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Bartlomiej Zborowski / EPA
Greek fans cheer for their team in downtown Gdansk, Poland, before their match against Germany on Friday.
Greeks were hoping against hope that their national soccer team would triumph over mighty Germany in the Euro 2012 championship, restoring lost pride to the debt-stricken country by getting one over its economic paymaster.
Friday night's quarterfinal fixture, in the Polish port of Gdansk, pits two nations against each other whose ties have rarely been so sour, so bristling.
Greece fans are seeking respect for their country after its humiliating economic collapse and Germany’s predominant role in lending bailout money – along with strict austerity measures.
"It's not good that sports and politics are together, but today we have no other choice," said Greece fan Michalis Kalotrapesis, wearing a white national team shirt and training top. "We are playing for our country and for our image in Europe and all over the world."
Frank Augstein / AP
An artist, himself painted in German colors, paints the face of a soccer fan with the colors of the Greek national flag in Gdansk on Friday.
Germany will be cheered on at the game by Chancellor Angela Merkel, a hated figure in Greece, who for many personifies the painful bailout conditions and the euro zone's strict approach to the debt-strapped state.
Merkel loves football and loves the German team. Earlier in the tournament, she went to visit their training base. She attends high-profile matches and was once photographed with bare-chested midfielder Mesut Ozil in the changing room.
'Bye-bye Greeks'
A crunch meeting between Merkel and other European leaders in Rome on Friday was moved up to an earlier start time so that she could attend the game.
"Bye-bye Greeks, we can't rescue you today!" Germany's top-selling Bild proclaimed on its front page on Friday in the colors of the Greek flag.
Thomas Peter / Reuters
A man takes a copy of the German "Bild" newspaper from a stack in a newsagent in Berlin Friday. The headline reads, "Bye, bye Greeks. Today we won't be able to save you!"
"Bankrupt THEM," blared leading Greek paper Sport Day.
Even the respected Greek daily Kathimerini drummed home to Greeks that this match is against a foe popularly blamed for saddling Greece with a punitive austerity program, chronic unemployment and years of deep economic recession.
"Whoever thinks today's match is just a game is wrong," the paper wrote, vowing it was "politics (maybe even war) by other means."
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Greece seeks to win Germany's respect
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Topless protest shocks Euro 2012 psychic pig
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Shaken France must find a way to stop Spain
"To many Greeks, victory will represent the triumph of the weak against the wealth, might and arrogance of the powerful -- the victim would humble his executioner… If the Germans win, they'll see it as confirmation of their diligence, strategy, talent and thrift," it added.
Some German car manufacturers, like Volkswagen and Daimler, are making special arrangements that will allow their workforce on shift to watch the match.
Greece has never beaten Germany
Officials from Volkswagen told NBC News that employees will be able to leave early on Friday, but that workers will have to make up for the free time at a later point.
Greece have never beaten Germany but now would be the ideal time to do so in order to cheer up the public back home and give them hope that Greece can repeat their amazing run to the European Championship crown in 2004.
The chances are slim to say the least. The Germans, among the favorites to take the tournament title, go into the match on the back of 14 consecutive competitive victories stretching back to the 2010 World Cup.
For Germany, playing in Gdansk, which prior to World War Two was the German- and Polish-inhabited free city of Danzig, will feel like a home game.
Thirty thousand Germans are expected to travel to watch the game. Only 6,000 Greek supporters are expected. Most Poles say their hearts beat for the underdog.
Back in Athens, not everyone was drawn into the spirit.
"I couldn't care less," Said Panagiotis Pappas, 22, a chemistry student. "We're on the brink of disaster and all they care is about is football for Christ's sake."
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If winning a soccer match will restore the pride of Greeks they have deeper issues at hand. If I were a German I would insist on an open Bar Tab paid by every greek there given the millions in bailout money that will be sent to Greece.......
lol no doubt!!!
On another note, the point that revenge for what the Germans are doing really disturbs me. I mean really the Greeks have not done anything to help the situation they are in other than ask for more money. Of which Germany takes the biggest part of the bill.
That logic is like wanting to get taken out to dinner, wine and dined and when then night is does bitch about the food, drinks, and everything in between after you get yours.
With that said I hope Germany pounds the Greeks into a pulp!
Don't forget that it's likely that the Greeks attending the soccer gamer are doing so on a government bailout vacation, so they are spending Germany's money to go see a game against Germany.
I feel for the Germans now. Imagine what it's like to have a world government entity (the IMF) literally telling you that you need to spread the wealth with countries that have proven they can't/won't change their spending mistakes and practices. That's about as sane as telling someone that they need to buy their non-working neighbor a new car because it might motivate them to get a job. Thanks for the car, now get off my lawn!
