Money, money

[seka]

Greeks to get record bonus if they reach World Cup

ATHENS, Aug 31 (Reuters)(DS) - Greek national players will get
record bonuses if they qualify for the World Cup finals.
A Ministry of Sports official said on Thursday the squad
would divide up to 700 million drachmas ($1.85 million) between
them -- a huge amount for Greece -- if they advance from the
qualifying round to the 2002 finals.
Greece, who play Germany in Hamburg on Friday, missed both
the last World Cup and the European championship.
The last time Greece made the finals, in 1994, the bonus was
about a third of what is now being offered.

[Chris]

Yeah?

Whats your point?

Every other nation in the world are getting bonus's to advance also...

[seka]

Yes, but nobody else counts on money only. Even Russians would only divide 1 MIO USD (and that was a big shock there, why so much money).

I suspect you Greeks think your players need so much money to play hard. Everybody else thinks players should be paid, but they should try hard because of HONOUR not MONEY.

[Mihajloviç]

seka, I dont think the players are really that money hungry, it's just an extra motivation.

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Danas je dan, suncem obasjan, neigra Zvezda ni Partizan. Nije vazno sta nas deli, dali smo crveni ili crno-beli, danas se samo za plave navija, moj tim se danas zove JUGOSLAVIJA.

[seka]

I never said they were money hungry. I said they weren't trying hard enough, so the Greek FA thought MONEY would motivate them.

For EURO qualifications, Greece bought a brand new coach for allota money, but they sucked anyway. I guess this time, they'll give the money to players.

I just think it's not fair, professionalism gor ali dol, that the players receive such amounts to play for their NATIONAL team. That's a matter of honour, or at least it should be... I didn't say it shouldn't be well-paid, but this (1.8 MIO USD for 8 games, that's over 10.000 USD per player per game, even if he doesn't play a second?!) is too much. Look at the fans-workers...

What if Greece NT fails again? A worker gets sacked, a football player gets even bigger money rewards... Logical?!

[Chris]

Motivation has been an issue for a while. But I will name those kind of players who lack passion: Nikolaidis.

Now let me tell you who plays with passion for Greece: The younger ones. Players like Eleftheropoulos,Houtos (Especially),Karagounis,Patsatzoglou,Mavrogenidis. All these "kids" have passion. I have seen it in all of them. Thats why I am so optimistic. The older players were a bunch of asswipes. In 94' there was only a handful of players who played hard and with passion players like Alexandris and Karapialis and those players didn't even go to the U.S. to play. And I have no idea why. Our new coach though (Danil) has seen this and is trying to resolve it. He's teaching teamwork, and only picking players with passion!

Now think we didn't qualify for WC 98' by 1 point. No excuses,Alexandris missed a goal,that could have send us to France.

But in 2000,it was a mixture of the coach and idiots like Nikolaidis. Georagtos wasn't the player he was. etc etc...

Greece always "barely" misses out. This years differen't,the key this year,the thing that will get us over the hump,is our younger players. But talk is cheap,let the results speak for themself. And i'm not talking 1 game,like this game against Germany,i'm talking over this whole Qualifying campaign. When the younger players gain expierence. Then u will see....


PS The money thing, it's not as bad as u make it to be Seka...

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ZHTO ELLAS!!! OLYMPIAKOS FOREVER!!!

[seka]

I say your chances to qualify against England and Germany are some 10%, England and Germany having 45% each. You're totally right that passion can improve your performance.

I asked what you think if you fail again? Should players be promised even more money for qualifying on WC2006? If so, how much? Where's your personal upper line?

[aek11]

Seka,

you said before that they are using money to motivate them to win, well that's a pretty good idea. Soccer is their jobs. If you're playing for an NT and they are offering you money if you qualify won't you won't to qualify more than before the offer?

[Mihajloviç]

I still think it's stupid that players get paid for it, but every national team does it...I would play for the love of my country not for the money , but anyway soccer players are full of money so they dont give a ****.

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Danas je dan, suncem obasjan, neigra Zvezda ni Partizan. Nije vazno sta nas deli, dali smo crveni ili crno-beli, danas se samo za plave navija, moj tim se danas zove JUGOSLAVIJA.

[seka]

aek11, I'll go with Miha on this one. If they want to qualify more when offered money, they should question themselves where their national pride is.

Of course they need to be paid sth, but not THAT MUCH.

