Team Greece has begun its defence of the All Nations title with an emphatic 3-0 victory over France.
Three first-half goals from Christo Theodorakopoulos and two from Trent Skapetis gave the defending champions an insurmountable lead at halftime, which ultimately sealed their win.
Coach Kon Tangalakis expressed his contentment with the result.
“After a long football season, it’s always challenging to get the boys up and running for an end-of-season tournament. However, they take immense pride in playing for Team Greece, which makes my job much easier,” Tangalakis said.
“I’m proud of today’s performance, but we’re aware that we’ve been drawn into a tough group, and defending our title won’t be an easy task. We’ve assembled a young and highly talented squad of Greek players and look forward to the weeks ahead.”
The president of the Greek Community, Bill Papastergiadis, was also present to support the team and shared his thoughts following their win.
“Today, we witnessed Team Greece play an impressive style of football right from the start, and, more importantly, they played as a united team,” Papastergiadis added.
“These young players brought joy to our supporters, who filled the stands and celebrated each goal. Their commitment and determination bode well for the tournament. Congratulations to our coach, Kon Tangalakis, and also to our other coach, George Katsakis, who, despite being in Greece and the time difference, repeatedly called for updates during the match. Many thanks to Tolis, our team manager, and to Michael Karamitos, vice president of the Greek Community, for assembling this team,” Papastergiadis concluded.
Team Greece will now face Eritrea in their second group match next Sunday at 3.30pm at Knox City FC after the latter had a convincing 6-1 victory against a strong Afghan team.
