Greece World Cup Odyssey featured in Neos Kosmos

Hi There Yiasou and Opa!

Greece's World Cup Odyssey through my gonzo eyes got featured on the English version of the Neos Kosmos Newspaper Website. So you don't have to learn Greek to read it.

Check out the link here

Here are a couple of snippets:

"So close yet so far away for the Greeks, they should have won the Round 16 game against Costa Rica but the football gods tired of blessing them, cursed them in the end. Poor Theofanis Gekas now has to carry the boulder of World Cup failure on his shoulders for eternity."

"Since 1949 Costa Rica has had no standing army. Go you hippies! It's something the Greeks could learn from as they spend a shit load of their GDP on defence. Perhaps instead of having National Service the Greeks could use that time making their young men practice penalties."

Would love it if you clicked the link to read it. It's an amalgamation of the two Greece pieces I put on A Football Story during Greece's World Cup campaign in Brazil 2014.

Also a quick thanks for those who read any of my stories during the month of June it's been a record in terms of hits so thanks very much for reading my work and fighting through the bad grammar. I really appreciate it.

Cheers
Con Stamocostas

Greece vs Costa Rica Analysis Round 16 World Cup 2014 Brazil

IN a previous piece, when the Socceroos got knocked out by Holland I used an old World Cup joke to lighten the mood. For this piece I'm using a pun. A joke is a sign that your team has not really done that well, but a pun aside from trophies is a sign of football progression.

So here is my Pun:

Greece Ruiz Gekas Penalty Miss


Got the Costa Rica scorer in there as well as the Greek Penalty Missee too. I give myself 7 out of 10.

After a couple of days to soak in the penalty loss to Costa Rica there is no point in looking for an escapegoat; ("cough" "Gekas", "cough" "Salpingidis").  Greece drawing with their Prothoti (Betrayer) namesake Costa (Rica) is no big shame.

But like the Socceroos in 2006 when they played against Italy against ten men, Greece will never probably get as good of an opportunity to get to the World Cup Quarter Finals. A date with smug Holland was so close. In the upcoming Quarter Final I'd just love the Costa Ricans to beat the Dutch and make the semifinals. What a great World Cup story that would be.

So close yet so far away for the Greeks they should have won that game but the football gods tired of blessing them and cursed them in the end. Poor Theofanis Gekas now has to carry the boulder of World Cup failure on his shoulders for eternity. ( Go the Myth of Sisyphus analogy! My Philosophy teacher would be proud or probably skeptical knowing her )

Talking Points 

• Costa Rica Termatofilakas (Goal Keeper) Keylor Navas was on some Mexican beans, saving everything that came in his way. Just like the IMF Navas denied the Greeks time and time again. 
• After Costa Rica's Group D win against Italy seven of their players were tested for drugs by FIFA. I'm not saying the the Tico keeper was on the roids but some of his saves were so good I would have asked him to piss in a small cup just to make sure.  
• Since 1949 Costa Rica has had no standing army. Go you hippies! It's something the Greeks could learn from as they spend a shit load of their GDP on defence. Perhaps instead of having National Service the Greeks could use that time making their young men practice penalties
• In 2012 Costa Rica was ranked Number One in the happiest nation in the World index. There must be heads exploding after they reached the World Cup Quarter Finals. By contrast it's no surprise Greece's happiness index has been falling rapidly due to their economic problems in recent times. At least they'll have the Ivory Coast game.
• Athens also topped the ugliest people in the world index too. According to Old Bull Lee a character in the Jack Kerouac book "On the Road". Old Bull Lee or if you know the history of the book  is the famous writer William S Burroughs. In the book his character says that: "he used to look up from his Ouzo in Athens and see the ugliest people in the world" 
• What's the reason of these two last points? Maybe it's the contradictions of teams and how they are perceived by the world. Maybe it's Greece were one of the unfancied teams in Brazil, who played "ugly" football but they did get further than a lot of many other fancied teams. To use one of my favourite Englishmen to paraphrase Winston Churchill: "Greeks don't play football like heroes; heroes play football like Greece" 
• Take that Old Bull Lee at least no Greek footballer shot his wife in the head while trying to shoot an apple that was sitting on top of it (yet).

