Galery

1

Andreas Samaris took part in the usual press conference of the national teams in Arakazu where the base of the Greek national team is located during the World Cup in Brazil.

The player who opened the way for the Greek team to the rankings talked about the purpose, the reactions after losing the first match and about Greece's next opponent, Costa Rica.

"Such matches help the Greek players to be noticed throughout the world. The Greek team is a true team, it does not rely on stars and individual actions. The team efforts won against the individual talent. Perhaps yesterday's match was the beginning of Greek players becoming better known abroad," said Samaris.

"We all believe that our team can go forward. We encourage each other and that is what brought yesterday’s victory to us although it just came before the 93rd minute. Our goal was to qualify for the second round, we did it and we hope to go forward. We want to get as far as we can", he added.

Samaris was asked about the reaction of the Greek national team after the loss against Colombia. "Our good image against Colombia, even though we lost, gave us hope. In the next two matches we had to demonstrate strong-mindedness. The Greek spirit was present in our game, we were a team in every respect and that helped us win the match we wanted," the player replied.

Olympiakos' midfielder assured that there is no danger of considering Costa Rica team an easy opponent, "To be the first in such a difficult group means that it is a good team. We will show respect for the opponent, we realize that we are among the 16 best teams in the world and one of them is Costa Rica. We will face it in due manner and not by surprise. There is no way we should relax and underestimate our opponent."

Here is what the coach of the Greek national team, Fernando Santos, said about the team of Costa Rica, "This is a very tough team. It was in the so-called "group of death" and all thought it was "dead" but it passed through the second match. And it did so not because it took advantage of the weather conditions but because it is a very good team and plays very good football. It will be a very tough opponent." As for how the national team of Greece will play on Sunday, he said, "We have played with three strikers or offensive players in other matches too. In addition, we are lucky to have defenders with offensive skills. Costa Rica plays using the 5-4-1 system, which means that it is a completely different opponent from Côte d'Ivoire. We will find the right strategy first and then subsequently we will consider the players who can apply it. The match with Costa Rica lies ahead and we want to move on, but we must work hard to be successful. What I want from my players is to calm down. I think that what happened on 25 June was very important. When we are united we can do great things."