Hell, even the Olympic games were (until recently http://www.worldsoccerboard.com/ubb/frown.gif http://www.worldsoccerboard.com/ubb/frown.gif http://www.worldsoccerboard.com/ubb/frown.gif ) about honor and not about money. It seems today's sport is more and more hooked on $$$, which isn't good as we see doping, injuries rising and honour disappering. In the good old days, a player had some kind of moral commitment to his team, to his fans, to his country. Nowadays, they all go where the big buck are offered and noone cares about fans or honour anymore http://www.worldsoccerboard.com/ubb/redface.gif http://www.worldsoccerboard.com/ubb/redface.gif

I don't want to point my finger at Greeks only, cause they're not the only ones, as you said. But they take these things a step further with their exaggerating with money rewards and this article I posted just reminded me of all that...


Again, I ask everyone of you, where's your upper line? And should they be promised more and more each time they fail?

[aek11]

The reason why they are offering money is probably because they got lots of faith in the team to qualify.

Seka, as for your question, the world is running by the dollar$$, so all they can do to help them qualify is offer them money. I don't really like the idea right now because Greece hasn't proved themselves recentley. (Euro 2000) So they don't deserve it right now.

[Chris]

Seka,

You say u don't want to point out Greeks but thats what u are doing. And most of what you are saying is exaggerated a bit. Who cares if they get that much? Is it your country? What do u care? Does it effect ZZ? LOL

[seka]

Chris, are you STUPID? I wrote a whole post to explain WHY DO I CARE! Next time read things before you reply...

I told you THE ARTICLE ABOUT GREECE made me think about all I wrote. If it was about some other country, I'd also react. The fact that Greece recently failed brings another question (as aek11 very normally discusses in his post, too). Somehow aek11 got the point, but you didn't...

It's not about my country, yet I'll be damn pissed if our footballers were promised such money! Better give 'em half and give another half to the fans to promote your country in the WC (we Slovenes had the same T-shirts promoting SLO at Euro). I think that's money better spent.

And stop with ZZ everywhere, it'll affect your health (I'm telling you this for the 3rd time...).

I asked you, you don't understand. So, I'll ask you differently: Would you still think it's OK if they were promised 100 MIO USD?

[byzantium21]

personally, i think the money thing is getting out of hand ( i think its disgusting how much money barca payed for figo, but thats another matter).
for our NT, i think our FA doubted the commitment and the national pride of the greek players, and even though it is improving, they wanted to "reinforce" it with hard cash. its an honor to play for your country's flag, they shouldn't need money, but that is the way the world is going. as for the match with germany, we lost, but we played them straight up, no fear. alot has changed for us, but the road is still very very long. we are not out of contention yet, although a tie or a win in Hamburg would have been a great ego boost for us.

[seka]

Hey, Byzantium21, check this out. That's not all they get, THEY GET EXTRA BONUSES (talking 'bout big bucks here!) for every game if they win or tie...

Ad I agree, Real WENT CRAZY with this Figo issue. But at least that's business: Figo sold them all the rights to his name, so Perez said, after 6 years, Figo will end up cheaper for Real as some normal player. Cause his name is hot...

Batigol was worth 33 MIO USD WITHOUT CEDING THE RIGHTS TO HIS NAME...

[Chris]

Well basicly there's nothing u can do about it. It's not my money so I really don't care. Every sport is getting like this,players are getting played to much,it's not about the game anymore it's about the money.

[seka]

I guess you're right, money has become more important than the game, the sport http://www.worldsoccerboard.com/ubb/frown.gif http://www.worldsoccerboard.com/ubb/frown.gif

In past years, sport needed money, now money needs sport... Just think about that G-14 league big clubs want to make: no relegation, closed competition, bigger MONEY. That would be the end of football as we know it.

And it's the money that makes all the players arrogant. They don't give their passion to the game as much as they used to, since they're full of $$$...

[Chris]

Exactly Seka....It's sad

[newyorkyanks]

it is sad but true in todays world money is the root of evil. it has taken the fun out of the game. you look at all the sports. example baseketball players making over 15 and almost 20 million a year .luis figo and rivaldo. mike piazza, roger clemens this thing has to stop in all sports or sports will be ruined and p .s a little bonus doesnt hurt but i think they say it and will do it but realistic i dont think greece will be able to qualify . i saw the highlights and greece is missing a very good striker and and they need a # 10 reall bad the goalie played good and the defence wasnt that bad but good luck to guys in qualifing and the bonus

[Chris]

Yeah Machlas is out.

He should be back for the Finland game though.

Dabizas is our leader in "D" and he was out also he should be back.

And that #10 is Tsartas. He hit the post and made a few good through balls. He's doing fine.Another #10 is Karagounis,but Daniil doesn;t start him because he's only 22.

