BOOK REVIEWS

Achieving The Impossible by George Tsitsonis (Sportsbookofthemonth.com price: £15.99, saving £3 on rrp)

Predictably enough – and understandable under the circumstances – England’s tournament qualifying record of six victories, two draws and no defeats ensured they headed to Portugal for Euro 2004 as one of the favourites to be crowned European champions. They always do, of course.

Following the tournament’s opening stage, Germany were on their way home, but that still left the likes of France, hosts Portugal, the Dutch and a powerful-looking Czech Republic outfit everyone wanted to avoid. Greece were considered the ‘easiest’ quarter final opponents, although a couple of days after England lost a penalty shoot-out thriller against Portugal, the Greeks delivered what was surely the tournament’s biggest upset, beating France 1-0.

That was until Greece beat Portugal in the final to become the unlikeliest European Champions in the competition’s history.

Achieving The Impossible is the first English language book to focus on what was a football fairytale, put into stark context with a brief history of Greek football and its record of under-achievement.

Author George Tsitsonis points out that a combination of the Greek league’s insularity (a comparatively small number of players were based overseas) and deep-rooted club rivalries which fostered mistrust between players whenever the national team assembled held Greek football back.

Pivotal to this compelling tale is former German footballer and manager Otto Rehhagel, who arrived in Greece boasting an impressive track record as a coach. Rehhagel took unfashionable Werder Bremen to the Bundesliga title and then repeated this success with newly-promoted Kaiserslautern. The story goes that he landed the Greek manager’s role because his salary expectations were lower than the other candidates.

Rehhagel started controversially, dropping Greece’s best known player before building a reliable core of players with whom he stuck through thick and thin. The players repaid his loyalty with commitment and dedication, qualifying for the Euros after losing their opening two matches.

Euro 2004 was not a classic tournament although for the unfancied Greeks it encompassed drama, tension and, eventually, unexpected success. Could England follow a similar route this summer at the delayed Euro 2020 championships? If they adopt a similar approach to that taken by Greece 17 years ago, who knows?

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