Greece to leave the Euro? They might just win it!
Okay I'll admit it, the title is hyperbole. The Greeks struck lucky last night, but their gritty performance was enough to get them a tie with (in all likelihood) Germany in the Quarter Finals.
The result was surprising not only because the Russians were arguably the strongest team in Group A, and after the first round of matches some quarters were considering them as a possible dark horse for the tournament. But also because Greece, who had struggled through their first two matches, were now without their first choice goalkeeper against the most prolific strike force (tied with Spain) in the tournament to date.
To be fair to the Russians their high powered strikeforce did not disappoint, amassing an impressive 31 shots, four more than Spain managed against an underperforming Irish side on Thursday, and completing 605 passes, not quite on the same level as the Spanish but more than double the amount completed by the Greeks. Unfortunately while Spain hit the target 15 times against Ireland, Russian only managed to find the target twice. Upon closer examination a reason for this may be that 69% of Russia's shots came from outside the area, another could be that the head of their strikeforce Aleksandr Kerzhakov will be leaving the tournament having failed to hit the target in 14 attempts.
In comparison, while Greece were second best for most of the first half, when their chance came they took it. Below is a snapshot just before the goal.
Highlighted is the danger zone. Any ball that found it's way into this area was going to cause Russia problems as they had to shift their centre back Ignashevich out to cover Karagounis. At first there is no danger, Greece are attempting to get a second throw in further down the line in the hopes of getting a long throw into the box. The short option has been taken away by moving Zhirkov in behind the Greek midfielder and Denisov preventing any throw to feet. A simple solution would be for Denisov to drop back three steps into the danger zone but we will see as the play develops that he neglects his defensive duty.
This next shot is a few seconds later. Karagounis has done what all good strikers should do, he held his ground as the ball was thrown back into play. Ignashevich can't go straight to the ball without going through his man and conceding a freekick on the edge of his own area.
As the Russian defender comes around him, Karagounis rolls his shoulder and steps inside, clearly signalling to the referee, and linesman right next to him, that he hasn't fouled the defender. The bonus of this is that Ignashevich is off balance as he heads the ball.
The two red arrows represent what should have happened here. First, Ignashevich should have just put the ball out of play, every defenders first concern is to get the ball away from his own area, and in this situation the best thing he could do is put it out of play. The second arrow shows where Denisov should be going, Karagounis, for all intents and purposes, is now unmarked with an open route direct to the Russian goal. If anything goes wrong, as we are about to see, someone has to try and block him off from goal.
And now the final shot. Ignashevich decides to try and keep the ball in play, while his momentum takes him away from the action. The ball couldn't land more fortuitously for Karagounis and Greece, he now has a clear run at goal and a two pace headstart on Zhirkov. In the middle Berezoutski can't leave his man (circled) and Denisov (also circled), who should have filled the danger zone, has not moved and will continue to make no effort to get back. The Russian's were unfortunate that the ball fell to the most experienced player in the Greek side, but he showed a cool head and a lot of experience to finish the opportunity with aplomb.
If the Germans do make it through I don't see them making the same mistake and they will punish the weak Greek defending far more ruthlessly than the Russians. Later I will preview the Group B fixtures.
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