The quarter-final game between the national soccer teams of Greece and Germany, this coming Friday, is now becoming "political" in both countries.
Following the game between Greece and Russia, the (Hamburg ) Germany "Morgenpost" newspaper released a story titled "The Greeks want to see us suffer." The article said that Greeks want revenge and added that the quarter-final game this forthcoming Friday is more than a game for Greece, It is an event that they want to win so that they can heal their wounded souls. They want it to be a night that will make Germany suffer.
The Greek press is not any better. Some sports newspapers featured titles such as "Bring Us Our Merkel" on their front pages, while online news sites such as insports wrote "We will Look Germany In The Eyes" and NOVASprtFM said in one article that "Greeks can become dangerous".
The Greek team, which staged the largest upset of the tournament in knocking out Russia 1-0 last Saturday and earned its quarter-final spot, knows very well how much joy and pride they are giving to the Greek people who have been targeted over the last two years with hypocritical, nasty and insulting remarks from the media.
Midfielder Giannis Maniatis was quoted as saying on Monday that the most important thing for the national soccer team is "to give some happiness to the Greek people."
Unfortunately our national soccer team has faced widespread mockery at this years championship games, such as a cartoon of a Greek player jumping to catch and pocket a euro coin flipped by the referee, or a Greek team in jerseys emblazoned with a German eagle, suggesting Germany is their sponsor.
Obviously if Greece wins over Germany on Friday it would be like a "David versus Goliath" victory and would boost our momentum as a people. The only thing we can all do is wish them luck and support their effort.