The team - History lesson - The Greeks' only previous appearance in a World Cup finals was USA 94. They lost all their matches, conceding 10 goals and failing to find the net once. They did, however, win the European Championship in 2004, which in international trophy terms puts them on the same level as Spain, Holland and England.
Tactics board
The Greeks are strong defensively and will utilise the cautious 4-5-1 system that worked so well for them when frustrating more vaunted opponents in Portugal six years ago. Half a dozen players from that side form the backbone of the team, and coach Otto Rehhagel, the man who masterminded that surprise win, is still at the helm. The Greeks are unlikely to get points for style, coming across as they do like Sam Allardyce-era Bolton without Jay Jay Okocha, but as Rehhagel says: "If you finish first, you are right. So I am right."
Grudge match
Traditional foes Turkey are missing, but the way the Greeks dealt with some of Portugal's primadonnas in 2004 suggests that any rematch might have a lemon-like bitterness to it.
Also known as
Traditionally the Galanoleyki - the Blue and Whites - but during the 2004 Euros were dubbed "The Pirate Ship" by a TV commentator in response to the tournament logo of a Portuguese galleon and the name has stuck.
The players
Vuvuzela superstar
Theo Gekas of Bayer Leverkusen was the leading scorer in the European group stages of qualifying. He's not tall, he's not quick, but he outscored Wayne Rooney, banging in 10 goals – half his nation's tally.
There's always Bolton
Angelos Charisteas is the 6ft 3in target man who got his nation's winner in the Euro 2004 final. Tall, strong and as slow turning as one of Onassis's oil tankers he has yet to make double figures during a league season. And he composes songs on his bouzouki, so clearly the ideal replacement for Kevin Davies, then.
Laager lout
Rehhagel is such a martinet he makes Fabio Capello look like Sven: "The Greek players used to do what they liked. Now, they all do what they can."
The coach
Body double
Otto Rehhagel has the intense, menacing look of mid-period Oliver Reed. It's easy to imagine him cast as Bill Sykes in Oliver Twist though the German tends to favour a cigarette as a prop rather than a bull terrier and a cudgel.
Big game hunter
Rehhagel is a Teutonic Brian Clough ("Everyone's free to say what I want"), transforming Werder Bremen from also-rans into one of the best in the Bundesliga, winning two league titles, two German cups and the Uefa Cup. He later claimed a third title with Kaiserslautern.
Loved or loathed
In Greece he's known as "King Otto".
The country
Commentators' kit
The Greek language is more than 3,500 years old "but I think a few of the expressions Georgios Samaras was using to the official there date back only as far as his days in the clubs of Glasgow, John".
They gave the world
The days of Pythagoras, Socrates and Hippocrates may be long gone, but modern Greece isn't all Demis Roussos, Vangelis and vague claims on Jennifer Aniston and Kelly Clarkson – the Greek medical scientist Georgios Papanikolaou is credited with inventing the smear test for cervical cancer.
National monument
Greece is the cradle of western democracy – even if keeping it that way means having to work six days a week until you're 70.
Qualifying
Greece finished second behind Switzerland in a group that saw them travelling to Latvia and Israel. Took on Ukraine in the play-offs and squeaked through with an aggregate 1-0 victory.
The Triesman tapes ... what he didn't say
"If they fluke the World Cup it'll be the only pot they'll have to piss in. Totally brassic, they'll do exactly what the Germans tell them."
Statistics
World Cup record: 1 finals
P3 W0 D0 L3 F0 A10
Highest finish: First round, 1994
95,103: Fans who crammed into the Melbourne Cricket Ground to watch Greece play a friendly against Australia in 2006.
Fixtures
South Korea, 12 June, Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium, 12.30pm
Nigeria, 17 June, Free State Stadium, 7.30pm
Argentina, 22 June, Peter Mokaba Stadium, 7.30 pm
The verdict
The septuagenarian Otto Rehhagel took Greece to their Euro 2004 glory but he was not retained out of mere gratitude. Greece showed the same resilience in a World Cup play-off by beating Ukraine in Donetsk. Grit is not the only theme and Theofanis Gekas, with 10 goals, was the leading scorer in the European zone of the qualifiers.
18.06.2010
