Greece: Road to Euro 2012

Greece are ranked above Czech Republic and Poland in the FIFA rankings and they would want to keep it that way to qualify for the quarter-finals.

Greece were the defending champions in Euro 2008 but could not live up to the tag one bit then. Greece did not win a single group game and were knocked out at the group stages itself. They definitely would be looking to erase or atleast subdue those bad memories cometh the Euro 2012.

It was Nikos Spiropoulos' goal in the 71st minute that saved them embarrassment against Georgia in the first game of the qualifying rounds.
1-1 was the final score. Then against a determined Croatian side, the Greeks could salvage just a 0-0 dull draw.

It could have been all downhill for Greece after such an inauspicious start, but a typically hard-fought 1-0 win over Latvia and a 2-1 victory against Israel with goals from Dimitris Salpingidis and Giorgos Karagounis, gave them the necessary impetus.

This was followed by successive victories over a lowly Malta which also meant that Greece took charge of the group standings too. And the dream run did not stop as Sotiris Ninis' goal led Greece to a second victory over Israel.

The Greeks, now looking to seal the first spot, had Croatia hot on their heels. This might have led them to the stutter they had against Latvia in their next encounter as Greece needed a late equaliser to secure a disappointing draw.

Thankfully for Greece though, they came to the party when it mattered the most. The showdown for the top position saw Georgios Samaras and Theofanis Gekas score for the Greeks to hand them a comfortable 2-0 victory over Croatia.

Greek coach, Fernandos Santos, too has announced the provisional squad which is a nice blend of youth and experience.

They now just needed to beat Georgia in their final encounter to secure a safe passage into the final tournament. It was anything but safe though as Georgia stunned them with an early strike. But Giorgios Fotakis got the equaliser and Angelos Charisteas, the 2004 Greece hero, netted in the winner to seal it for the Greeks.

What was amazing during the qualifiers for Greece was 12 different players scoring for them. It could bode well for them during the tournament too.