How Otto Rehhagel won the 2004 European Championship with Greece
Rehhagel did not apologize. He said, “You can only play the game you have players for.” “So I came up with a plan. Just like my life: it’s a controlled crime. “
The news was one thing, the messenger was another. “The Greeks are Greeks. If you stand there and explain it without emotion, you won’t be convinced, ”he said. So he made his game plan similar to that of the boxing game. After all these years, topallids were still forming, he remembers.
Greece had never before scored a goal in a major tournament and Euro 2004 got off to a hopeless start to the 300/1 but suddenly found themselves in the round of 16 facing defending champions France, Thierry Henry, Zinedine Zidane and others.
“Henry said he doesn’t know who you are. He will never forget you after that game, ”Rehaegel told defender Gioras Citarides. He told his team that he saw France play and was sure that Greece could win. “That’s it,” said one of his teammates to defender Citarides.
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Greece defeated France, then the talented Czech team in the semifinals. Rehhagel didn’t lose his mind, he posted it. When asked what he had said to his players before the final, Rehhagel broke a word in Greek. Speaking of critics again, he said, “Maria Callas was the greatest singer in the world, but she was unique, that’s why she was criticized. We were Maria Callas in the tournament. “
As the tournament progressed, Rehhagel simplified his message. For the final, he appealed to a national pride that he felt he was going to get through at all. He told them that he believed in them.