The Game

When Greece equalised in the last minute of play through Sokratis Papastathopoulos (say that name after a few ouzo's) it was a surreal moment in my house. I watched the game at my folks house, and because they have Foxtel IQ I was able to pause the game during the various toilet breaks. My mother was watching in the kitchen and in the other room were my two Brothers George, Phillip, Dad and myself .

With not much time in normal play to go we hear a loud shriek coming from the kitchen. It's my mother yelling "EEEEEEEIIIIIIIIIIIII,  EEEEEEEIIIIIIIIIIIII".  My mother is getting on in age and likes to yell at the top of her voice like most Cypriot mothers when they are in pain. At first we all thought she fell over or was reeling in pain due to a paper cut. But she came running into the room screaming "they put one in! Greece put one in!!". Then on we look up at the TV screen we were watching and Greece scored. Then the rest of the family realised what was gong on and we all EEEEEEEIIIIIIIIIIIII'd ourselves.

My mother was watching the game live in the kitchen but The Foxtel IQ was delayed in the other room hence the delay in reaction.

Such was the emotion of the penalties in our house my mother was crying as Gekas went to take his penalty. Thank goodness I only have The Socceroos and Greece to follow because having this much emotional involvement at the World Cup is too much. I got no more dodgy puns left in me.
 

Opa! Jumping on the Greece 2014 Brazil World Cup Band Wagon

Toot Farken Toot All Aboard the Greek Bandwagon Re Malaka!

Can you believe it? It's a term often used in football. Commentators use it for things that are utterly believable. Like a professional footballer who trains everyday whose job it is to score goals and make passes but the moment when Greece beat Ivory Coast in the last minute is unfarken believable!

Greece is in the Round Of 16 at the World Cup with a possible Quarter Final berth awaiting them after a very favourable draw in the next match were they face World Cup minnows Costa Rica.

How can Greece lose against a team with Costa in their opponents name? 

The Greek Gods are laughing their arses off!

Greece has surpassed previous World Cup winners England, Italy and Spain and much more fancied teams like Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Portugal by advancing to the round of 16 at the 2014 Brazil World Cup.

Now that the Greeks are through to the next round it's time to get out the Greek flags, and replica strips. Time to dust off the Football Shirt with Charisteas on the back and update to a new one with Samaras and get on the Greek World Cup Bandwagon.

Having the Greekest name in all of Greekdom Constantine Stamocostas my Greek blood tinged with excitement when the Greeks were playing the Ivory Coast. It was one of the best games at the World Cup, full of drama, passion and skill shown by both teams.

The Greeks made their supporters work for it though. After being gifted the ball by the Ivory Coast midfielder Tiote, the Samaras(is) twins contrived to get the goal the Greeks needed, and it looked like the Greeks and their defensive tactics were heading to the round of 16. But the Ivory Coast came back; Greek celebrations were quelled and the plate smashing had to take a rest.

After hitting the woodwork a couple of times. the end of the game was fast approaching, it looked like the win was too much to ask. Dormant in the first two games my Greek spirit came alive when Samaras got clipped in the box and the referee awarded a penalty (and yes it was a penalty English commentator no controversy there!).

With Samaras about to take the spot kick Greeks around the world had a chance to stop cursing the team and the coach Fernando Santos for just one moment. Hacks around the world had to delete the obligatory Greek tragedy line and change their copy because "Can you believe it?" the Greeks are through to the next round!

The olive oil botherers have arguably the easiest round of 16 tie against of all farken teams Costa Rica! Who the Fuck are Costa Rica Re? "We can take them for sure Vre!" said Andonis to his mate Spiro in the stand.

Remembering EURO2004

Pulling out my Greek identification papers, I must say I haven't just joined the Greek football bandwagon. Like most Greeks I joined it when they reached the Quarter Finals during EURO2004 and have been keeping an eye on their progress ever since.

