SANTOS WANTS FIGHT

The Greece national team manager Fernando Santos has said that he is expecting a competitive match when the team take on Republic of Ireland in a friendly match. Fernando Santos has said that the team knows the strengths and weaknesses, which has made them extremely successful in the last few matches. This has been extremely similar to the reign of the former manager Otto Rehhegal, who managed to guide the Greece team to success at the Euro 2004. The Republic of Ireland manager Giovanni Trapattoni pointed out to the Euro 2004 success of Greece as something that can be achieved with his team as well.

Greece come into the match having not suffered a defeat since the 4-2 defeat against Germany in the Euro 2012 where we were extremely close to progress into the semifinals. The Republic of Ireland were extremely poor at the European championships, but have the home advantage of the match. This means that it will be an extremely competitive fixture according to the Greece manager. Ireland come into the match on the back of the 4-1 win over Faroe Islands in the World Cup qualifying, but the only recently lost heavily to Germany in another World Cup qualifying match. Santos reckons that it was a freak result and Ireland should not be taken lightly.

“Otto Rehhegal wrote a great chapter in the history of European football. There are similarities in our teams, there is realism in our games, we know our strengths and we know what we are not so good at and we try and be better. The difference is all the differences you can expect from a German football man and a Portuguese. I believe that the victory for Germany over Ireland was abnormal, not regular,” said Santos ahead of the match with Republic of Ireland.