Keep Walking Greece!

When a nation is so close to default, sports cannot be of any importance. However sports give us a great opportunity to see that Greece is not a country of lazy people who don't do anything else than drinking coffee next to the beach and tax evading. If you haven't been to Greece or met someone from Greece, probably this is the picture you have for this small but historical country.

Greece is the country that hosted the original ancient Olympic Games, and the modern ones in 2004. Especially for the last ones most of foreigners didn't believe that we will finally be able to organise them as we were not working hard. Despite their lack of faith we managed to organise a very successful event without any major problems with everyone being satisfied.

Despite the good impression we created we also acquired big amounts of debt as organising a global event like this, is too costly. This is the reason why Italy decided in the last moment not to bid for the Olympic Games in 2020.

Another example of Greek success against general opinion is the European Football Championship won by Greece in 2004. Noone believed in this team (like today noone believes in an economic miracle from Greece) but the whole team believed and with the help of Otto Rehagel, a German coach, we managed to do one of the greatest surprises in global sporting history. Of course the contribution of "Mr. Heracles" is huge but the point is that we do not need a German Gauleiter (the party leader of a regional branch of the Nazi) but someone to BELIEVE in us. Of course Mr. Rehagel is one of the most respectable Germans in Greece and we owe him one of our happiest moments in our lives.

Of course noone will ever forget, at least the Greeks, the big win of our Basketball National Team against Dream Team, the National Team of the United States. It was in Japan in 2006, for the FIBA World Championship, when once more against predictions we did it, we won probably the best team in the World.

All these are some examples that show that we, Greek people, are capable of great things. There should be a motivation and not pension or wage cuts. These measures diminish the motivation and increase the anxiety. We need inspiration and not Troika's advice.

We know we are not a rich country, rich in economic terms, but we are rich in feelings, in beautiful and sunny islands and rich in history that noone can ever take from us. We are a country of 11 mil. inhabitants that has less people than Lady Gaga's and Justin Bieber's followers in Twitter. However we are proud that a lot of great things in this world have a Greek origin like DEMOCRACY, which is forgottent nowadays.

So please don't behave to us like we are "junk" like Standard and Poor's rated Greek Bonds. We deserve respect from everyone because when talking for a nation that provided a lot to this World (for sure not any World War) noone should disrespect us. Greek citizens are responsible for this situation in a  percentage but not in the whole. Countries which lend us money in order to buy military equipment from them, with bribes, should change their behaviour and respect the Greek citizens more. 

DON'T UNDERSTIMATE THE GREEKS 

WE WILL KEEP WALKING EVEN IF YOU DON'T THINK SO

Is Milan cursed?

Milan is inside every target they set in the beginning of the year. They are 1 point behind Udinese who sit on the top of Campionato. They are also qualified on the Top 16 in Champion's League 2 points behind Barcelona and with a home game against last year's winners.

However, despite their performance on the pitch they are various reasons so far this season not to be happy in Milanello. It was firstly Gennaro Gattuzo who had a serious eye injury which threatened his career. He remained two months out of training but now he is back and participated today in his first training after his eye injury. Gattuzo in his 13th season in Milan will become 34 this January. He started his career in Perugia passing from Rangers and Salerno before joining the Italian Champions.

Then it was "Tonio", Antonio Cassano aged 29, who had health problems but now recovers from a heart surgery a few days ago. Cassano was transfered from Sampdoria last January for €1,7 mil. He started his career from Bari in 1999 and then played for Roma before joining Real Madrid. Our wishes are with Tonio and we wish him a quick comeback to football without any further health issues.

The 3rd reason not letting Milan to concentrate on their following obligations is Cavaliere. Silvio Berlusconi, the 3rd richest Italian according to Forbes, among other businesses is the owner of A.C. Milan. He was forced to resign as Italy's Prime Minister as he lost the majority in the Italian Parliament. He is a very active but in the same time controversial person. He is accused for sex scandals and also criticised for keeping his assets in Mediaset, the largest broadcasting company in the country, while being Prime Minister. Despite his political problems he still remains loyal to his team. 

So far Milan proves to separate their performance to the problems they face off the pitch. It seems that Milan is still concentrated on its targets. It remains to see if they can continue on this rythm. What a better game to show its strength, against Barcelona next week for Champions League. Let's enjoy the game. 

Manchester divided!

This is the time for the big game in Manchester. Manchester United faces Manchester City. Unlike past years, Manchester City leads the championship, 2 points ahead of United. Ready to benefit from a possible draw is Chelsea facing QPR away.

American owners of United meet their Qatari counterparts in a game where Carlos Tevez will not perform as he is banned from his team, following his refusal to play as a second-half substitute in the game against Bayern last month for the Champions League. Earlier this week Sir Alex Ferguson (25 years United's Coach) agreed with Roberto Mancini's (2 years in City's bench) handling on Carlos Tevez issue. Ferguson had similar problems with Tevez while he performed for United.


Manchester United surpassed last year Liverpool in League titles with 19 against 18. Manchester City on the other side won their last League title in 1968! Are they capable of becoming English Champions after 44 years? We should wait until May but before that we will watch the Manchester derby and see if the investment from City's owners is capable for the win against City.

This season began with a 3-2 win for United against City for the Community Shield, a revenge for last year's defeat in the FA Cup. In 160 games United has 67 wins against City, 24 more than their counterparts, when 50 games ended without a winner.

For another transfer market, City invested heavily in buying players with the amount passing €92 mil. much less than the previous 3 years when on average they spent €162 mil. On the other side United bought mainly young players worth €57 mil. one of them being De Gea, Van der Sar's replacement.

Both teams have very talented players. Especially this season Kun Aguero and Wayne Rooney have a very good start of the season with the Argentianian scoring 8 goals in 7 games and Rooney 9 goals in 7 games. Aguero shows on the pitch the reason why City spent €45 mil. this summer to take him from Atletico de Madrid. But is he able to score tonight in his first Premier League Derby against United and help City win again in Old Trafford after 2008? We will found out in a couple of hours. Until then we will stay tuned for this big game.