Αν με γυρέψετε είμαι ακόμη στην αλάνα
Ευτυχώς ανήκουμε σε εκείνη τη γεννιά που πέρασε τα παιδικά και τα πρώτα εφηβικά της χρόνια μακρυά απο το Internet, το facebook και οι επαφές που είχε με τη μπάλα δεν ήταν μόνο μέσω Playstasion και Pro άλλωστε όπως μου έλεγε ένας μεγάλυτερος στη μπάλα ματώνουν τα γόνατα σου απο τα πεσίματα στα χαλίκια και στα τσιμέντα όχι τα χέρια σου απο τα πλήκτρα.
Στις μεγαλουπόλεις του σήμερα οι έλευθεροι χώροι λιγοστεύουν όλο και περισσότερο τα πάρκα, οι πλατείες τείνουν να εξαφανιστούν δίνοντας τη θέση τους σε αντιαισθητικά εμπορικά ή τεράστιες πολυκατοικίες.Τα ελεύθερα σημεία συνάντησης των πιτσιρικάδων κάθε γειτονιάς χάνονται με το πέρασμα των χρόνων τι κι αν το να στηθεί ένα ματσάκι είναι τόσο εύκολο που το μόνο που χρειάζεται είναι λίγα μέτρα ελεύθερου χώρου 2 πέτρες ή δυο κάδους για να παριστάνουν τα δοκάρια του τέρματος, τωρα πιά ακόμη κι αυτά φαντάζουν δύσκολα.Στις μέρες μας οι αλάνες μετατράπηκαν σε γηπεδάκια 5×5 ή 7×7 που ξεφυτρώνουν όλο και περισσότερα σε διάφορα σημεία της πόλης, όμως είναι το ίδιο(?) ακόμη κι ά ν το χρηματικό αντίτιμο είναι μικρό θα μπορέσουν να αντικαταστήσουν τα γηπεδάκια αυτά τις αλάνες?
Η μπάλα στις γειτονιές ήταν ένας ακόμη παράγοντας κοινωνικοποίησης και συναναστροφής ανθρώπων ίδιων ή και διαφορετικών που υποστήριζαν την ίδια ή και διαφορετική ομάδα…
Στις αλάνες λοιπόν που ματώσαμε τα γόνατα μας και σκίσαμε όλα μας τα ρούχα, στις αλάνες που παίζαμε μπάλα και αφιερώναμε τα γκολ μας σε κορίτσια, στις αλάνες που ονειρευτήκαμε πως θα γίνουμε μεγάλοι παίχτες, στις αλάνες που λειτουργούσαν σαν βαλβίδες αποσυμπίεσης μέσα στη καθημερινότητα.
Στις αλάνες που τόσο μας λείπουν…
Όλου του κόσμου οι Κυριακές
Πόσες Κυριακές πέρασα στα πέταλα να βλέπω γρασίδι, τερέν, τάραφλεξ, πισίνα και πόσα συναισθήματα έχω να θυμάμαι χαρά λύπη, θυμός, ελπίδα, πάντα συνδεδεμένα με την ομάδα, η Κυριακή είχε πάντα την ιδιότητα να μην έχει καμία επαφή με τις υπόλοιπες μέρες τις βδομάδας, οι καθημερινές ήταν συνυφασμένες πάντα με δουλειές άγχη, και τα Σάββατα με τη μέρα του ξεφαντώματος. Η Κυριακή όμως έχει πάντα τη δική της ιστορία μια ιστορία που συμπληρώνεται από εικόνες, εικόνες από κερκίδες που πάλλονται, εικόνες από καπνογόνα, εικόνες από εκδρομές σε αφιλόξενες έδρες, εικόνες από φιλαράκια ματωμένα και εσύ να τους κρατάς και να συνεχίζεται σαν να μην έγινε τίποτα.
Οι Κυριακές κρύβουν μέσα τους ένα περίεργο αέρα ελευθερίας κι ένα δέσιμο με πράγμα που δεν καταλαβαίνουν εύκολα οι άλλοι, κρύβουν καρδιοχτύπια για την ομάδα, καρδιοχτύπια αδρεναλίνης όταν τα πράγματα ζορίζουν και κρύβουν μέσα τους πολλές αναμνήσεις από νίκες ή ήττες τόσο εντός όσο και εκτός γηπέδων.
Οι δικές μας Κυριακές έχουν όμορφες μυρωδιές από καπνογόνα, έχουν κλεισμένες φωνές από ουρλιαχτά πώρωσης, έχουν ένταση που εκτονώνεται από μια δύσκολη βδομάδα, που θα βοηθήσει για να αντιμετωπίσουμε αυτές τις άσχημες Δευτέρες που θα έρθουν.
Όλου του κόσμου οι Κυριακές που άφηνες οικογένειες, φίλους δουλειές, γκόμενες για να κάνεις ότι στ’ αλήθεια σε γεμίζει…
Alania Vladikavkaz 0-1 Olympiakos
The fatigue from continual training did not affect us in todays match where we beat Alania by one goal to nil. Our second friendly of the season then resulted in a win and we will not play any more games in Austria. We move onto the next friendlies in Portugal with a full squad.
For the game itself, we started off with a mixture of first team players, second team and youth players due to several players being absent after international duty. The first half was a pretty tame affair with neither side playing very dangerously. We scored the only goal of the match 14 minutes in with a long ball from Papazoglou at right back to Djebbour, and a first time shot from the Algerian player into the net.
Similar to the previous match we made several changes at half time and played much better in the second half. Abdoun came close to doubling the lead in the 47th minute whilst Djebbour also had a chance in the 55th. Our final chance of the game came in the 75th minute when Pantelic came close on goal with a headed effort.