This match perfectly mirrors the economic reality; Germany is in football (soccer) as powerful as economically. Greece will be bail out of the competition and sent home.
It is easy to pick out the Greek soccer hooligans from the German soccer hooligans................the Greek hooligans had to borrow money from the German hooligans to get drunk before the match.
You are absolutely right - this is just a game!
I hope Greece wins. It will make some unfortunate people happy in their dire economic situation.
All this hate for Greece and love for Germany. Why?
The Germans are not bailing out Greece out of the goodness of their hearts. They are bailing out Greece because they are bound by the same currency which Germany WILLINGLY became a part of. Therefor Germany accepts all the associated risks with sharing a common currency throughout multiple nations.
If Greece fails, especially in a messy default, Germany will feel it very much, as will most of the world. Also if Greece defaults, there is a strong chance Spain, Italy, and Ireland will be right behind.
What happens to the German economy then?
Bottom line is that they (Germany) signed a contract by joining the E.U.
A contract works both ways, not just towards the beneficiary. Germany dug their grave by joining a stupid currency union, let them dig themselves out.
This is a perfect example of why any type of one world order, and even the global economy, is just plain doomed to fail.
If this mirrors the economic feud does that mean Germany will try to take over the entire the game while Greece lies about how good their players are and hides the fact that most have not paid their football association fees?
at least they are happy temp....the machines of the world keep wagging the dog...lol
jrto -- Yep, you're right. Germany was a leader in getting the Euro because Europe wanted to challenge the dollar on the world market. They've discovered it's much harder to get different countries with distinct cultures to agree on things! In retrospect, this may not have been the best idea.
Revenge for bailing them out? How would it be if Germany just let them collapse? "Thanks for saving me, but not the way I wanted to be saved" Are football fans that narrow minded? (Rhetorical question)
Greece can simply say they are not paying the debt and that will be the end of it. It will hurt others more.
Yes Greece, your economic situation is all Germany's fault. It has nothing to do with the way you handled your own finances.
Yes Greece, your economic situation is all Germany's fault. It has nothing to do with the way you handled your own finances.
I'm not sure Americans quite realize the importance of football in the rest of the world, but winning such a match would definitely make up for the Greeks' humiliation of economic subservience.
However, it won't happen. They are dreaming if they think they have any chance of beating the German team.
Not so much economic subservience but economic incompetence.
pablo, are you saying this emotional reaction of the greeks is as ridiculous as it would be if all those foreclosed-upon american home buyers were angry at the banks that loaned them more money than their jobs and prospects could enable them to repay?
yes I am
It might make up for it for a day or two, then reality sets in. With austerity they're screwed ... if they leave the Eurozone, they're screwed. In a word, they're screwed.
Why are people so anti-greek and pro-germany?
The greek people did not screw up, the greek leaders did. The people were no different from most of Europe.
Also Germany willingly became part of the E.U., if Greece fails, Germany will be far worse off than they are now, especially if Spain, Ireland, and Italy follow.
So Germany made a bad decision by becoming part of the E.U. now didn't they? So as far as I'm concerned both are equally at fault for the current situation, and the blame lies in the politicians, not the people.
If only the Greeks showed the same enthusiasm when it came to actually working hard and paying their taxes....their country might not be in the crapper today.
You have got the big picture! But truth is somewhere in between...as offten. The Greek government has spend the money, they had the purse! And my German social security check is getting smaller, because the German government has spend my money.
Notice that the check our representatives are getting is getting larger while the middle class here is getting less and less. But, Yes, there is some responsibility the induvidual has, but more then the government or my representative? I don't think so.
The Greeks must have the same motto as my teenager: Feed me, fund me, leave me alone!
You mean ESPN, there, right?
Who wants to bet a soccer brawl breaks out?
Gdansk??..u mean Danzig!! Acreation of Stalin.Churchill & FDR...the Poland of 1939 was never resurrected..another betrayal by the "Allies"..yet now Germany is expected to carry Europe and the Euro with a third of the country missing!! Germany shouldn't provide any loans unless the 1939 borders are restored!! Greece is also missing a third of its land..Ionia,Eastern Thrace and Northern Cyprus! The Anglo-Saxons (Britain& USA) whine about ethnic cleansing in Kosovo,Darfur and Bosnia...what about Germany and Greece???
NO FREE TRADE WITHOUT FULL EMPLOYMENT!!!
No, they mean Gdansk. As I educated you last month, Gdansk was settled circa 980 AD, by Mieszko I of Poland.
Re: hypotheical German "suffering" - BAHAHAHAHA!!!! A German complaining about ethnic cleansing is like someone wearing leather while eating veal complaining about cruelty to animals!
(You can find the full history lesson at post 44.3 in the "Poland expresses dismay at Obama's 'death camp' comment" thread).
