Greece's Euro 2012 team spent more time watching election results on June 17 than they did studying next opponent Germany's victory over Denmark, but players insisted they wanted to keep politics out of their next Euro 2012 clash.
The Greeks, shock qualifiers ahead of Russia and Poland,
face Germany on June 22 in the Baltic coast city of Gdansk in a
quarter-final that pits the euro zone’s most troubled nation
against its rich paymaster.
“No, this will not have an impact, its football we’re
talking about, its sport,” midfielder Giannis Maniatis told a
news conference at the team’s base near Warsaw on June 18.
“The most important thing for us is to give some happiness
to the Greek people, that’s all, to make them celebrate in the
street, given everything that is going on.”
A Greek election result on June 17 headed off for now the
prospect of an exit from the euro which could have profound
consequences for the European financial system.
But that has not eased anger in Athens at Germany’s
enforcing of strict conditions for its international bailout
which have crippled Greek households – or anger in Berlin at
what many see as the country’s irresponsible financial past.
“They (the Germans) have in their mind that the whole
situation is about politics,” team spokesman Panos Korkodilos
said. “It is not. It is just football. This is their character,
not ours, we are not saying anything about this.”
The Greeks, written off before squeezing through the group
stages thanks to victory over one of the tournament favourites
Russia, were also bullish about their chances against a German
team who have won all their games.
“It is a major achievement. We fulfilled the first of our
targets even after we had injuries and some other unfortunate
incidents in the games,” midfielder Grigoris Makos told
reporters.
“Of course we respect them but we are not afraid of them. We
will look them in the eyes and fight.”
