Among the millions of sayings that can be found on the internet and in thousands of publications, there is one that fits the occasion perfectly. “It’s the participation that counts, not the victory”, a saying belonging to Pierre de Coubertin, the Olympic Games revivalist. This must have been the thinking of Kostas Tsana’s “boys” as they entered the Lillekula Stadium in Tallinn to face Spain in the final of the European Youth Championship.
In the end, the flow of the game did not justify the over-effort of the Greek internationals, but only in terms of the result. Spain was superior throughout the entire game and managed to break the resistance of our national team. However, after a thrilling series of matches, in which the representative team managed to reach the final of the Euro U 19 and look Spain in the eye, making all the Greeks proud.
Rodriguez scored the only goal of the game in the 80th minute. The end of the match found the Spaniards celebrating righteously and the Greek players in tears. Reaction of the first moment, because the next day can only bring smiles for the course of our representative team. The future is all theirs and if the continuation is commensurate with their progress so far, it can only bring them success.
The Greek National Team that fought the proud battle in Estonia:
GOALKEEPERS
Socrates Dioudis – Aris
Stefanos Kapino – Panathinaikos
FIGHTERS
Dimitris Kourbelis – Asteras Tripoli
Nikos Marinakis – Panathinaikos
Mavroudis Bugaidis – AEK Athens
Kostas Rugalas – Olympiacos
Kostas Triantafylopoulos – Panathinaikos
Kostas Stafylidis – PAOK
MEDIA
Babis Lykogiannis – Olympiacos
Giorgos Katidis – Aris
Haris Mavrias – Panathinaikos
Panagiotis Ballas – Atromitos
Vassilis Bouzas – Panionios
Andreas Bouchalakis – Ergotelis
Spyros Furlanos – Panathinaikos
OFFICERS
Giannis Gianniotas – Aris
Dimitris Diamantakos – Olympiacos
Tasos Bakassetas – Asteras Tripoli
COACH
Kostas Tsanas