THE VITALS:

Team: Greece

Brand: Adidas

Era: 2009-11 (Used for the 2010 FIFA World Cup, and the 2012 UEFA European Championships Qualifying Campaign)

Name/Number: Karagounis #10

CONDITION: VERY GOOD

Although the name and numbering print on the back has faded, the front of the shirt is in nothing short of excellent condition, however, the unignorable name and numbering prevents this from classified as being in excellent condition.

DIMENSIONS:

Size: Medium

Pit to Pit Measurement: 18 inches

Shirt Length: 29 inches

Made by Adidas in their ‘ClimaCool’ series of shirts which they released in 2009; these shirts are much better fitted than their counterparts used in the noughties, and thus, these dimensions make for an excellent size medium fitting shirt!

DESCRIPTION: 

Adidas would make a daring change to the Greece home shirt as the 2000’s drew to a close, with white replacing blue and thus becoming the main home shirt colour for the first time since 1980! It wouldn’t be fair to compare the previous home shirt as it was blue, however, compared to the previous iteration of the white away shirt; this is the quintessential successor as blue embroidered stitching joins the white canvas; adding a subtle yet profound touch to a very elegant shirt. This shirt would be worn both home and away as Greece edged past Ukraine in a tense play-off to reach the Group Stage of the 2010 FIFA World Cup! While the competition would end in a Group Stage exit, they would comfortably qualify for Euro 2012 by topping Group F ahead of Croatia and would enjoy a 16 match unbeaten run between 11^th August 2010 to 11^th October 2011 where they claimed 10 wins along the way!

THE SEASON(S): 

The 2004 European Champions could ill-afford to miss out on another World Cup after failing to reach the finals of the 2006 tournament. Their dropped points versus Moldova on 9^th September would mean they would have to take on Ukraine in a play-off to reach South Africa in 2010. A fine second stanza of the international calendar in 2009 would culminate in Greece joining the 32 teams in South Africa when they edged Ukraine 1-0 on aggregate – winning the 2^nd Leg in Donetsk 1-0 thanks to Dimitris Salpangidis’ goal!

Otto Rehhagel’s side would reunite for the first time in 2010 when they hosted Senegal in a friendly, however, they were upset by the African nation 2-0 in Volos. The end of the European club calendar saw the national side reconvene for their final preparations ahead of the World Cup, however, a 2-2 draw with North Korea was followed by a 2-0 defeat to Paraguay; leaving little reason for optimism with their foray in South Africa kicking off in 10 days’ time.

Drawn in Group B alongside: Nigeria, South Korea and Argentina; even despite their poor pre-tournament form; they still had to think they had a chance of qualifying from the group. That notion very quickly soured with a defeat to the Korean Republic in their opening fixture, and even though they saw off Nigeria 2-1 in Bloemfontein 5 days later, they would still have to get something positive versus Argentina to stand a chance of reaching the Last 16. While South Korea and Nigeria battled to a 2-2 draw; Argentina would leave it late to defeat Greece 2-0 and ultimately send the European nation home.

The World Cup climax would see the legendary Otto Rehhagel leave his post as the national team’s manager after nearly 9 years and guiding the nation to their impossible triumph at Euro 2004.

Fernando Santos was chosen as his successor ahead of the qualification campaign for Euro 2012 and his tenure began with a 1-0 win over Serbia on 11^th August 2010 and would get Greece on their way to the joint hosted European Championships in 2012 with 2 wins and 2 draws, before ending 2010 with a 2-1 won away against Austria.

2011 began by welcoming Canada to Larissa in a friendly where Greece won 1-0, before repeating the result away against Malta on 26^th March. While the side were held to draws in friendlies against: Poland, Ecuador and Bosnia and Herzegovina; they went 3/3 in the win column in the qualifying campaign! A 1-1 draw away to Latvia on 6^th September would set the stage for what was likely the 1^st place decider against Croatia on 7^th October and Fernando Santos’s side would deliver a fantastic 2-0 win, before sealing qualification and 1^st place with a 2-1 win away to Georgia 4 days later!

Although 2011 would end on a slightly sour note as Greece’s 16 match unbeaten run came to an end at the hands of Romania in a 3-1 friendly defeat on 15^th November; nothing could take away from the exceptional year the national side enjoyed in 2011!

The notable players that season(s) were:

Theofanis Gekas, Georgios Samaras, Angelos Charisteas, Dimitris Salpangidis, Pantelis Kapetanos, Kostas Katsouranis, Sotiris Ninis, Giorgos Karagounis, Alexandros Tziolis, Giourkas Seitaridis, Christos Patsatzoglou, Nikos Spyropoulos, Vangelis Moras, Avraam Papadopoulos, Loukas Vyntra, Vasilis Torosidis, Sotirios Kyrgiakos, Sokratis Papastathopoulos, Michalis Sifakis, Alexandros Tzorvas, Kostas Chalkias