Greece

Greece pulled off one of the biggest shocks international football has ever seen when winning Euro 2004 but they have been somewhat in the football wilderness since, often struggling to qualify for the major tournaments.

Greece look to be getting back to their best but their best is still unlikely to be good enough, tactics seemed to play more of a part than talent in their win in 2004 and having qualified from what was probably the weakest of all Euro 2012 qualifying groups they need to step up one again to avoid a group stage exit which is what happened to them at the last European Championships in 2008.

Best Bets On Greece At Euro 2012

Check out the best bets on Greece in the most popular Euro 2012 betting markets:

Greece To Be Eliminated In Quarter Final

Greece have been handed a real opportunity to qualify from the group stage at the European Championships, being drawn alongside Russia, Poland and Czech Republic. Greece won the European Championships eight years ago and although they had a wobble after that, they look to be getting the right results again, they only narrowly missed out on the knockout rounds of the World Cup in a tougher group than this and they won their group in qualifying for Euro 2012 and were one of only five teams who weren't beaten during qualifying.

Greece To Finish Runners Up In Group A

Greece do have a great chance of qualifying from Group A but they have their work cut out for them if they are going to finish above Russia who also won their qualifying group. Russia are ranked above Greece in the FIFA rankings and will be playing a bit closer to home than many other Euro 2012 teams so Russia could have a bit more of an advantage than most and look most likely to finish above Greece.

Greece To Pick Up Four Points In Group A

Eight of the last sixteen European Championships group runners up have gained four points and six of them have picked up six points so these look the most likely totals for Greece at Euro 2012. The fact that Greece have been drawn in such a tight group means no team should have major superiority and there certainly isn't a massive amount between Greece, Poland and Czech Republic so it is not difficult to see Greece losing one (most likely Russia) and also picking up a win and a draw from their other two matches.

Greece Qualifying Results

Greece did extremely well to qualify as winners of their qualifying group but it has to be said that they were probably playing in the weakest group of all and that perhaps runners up Croatia, underperformed a little. That won't stop Greece from heading to Euro 2012 in confident mood and Greece do deserve credit for being one of only five teams to emerge from qualifying unbeaten.

Greece Euro 2012 Squad

This is the predicted 23 man Greece Euro 2012 squad, when the final squad is announced the squad will be updated:

Goalkeepers: Michalis Sifakis, Alexandros Tzorvas, Dimitris Konstantopoulos.

Defenders: Avraam Popadopoulos, Vassilis Torossidis, Sokratis Papastathopoulos, Loukas Vyntra, Kyriakos Papadopoulos, Nikos Spyropoulos, Giorgos Tzavellas, Giannis Maniatis.

Midfielders: Giorgos Karagounis, Sotiris Ninis, Giannis Fetfatzidis, Alexandros Tziolis, Kostas Katsouranis, Pantelis Kafes.

Forwards: Dimitris Salpingidis, Giorgos Samaras, Kostas Mitroglou, Fanis Gekas.

Greece Player Stats From Euro 2012 Qualifying

Greece Player's Goal Stats

Here are the most important goal stats from Greece's Euro 2012 qualifying group. Use these to pick the best goalscorer bets on Greece's games at Euro 2012.

*All stats reflect bookies rules for own goals and 90 mins play in their respective markets. Five other Greece players scored a single goal in qualification and there were also two own goals.

Greece don't have one outstanding goalscorer and only three of their players managed to score more than one goal during qualification. Giannis Fetfatzidis and Kyriakos Popadopoulos had the best goals to games ratio and Kyriakos Popadopoulos looks like he could be good value in the goalscorer markets at Euro 2012 considering he is a defender and will often start at big odds.In the first goalscorer betting Vassilis Torossidis looks the best bet, as a result of scoring the only goal in two games he was both the first goalscorer and last goalscorer in both the games he scored in.

Greece Players' Disciplinary Stats

Check out Greece's yellow and red card stats below to help highlight the best bets in the cards markets for Greece's Euro 2012 matches.

*Eight Greece players also picked up a single yellow card during qualifying.

Greece managed to pick up 28 bookings during qualifying which is quite remarkable, they look like they could pick up more yellow cards than any other team at Euro 2012. Eight players picked upa  single yellow card and another eight players picked up two yellow cards whilst the worst disciplined player in the side was Vassilis Torossidis who managed to picked up four yellow cards (including two first yellow cards of the match) from just seven appearanaces. Giorgos Karagounis is also worth mentioning as both of his yellow cards in qualifying were the first yellow cards of those matches.

Greece Team Stats From Euro 2012 Qualifying

Greece's team stats can be found below, these stats can be applied to plenty of match markets during Euro 2012.

Greece didn't score many goals during qualifying and that will be their main problem at Euro 2012, they are likely to struggle to score against better opposition having only averaged 1.4 goals per game against some teams they should be scoring more goals against. Greece failed to score the first goal of the game in six matches so the opposition will look a good bet to score the first goal whilst opposition players will be good value to score the first goal. Greece were actually losing more games at half time than they were winning so a draw or the opposition team look good bets in the half time markets.

Greece are pretty string defensively and kept five clean sheets, the didn't concede more than one goal in any game in qualifying. Greece were much better offensively in the second half of matches with eleven out of their fifteen goals coming after the interval, that stat should be applied to in running betting in the second half of matches at Euro 2012. Greece weren't particularly dominant in any of their qualifying matches, they failed to win both halves of any of their ten games.

Greece Recent European Championships Performances

Greece produced one of the biggest shocks in international football when they won the European Championships in 2004, beating Portugal in the final. That proved that a team can win a major tournament more because of tactics and teamwork than because of talent. Greece hadn't even qualified for the previous two European Championships and finished bottom of the group when defending their crown so that big win in 2004 definitely looks a one off.