It’s quite surprising that with a top ten FIFA ranking, Greece has only made it though to the qualifying stage of the World Cup twice.
Greece has failed to qualify for 15 World Cups – yep, that’s 15 world cups out of 18. That’s more than 60 years to get a proper game plan and workable team ready. Twice it didn’t enter the competition, in 1930 (the inaugural World Cup) and again in Brazil’s 1950 World Cup.
It wasn’t until the 1994 USA World Cup that Greece made its presence known in the main competition, even if it was short lived.
Greece qualified but bowed out in the group stages, losing all their matches and finishing bottom of their group on a 10 goal difference. But it’s no wonder the team couldn’t get its head above water, when they drew Group F, nicknamed “the group of death”. Runners up at the 1990 FIFA World Cup Argentina topped the list, 1990 semi-finalists Bulgaria came second and one of the strongest African teams, Nigeria, finished the death group.
Their second successful qualifying attempt was in 2010 at the South African Cup, but sadly it wasn’t much better than the 1994 result.
Greece was up against old foes, Nigeria and Argentina, and was joined by another powerhouse, South Korea.
Greece managed to one-up Nigeria with a 2-0, but failed against Argentina and South Korea, eventually finishing third, just shy of the two qualifying places.
Greece’s turbulent and sadly not very eventful World Cup campaigns are a testament to the harrowing qualifying rounds.
Some of the best clubs have suffered unexpected and avoidable losses, ruining their chances. Some group rounds have been so close that a mere point’s difference has meant disqualification.
Greece felt that pain in their 1998 World Cup qualifying tournament where the team finished only one point shy of second-placed Croatia after a 0-0 draw
with the eventual group winners, Denmark.
Their preparation, a new coach and a bit of luck saved them from an early retreat this year.
Their qualifying in the 2014 World Cup was once again on a knife’s edge when they failed to gain enough points to qualify outright.
Greece dropped points in just two of their 10 matches a 3-1 defeat away to Bosnia following a 0-0 draw between the sides.
They were the only slip-ups in a group also containing Slovakia, Lithuania, Latvia and Liechtenstein.
But the slip up was enough to force Greece to the play-off rounds, where it smashed Romania 4-2 on aggregate in the play-offs, with Kostas Mitroglou’s three goals making the team’s return to the World Cup official.
They will face a formidable group in June once again, but aren’t in the same boat as Australia.
South American giants, Colombia, Asia’s Japan and Africa’s Ivory Coast will be in the way of Greece qualifying for the finals. Hopes are high for the team to make it past their group, and in turn, make team history in the meantime.
*This article appeared in Neos Kosmos’ World Cup magazine on June 12.
