The Hindu : Sport / Football : Rehhagel's remarkable rise

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Tuesday, Jul 06, 2004

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Rehhagel's remarkable rise

LISBON, JULY 5. Otto Rehhagel once stood a game away from being sacked as Greece's coach. Now, he is the hero of a nation.

The German masterminded an improbable victory at Euro 2004, guiding Greece to its first ever European Championship title on Sunday with a 1-0 win over host Portugal.

Angelos Charisteas scored the winner, a 57th-minute header, but the plaudits must surely go to Rehhagel.

``I think the score speaks for itself. It's amazing what football has managed to do in Greece,'' Rehhagel said after. ``(Football has) managed to unite the country, something politics wasn't able to do.''

When he took over nearly three years ago, the Greek team was in shambles, its players indifferent, and results sliding ever downward. He had to beg for better facilities and sometimes his team did not even have a pitch to train on.

``Mission Impossible'' said the Greek Press.

Perhaps at the time, it was. Rehhagel's first game ended in a 5-0 loss to Finland.

Then, in the fall of 2002, Greece suffered two losses at the start of its Euro 2004 qualifying adventure. The Greek soccer federation gave Rehhagel a must-win game against Armenia to save his job.

He won that 2-0 and the next five as Greece finished top of a qualifying group ahead of Spain and Ukraine. Greece did not concede a single goal in its final six games.

Perhaps fittingly, Charisteas finished top scorer in qualifying with three goals: the same total the striker managed at Euro 2004.

The Greeks' iron defence, discipline, selflessness and teamwork are all hallmarks of Rehhagel: a strict disciplinarian and a bone-hard defender himself during a 200-game playing career with Kaiserslautern.

At Euro 2004, Greece kept three clean sheets from the quarterfinals onward, and goalkeeper Antonios Nikopolidis went 358 minutes without being beaten.

``Our opponents were certainly technically somewhat better than us,'' Rehhagel said. ``But they have to score their own goals ... Later on they only operated with long balls and looked helpless.''

A superb tactician and even better man-motivator, Rehhagel tasted success as a club coach.

During a 14-year coaching stint with Bremen, Rehhagel clinched two Bundesliga titles, two German cups and a Cup Winners' Cup trophy in 1992. Six years later, he added another league title with Kaiserslautern having promoted the club the previous season. No other German club coach has matched this feat.

But this is without doubt his greatest triumph, guiding a team an undisputed outsider to the pinnacle of European football.

``The Greek team wrote soccer history,'' he said. ``I hope we'll be able to get into Athens on Monday, there will be incredible scenes.'' — AP

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