Rehhagel winning recognition for Greek revival

EUROSCENE/Paddy Agnew: The scene was the Olimpico in Rome, at the accreditation booth on a mild November, Champions League night last year not long before the kick-off of AS Roma v AEK Athens.

The queue was being held up by a foreign gentleman, who was doing his best to contain his mounting frustration: "But I am Otto Rehhagel, coach of the Greek national team. My federation has ordered a ticket for me."

In the end, the problem was resolved and Rehhagel got his ticket. One wonders, however, if by next summer the former Kaiserslautern and Bayern Munich coach will not be a rather more familiar face, even to those in the accreditation booths.

After all, if Greece pull off the not exactly impossible task of beating Northern Ireland at home in their final Euro 2004 qualifier in Athens next Saturday, they will not only win Group Six but also send the mighty Spain into the play-offs.

Rehhagel may be about to write a glorious page in the hardly dazzling annals of Greek international football. Two years ago, not many would have predicted such a turnaround. Two years ago, Greece were preparing to face England in a World Cup qualifier that had no significance for them but held the key to England's qualification for the South Korea and Japan finals.

Rehhagel had taken over the team just two months earlier, promptly losing his first game when Greece went down, not exactly fighting, in a 5-1 away defeat by Finland in another World Cup qualifier. Greece were billed as the sacrificial lambs to be slaughtered in celebration of England's qualification.

Of course, it did not exactly work out that way. In the end, it required a brilliant late David Beckham free-kick goal to spare English embarrassment and secure a 2-2 draw that was good enough to win the group, relegating Germany to a play-off tie with Ukraine.

That Greek performance, irrelevant as far as the World Cup group was concerned, had given a hint of things to come. The Rehhagel effect was already at work.

The German had taken over a squad racked by in-fighting and a national team that was, at best, viewed as a necessary nuisance by Greek fans who consistently reserved their fiercest passions for the exploits of clubs like Panathinaikos, Olympiakos and AEK Athens.

Former Newcastle midfielder Giorgos Georgiadis summed it at the time: "Most of the senior players don't love the national team any more than the fans do. They would rather put it in for their club teams than play for Greece."

After that initial 5-1 defeat by Finland, Rehhagel was even more outspoken, calling it one of the worst performances he had ever seen, adding that Greece had "failed completely" to battle and fight for itself. Doubtless, in the privacy of the dressing-room, he repeated those concepts, in less than parliamentary language.

What is certain is that he installed a new work ethic in the Greek camp, both with regard to training and match tactics. Not everyone agreed, with the former Inter Milan defender Grigoris Georgatis opting out. Fortunately, others were won over.

For example, Rehhagel sought out the talented AEK Athens striker Demis Nikolaidis and persuaded him to rejoin the squad.

The rest is not quite a history of uninterrupted success. For a start, Greece lost their opening two Euro 2004 qualifiers, beaten 2-0 at home by Spain and away by Ukraine. At that point, the Greek Federation had to intervene, backing the German and assuring fans there was "no issue" about Rehhagel.

The turning point, of course, came in a dramatic five-day period last June when Greece not only beat Spain 1-0 in Spain but also went on to beat Ukraine 1-0 on the same night that little Northern Ireland held Spain to a 0-0 draw in Belfast. From then on, remarkably, Greece have been in the driving seat, consolidating that position with a battling 1-0 win against Armenia last month.

These days, a delighted Rehhagel is playing it cool: "We're in the process of building consistency and seeing just how far this team can go."

All the way to Portugal 2004 would seem to be the answer.