Gdansk wasn't part of Poland between the two world wars either. It was considered a free city that would have its nationality determined at a later date, which never happened because of the German invasion of Poland in 39.
As for the German borders, hell why don't we demand that we go back to the german borders of 1914 if you want to get pissy. Germany lost the war, and the world is much better for it, as Hitler was evil incarnate. As part of losing the war, it lost territory. Get over it.
Sorry Jonathan...Danzik was populated by Germans and was only a "free city" due to the Versailles Treaty...why should people lose their homes because of the actions of a dictator...should the people of Arizona give up their towns now that the state is mostly Hispanic and was once part of Mexico??? The Anglo-Saxons have a double standard...if its Third World people or their property..their "concerned" if its Europeans...not so much!!!
sorry rick,
it was a free city, specifically BECAUSE of the versailles treaty. So whatever.
And are the people of arizona now involved in an internationally recognized war with the nation of 'hispanics'?
As far as I'm concerned after WW2 Germany should have been dissolved into bordering nations. It should not even exist today after their 2 major screw ups.
Funny how people forget that out of all modern nations, Germany was by far the worst for this world. Imagine if the 2 world wars never happened? How much farther would civilization be?
jr YOU ARE A RACIST
Those nationalistic calls between the parts shows once again that behind those "sportives" events resides a lot of "anthopolgical ancestral xenophobic conceptions" of ones toward the others.
It's sad... very sad indeed. Even after developing the most powerful of the instruments: mind and speech, and after so many thousands of years, the human been has not become more rational that it's ancesters.
We still follow with "eyes wide open" the most primitive animal rule of "us and them", "friends and enemies", plain black and white visions of the world...
After so many painful nationalistic "events" in history, can't the humanity learn something?
"Revenge" for saving their a--? Or making them think beyond a non-stop hand out? As much as I don't like the German team, in this case, I hope run over them and stomp them into the turf. Hand out biotches.
Simple solution. Don't take Germany's money, and reap your own consequences. Idiots.
Being half German, having lived in Germany for years, and having working relatives lending money to Greeks and then having the Greeks complain about it is insulting. Lazy, disrespectful, and shameful behavior displayed by the Greeks. It's unfortunate.
I wonder if the German team is footing the bill for everyone else's hotel rooms.
"footing" the bill.....haha
The Germans are extremely good soccer players. I predict 3-0.
Germany ? Good soccer players ? Nah .....your pulling my leg.......... -_-
Final scores are in: 4-2, Germans win. *shrugs*
The Greeks want revenge for Germany bailing their butts out of economic disaster??? Wow, how low the once noble and prolific civilization of the Greeks has fallen.
Okay...so let me get this straight...the Greeks want "revenge" for Germany bailing them out? Talk about arrogant...it's the inept Greek government that is the ball-and-chain to Europe's economy....not Germany. F'n morons.
Go Germany Kick Arse
Deutschland uber die griechen, und uber alles.
By God, I wish the U.S. was as deeply into soccer as most of the rest of the world. I love good old fashioned national rivalries.
I'll bet we could field a team that would really mix things up.
The rest of the world is lucky we aren't a soccer nation. We would kick their foreign butts. CONSTANTLY.
Greece, as a Nation is trippn', in terms of their economy.
Dateline: Gdansk - Tensions between Greece and Germany nearly boiled over in the parking lot of the soccer arena during a vehicular misunderstanding. The driver of a Polish rental car, 23 year old Aristotle Backdoorya, struck another vehicle driven by 21 year old Ima Twinkster of Mannheim from behind. Twinkster told police that while waiting for pedestrians to cross the street put his car in Park and bent over to tie his shoe. It was then when he was "nailed in the rear" by Backdoorya. After the initial hit, Bakdoorya continued to repeatedly back up and thrust his car into Twinkster's vehicle. "He kept ramming his hood ornament into my tail light" Twinkster stated. This continued for several minutes until fluid began to leak from the front of Backdoorya's vehicle. "After he stopped jabbing me with this car, I walked back to give him a piece of my mind. When I got to his car he was smoking a ciagarette and dozing off." Backdoorya apologized to Twinkster for banging into him and for the mess that the fluid made on his car. He gave Twinkster a traditional Greek smooch and abruptly left the scene.
The Greece of today bears no resemblance to the majesty of ancient Greece. At one time they were warriors and conquerors. Today they are paupers. Their leaders failed them and should be run out of town. What does this have to do with soccer? Uh, nothing.
For those of you who have never played the game ......It is almost always political when played on a National level....Sometimes nations can mend fences during a soccer(futbol) match. There is a unique sense of pride not found in many other sports. In most cases... there is also a healthy amount of respect that is gained for the opposing side. Nothing bad can come of this .....If only the worlds problems could be solved on the pitch instead of a battlefield.