its top after the goal of Torosidis.

The joy from the success made the team captain George Karagounis to break his promise of silence and to "speak" before the end of the World Cup. "The age at which I am, I've had very difficult moments. When you do not play well it is reasonable to be criticized. What offended us, however were the lies. In the locker rooms there was no problem with no one ever argued with anybody. What was written offended us very much. As if everything that was written was not enough, but more things had to be said to make our team even worse" - commented Karagounis with obvious bitterness on the criticism of the Greek press. About the rumors that in the locker room some "painful truths" were said, about how his line, "I will speak after the World Cup" was misinterpreted and that a conflict was created between him and Rehhagel the captain said: "I have been playing in the national team for 18 years and I have never said anything about the coach. The fact that I was replaced made me very sad. Each of us, however, is professional and respects any decision of the coach." Explicit was also Torosidis. Minutes after the game he said: "We gave the answer to those who do not like us ... I dedicate this victory to all who believe in us. Only to them, as there are many others who do not believe in us. "

 How was Greece's victory reflected by the foreign media? This time the comments were more favorable... Most of the articles refer to the first victory of the country during a World Cup, but do not fail to focus on the removal of Kaita. BBC commented: "Greece won for the first time a game from the World Cup with a reversal of the outcome at the expense of Nigeria, which was due to the removal of Kaita in the first half". Courageous Greece made Nigeria to pay. Greece made a great coup to create a historic moment by defeating Nigeria with 2-1 in Bloemfontein" - reports Sky Sports. Uefa.com said: "Greece had an arritmetical advantage. The first two goals in Championship for the World Cup brought the first victory." "Vassilis Torosidis gave the first victory as a present to Greece after the meaningless action of Sani Kaita" - informs Goal.com. Here's how Reuters also commented on the victory: "Vassilis Torosidis scored the winning goal for Greece in the victory by 2-1 against Nigeria and sealed the first success in the league for the World Cup, keeping like this the hopes for qualification outside the B group".

Tags: sport football Karagounis World Cup Rehhagel
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