We still have a chance. What people don;'t realize is this game is in Germany. There not exactly easy to beat there.

[newyorkyanks]

i had heard of machlas he plays for ajax? what happen why didnt he play ?

i wish england or gremany doesnt qualify but i doubt. they are just to good and what happened in the euro 2000 you wont see that again

[newyorkyanks]

HOW DID GEORGOTOS PLAYED . EVERY TIME I SAW INTER I LIKE HOW HE PLAYED WITH CHINO RECOBA. I AM SUPRISE THAT THEY DIDNT QUALIFY FOR THE CHAMPIONS LEAGUE

[Chris]

NewYorkYank,

Machlas was out with an Injury. He got it last year with Ajax (He already had 14 goals) and so he couldn't play. Georgatos played ok vs Germany. He had to many high balls though, he should have kept the ball on the ground were we were faster but he kept long balling it.

All in all the whole team sucked. We came out scared, maybe this was good though,and the players will wake up.

[newyorkyanks]

THIS IS A VERY FRIENDLY FORUM I HAD CRITIZED THE NATIONAL TEAM OF GREECE LIKE I ALWAYS DO TO SOME OF MY FRIENDS IN ASTORIA AND NEVER I GET CURSED OUT BUT IN SOME OTHER FORUM WHERE I VOICE MY OPION THAT IS TRUE PEOPLE CURSE ME OUT WANNA THINK I KNOW NOTHING ABOUT SOCCER AND QUESTION ME ABOUT A COUNTRY THAT I NEVER KNEW EXIST OMG LOL

[newyorkyanks]

THIS IS A VERY FRIENDLY FORUM I HAD CRITIZED THE NATIONAL TEAM OF GREECE LIKE I ALWAYS DO TO SOME OF MY FRIENDS IN ASTORIA AND NEVER I GET CURSED OUT BUT IN SOME OTHER FORUM WHERE I VOICE MY OPION THAT IS TRUE PEOPLE CURSE ME OUT WANNA THINK I KNOW NOTHING ABOUT SOCCER AND QUESTION ME ABOUT A COUNTRY THAT I NEVER KNEW EXIST OMG LOL

[seka]

We all are very friendly http://www.worldsoccerboard.com/ubb/smile.gif

[Chris]

How old are u bro?

[seka]

Me?

[byzantium21]

from the way seka writes/talks, i would say he's between 18-22 ( or i may be biased because thats my age range) http://www.worldsoccerboard.com/ubb/biggrin.gif http://www.worldsoccerboard.com/ubb/biggrin.gif http://www.worldsoccerboard.com/ubb/biggrin.gif

[seka]

You've got that right. 21 to be exact http://www.worldsoccerboard.com/ubb/smile.gif The same as you are.

[byzantium21]

hey seka, what do you study? i assume you go to university...

[Chris]

SEKA,

I wasn't talking to u. LOL

New York-How old are u?

[newyorkyanks]

i am 23 years old

[seka]

Byzantium, I go to Law school, University of Ljubljana. What about you? Do you live in Greece and study there?

[byzantium21]

i study anthropology at the University of South Florida in tampa, usa. next year i will be in graduate school. unfortunately, i live in the u.s. and will be here for quite some time. oh well...

[seka]

Do you (Chris and Byzantium) know each other? You're both from Tampa, FL - that's why I ask. You could go for a beer sometime http://www.worldsoccerboard.com/ubb/biggrin.gif

We Slovenes are doing it all the time. Guys from net, drinking beer together in - Amsterdam. Heh, kinda cool that our country is so small http://www.worldsoccerboard.com/ubb/smile.gif http://www.worldsoccerboard.com/ubb/smile.gif

[Mihajloviç]

Hey Greek brothers , I am just interrupting a little bit, and just want to say this :
All people that dont like greeks and serbs are pustie's. http://www.worldsoccerboard.com/ubb/biggrin.gif

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Danas je dan, suncem obasjan, neigra Zvezda ni Partizan. Nije vazno sta nas deli, dali smo crveni ili crno-beli, danas se samo za plave navija, moj tim se danas zove JUGOSLAVIJA.

[Mihajloviç]

man...my greek is getting a lot better !

http://www.worldsoccerboard.com/ubb/smile.gif

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Danas je dan, suncem obasjan, neigra Zvezda ni Partizan. Nije vazno sta nas deli, dali smo crveni ili crno-beli, danas se samo za plave navija, moj tim se danas zove JUGOSLAVIJA.

