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EURO 2008 - Greece resolve to learn hard lessons
Giannakopoulos insists lessons must be learned from the campaign (©Getty Images)
Stelios Giannakopoulos urged Greece to "remedy the negatives" ahead of FIFA World Cup qualifying after his side's Group D campaign ended in a third defeat.
In perspective
Having led 1-0 early in the game, Greece lost 2-1 to Spain in Salzburg to finish their title defence with no points, but winger Giannakopoulos told his team-mates not to be too dispirited. "Nobody expected us to win the trophy again," the 33-year-old said. "What we achieved back in Portugal was something unbelievable. Of course we didn't come to Austria as tourists but to enjoy the tournament. Let's not forget that a big team like France also fell at the group stage, while a massive footballing power like England didn't get here at all.
Positive aspects
"We have to remedy the negatives, but we also have to appreciate the positives and be optimistic. Our main target is to qualify for every major tournament. If we qualify, we can aspire to more," he said, adding of the 90 minutes played at the Stadion Salzburg Wals-Siezenheim: "This is the end of the tournament for us. We deserved a bit more from the first round. Both today and in the match against Russia, we could have got at least a point."
Tournament debut
Panathinaikos FC left-back Nikos Spiropoulos, who made his tournament debut, was equally level-headed in his assessment of the finals, emphasising that the FIFA World Cup qualifiers lay on the horizon. "It was a valuable experience for me, but I would have liked this match to have ended with a positive result for the team," said the 24-year-old. "The tournament didn't go well for us. We didn't achieve our goals as a team. Now we must focus on the World Cup. Our aim is to get to the finals [in South Africa in 2010]. This continuity will help us grow and achieve more."
Lessons to learn
At 32, centre-back Traianos Dellas would hope to be part of that campaign – with Greece competing against Israel, Moldova, Luxembourg, Switzerland and Latvia in Group 4 – and he expected lessons to have been learned come the start of qualifying in September. "Our performance was not the desired one throughout the tournament, but our squad has proved that it can bounce back," he said. "This experience will do us good. We will learn from our errors so we don't repeat them in the next tournament."
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