I will never ever forget the scenes at the Enmore Theatre in Sydney when they played the Czech Republic in the semi finals. Remember the short lived Silver goal role? Greece scored one of those to get them through to final of Euro 2004. A few Treli (crazies) fans lit flares in the Enmore Theatre just after the goal went in, causing panic among the owners. Lucky the Enmore  didn't catch fire as it's one of the oldest theaters in Australia.

I was at the Cypriot club eating Loukoumades when Greece beat Portugal in the final and later that night I was at Brighton Le Sands watching the Greeks go crazy as they celebrated their EURO2004 Final Victory.

They Weren't Given a Hope in Hellas

I must say I didn't think Greece had a hope in Hellas of getting out of their Group especially after they got spanked by Columbia 3-0 in their first game.

I watched the second game with my Brother and Father at a cafe down the road from me which is owned by Greeks called Giorgios, it's situated on the corner of Kingsgrove Road and William Street.

Watching Greece battle against Japan to get a point reminded of the halcyon days when I used to watch Sydney Olympic at Leichhardt Oval and Belmore Sports Ground. It all came back to me, the loud, vitriolic swearing,  the irrational yelling, the misunderstanding of the coaches tactics, tearing strips off the players one moment and praising them the next, not forgetting the national pastime of the hand being flung violently into the air with the accompanying "Nah Re Malaka!".

Sorry Giorgios Cafe customers but the coach isn't a clueless "Malaka", he knows what he is doing. He's sticking o the Otto Rehhagel blueprint. Strong In Defence and Trojan Horse in attack.

Knowing Greece they will take it easy against Costa Rica but at least they are still at the party unlike Messrs Rooney, Ronaldo, and Imbrahimovic who have had to go home early or didn't even make it. Where is Georgios Samaras World Cup advertisement farken? I love Samaras he fucks up all the time but at least he has a go.

Funny Observation

I must comment on the the large heavily built Greek supporter who jumps up and down with his shirt off. Not ashamed of his man boobs he has shaven his Greek hairy body just for this Brazil trip. He is always shown on the TV when the camera pans to the Greek supporter section. A fellow Greek at the cafe cracked me up when he saw him on the screen he looked over to me and my brother George and  made the comment " You can't go to Brazil without shaving  it would be an embarrassment taking your shirt off and going all hairy and Greek"

Go floppy man boobs jumping up and down and go Hellas. We can beat Costa! (Rica) Toot Farken Toot!

Greece out as England wish and whinge

I have found a new favourite word it is the German word Schadenfreude it's the satisfaction or pleasure felt at someone else's misfortune। What a surprise that it's German word, I think World War 2 may have given it greater notieriety. If I used it in a sentence I would say it like this: Despite myself, I felt a Schadenfreude at England's failure to qualify for the Euro 2008 tournament. My Schadenfreude gets peaked everytime I read the English media reporting on Euro2008 say things like "what a shame England couldn't be here" or "It would have been interesting to see how far England could have progressed in this tournament" or this one "without England in this tournament, the excitement is not as it should be" Right before the final EURO2008 qualifying game between England and Croatia which Croatia won 3-2, Micheal Owen said that none of the Croatian players would make it in the English first 11. He was right of course however Micheal Owen meant because of playing ability and skill rather the fact the Croatians where Croatian and not English. This is the kind of attidue the English have had towards Football ever since they reckon they invented the game even though different forms of Football where being played in China and South America before the English added "rules"As the Greeks got the Acropolis kicked out of them by the Russians my dissapointment is lessened by my Schadenfreude Cup that the English team and English media keep on filling up. It's much better to watch and read about how crap your team is playing than wish and whinge about a team that isn't even competing. If Australia get to host the 2018 World Cup at the expense of England someone will have to come up with another word to express the satisfaction or pleasure felt at someone else's misfortune and the satisfaction or pleasure felt at my own fortune.