[seka]

What does pustie mean?
Miha, you're getting too excited again http://www.worldsoccerboard.com/ubb/biggrin.gif http://www.worldsoccerboard.com/ubb/biggrin.gif

One can be Greek/Serb and a moron at the same time. One can also be from Texas and be cool at the same time.

http://www.worldsoccerboard.com/ubb/biggrin.gif

[Chris]

LOL Bravo Miha!

[byzantium21]

HEY GOOD JOB MIHA.
BUT THE PLURAL OF POUSTIE IS POUSTIDES.
I'LL QUIZZ YOU NEXT TIME http://www.worldsoccerboard.com/ubb/biggrin.gif

AND SEKA, NO CHRIS AND I DON'T KNOW EACH OTHER, ITS A PRETTY BIG TOWN, AND I DON'T GET OUT MUCH

[seka]

Cmon, fellas, translate that in English!


How would you feel if I said KRŠÈENMATIÈEK http://www.worldsoccerboard.com/ubb/biggrin.gif

[newyorkyanks]

seka i know what it means . some people dont have no class but it shows.

[newyorkyanks]

here goes my greek mal.ka megalo arhtidi lol

[Chris]

Hey Kostas,

I live in Tarpon Springs a Greek community, pretty well known. Do u know it?

[seka]

Same budale, èe bi jim dal kurca med oèi, ne bi jajc vid'li http://www.worldsoccerboard.com/ubb/smile.gif

[byzantium21]

hey SEKA, pousties means queer.

[byzantium21]

chris, yeah i'm very familiar with tarpon springs. i lived there for six months when my family and i moved back to the united states from greeceback in 94. i go to usf, o i live right next to campus.

[seka]

Thanks for explaining Byzantium. In Slovene, we say PEDER http://www.worldsoccerboard.com/ubb/biggrin.gif

Malaka is SHIT, right?
Come on, tell some Greek words, like "Would you go to bed with me?" http://www.worldsoccerboard.com/ubb/biggrin.gif http://www.worldsoccerboard.com/ubb/biggrin.gif http://www.worldsoccerboard.com/ubb/biggrin.gif http://www.worldsoccerboard.com/ubb/biggrin.gif

Or sth like that http://www.worldsoccerboard.com/ubb/smile.gif

[newyorkyanks]

i hope you guys are ok from the the hurricane that passed by

[newyorkyanks]

ohhhh i forgot chris why is houtos crying????
what happen between him and his coach

[Chris]

Cool Kostas, I go to Tarpon High did u go there? Do u know anyone living here?

And The Hurricane didn't touch us. A few gusts here and there, no flooding didn't do much.

When was Choutos crying? LOL, He did get in a fight with Matzourakis in training,because he was put in the game vs Valencia to late (89' min). But he publicly apologized to the coach and players at training.

No crying though...lol

[byzantium21]

seka, malaka means wanker.
here is your new lesson: gamo ta sapia ptomata ton pethamenon sou
which means " i f*ck the rotting corpses of your ancestors"
colorful, no? http://www.worldsoccerboard.com/ubb/wink.gif (maybe a bit too colorful, we'll tone it down next time)


chris-- i went to tarpon springs high for 6 months back in 1994 and i hated every minute of it.

[Chris]

Why?

I'm plying for the Basketball Team...

[newyorkyanks]

why is choutos not playing chris? is this another player fighting with the coach .Zahovic leaves now choutos is following ???????? but from what i heard from a little birdie that brag all day about olympiakos that drove me crazy was his replacement played better and he should play instead what do u think about that ?

[Chris]

Well Zahovic faught with with Bigon (Some Italian) we have a new coach though Mantzourakis. Choutos was a little fuserated about not playing in Valencia, so he kinda blew up and the coach corrected it. Like I said give it time to blow over. And Choutos is figting for a spot with another Talented young player Ofori-Quaye. He's from Ghana and both are VERY good players. It will be nice to see who wins the spot. I think Choutos will though...

[seka]

Chris, who'll play aside Giovanni in attack against Herenveen? Answer me this one, I need the info http://www.worldsoccerboard.com/ubb/wink.gif

Choutus is right to fight. He's young and has to fight for his place. If he kept quiet and satisfied, he'd soon vanish.

All players are like that, recently McManaman, Savio, Bergkamp... had a fight with their coach. Some even fight about what place they want to play (Rivaldo) or which number they wanna wear (Montella).

It's a cruel world...

[Chris]

It will most likely be Ofori-Quaye playing up front with Giovanni. Choutos and Alvez could also sneak up...

If Matzourakis gives Choutos a chance to start THIS weekend vs OFI then I believe he will score and MAYBE earn a spot. Not to sure though...