Alania Vladikavkaz 0-1 Olympiakos
14' Djebbour
Olympiakos : Carroll (46' Megyeri), Papazoglou (78' Javito), Manolas, Siovas, Potouridis (46' Dielna), Modesto, Fejsa (46' Tatos), Vlachodimos (46' Chumbinho), Abdoun (84' Vlachodimos), Diogo (46' Pantelic), Djebbour (60' Karagounis).
Pictures and videos follow links...
Spartak Moscow 1-1 Olympiakos
Olympiakos drew its first friendly of the season with a 1-1 scoreline, our opponents for the evening being Spartak Moscow. We picked up our play in the second half of the game and we were unlucky to concede an equaliser in the 85th minute but this was just an opening friendly and not important as a result.
We were indifferent during the first half, not bad but not good either - just.... average. We will want to work on the quality of play from some of the players having seen the first half performance. Attacking wise we were better and there were some occasions in the half where we caused Spartak some problems.
The second half was considerably better for us. We opened the scoring in the 50th minute with a combined Diogo and Pantelic effort (Pantelic scoring from a header). The Russians barely had any chances in the second half and so it was unlucky when they managed to equalise from a close range shot in the 85th minute.
Spartak Moscow 1-1 Olympiakos
Olympiakos: Megyeri, Papazoglou, Siovas, Manolas, Fejsa, Chumbinho, Javito, Dielna, Tatos, Abdoun, Djebbour
(Second Half substitutes) : Pantelic, Diogo, Vlachodimos, Modesto, Potouridis, Carroll
OFI 0-0 Olympiakos
OFI 0-0 Olympiakos
Olympique Marseille 0-1 Olympiakos Piraeus
The French pricks showed off their friendship with the AEK chickens during their coreo so a victory here would taste that little bit sweeter and enact some revenge for our loss on day 1.
The opening minutes see us perform well and fight for control over the pitch, where we won a free kick for our troubles. Marseille were being pegged back into their half during our attacks so it was imperative that we continued to play in the same way. We managed to score a goal during the early part of the match only to see it ruled offside. Our effort came from a free kick which Mellberg got on top of and headed into the back of the net. The trouble was, he moved fractionally offside just as the free kick was taken and so it was ruled offside. Harsh decision which would have been 'missed' if we were a Real , Manchester United or Chelsea status of team.
The half continued with Marseille starting to get more possession of the ball and starting to threaten our goal. We still had our share of the ball though and continued to get forward whenever the opportunuity rose. We were however conceding corners a little bit too regularly for my liking and we would have to improve as the game went on.
Despite the comeback from the French team, we subsequently took over with the ball again and started to make efforts on goal. The better of these being free kicks taken close to the area and two superb shots from Mirallas and a follow up from Holebas which really tested the keeper and resulted in a corner for us. A further shot from Maniatis tested their keeper and it continued in this vein until half time. We had made a superb first half showing but unfortunately had not been able to get the all important goal advantage.
Initially, the second half starts with us doing all the attacking although a slight mishap at the back gave cause for concern where an error led to a point blank ranged shot on goal and we were lucky not to have conceded from it. This momentary lapse aside though and we were still coping, although another scramble around our goalmouth narrowly avoided turning into a goal.
At the other end though, we had a great one-on-one chance from Mirallas but the Marseille keeper saved his shot, infuriatingly for us. Another chance went begging just minutes later when a low shot across the goalmouth couldn't be knocked in. All in all though, we were all over the French team for the previous 5 minutes.
After a brief series of attacks from Marseille (including a close range header which Megyeri managed to save), we go on the offensive again and try to get something in the last 15 minutes of the game. We launch attack after attack on their goal but just couldn't manage to get the ball into the net. Mirallas, Yeste and Djebbour all fired away shots but without success.
Eventually though, we get the goal which we had been working for all match, Fetfatzidis with the low shot from the side of the box which went into the back of the net. With the dynamics of the game altered, Marseille threw everything they could at us and our defence (especially Megyeri) had to put in some great performances to stop conceding. A sloppy freekick was conceded on the edge of the box but the resulting shot was so poor that our Hungarian keeper didn't have to strain in order to pick it up.
In the three minutes of extra time, we tried to keep the ball at the top of the pitch with Fetfatzidis and Torosidis combining well to keep it in the top corner and waste time. Eventually the ball did break free and the French had one final chance on goal. We kept our defence though and ran down the clock successfully.
Our victory here sees us overtake Dortmund in the standings and only be 2 points behind Marseille in second place. A superb performance and a great night for us - A giant fuck you to the AEK loving Marseille fans!
Olympique Marseille 0-1 Olympiakos
82' Fetfatzidis
Olympiakos (Valverde) : Megyeri, Torosidis, Mellberg, Papadopoulos, Marcano, Modesto, Maniatis, Mirallas, Fuster (54' Yeste), Holebas (75' Fetfatzidis), Djebbour (88' Potouridis)
Borussia Dortmund 1-0 Olympiakos
Borussia started off strongly from the beginning and missed a chance to score in only the fifth minute of the game when Marcano was blindsided on the left and a ball played into the centre of the box. For the early part of the match, Dortmund were by far the stronger team and they managed to open the scoring in the 7th minute when a corner was player to just outside the 'D' and Grosskreutz shot in the ball from outside the area for 1-0.
After the restart, we tried to get up the pitch for ourselves but ended up losing possession and allowing Dortmund to come at us again. We were having some trouble in keeping control of the ball and all too often played the long ball option to the forwards. This allowed Dortmund to intercept and run the ball down to our goal. Megyeri despite the opening goal, played a reasonably good game and made a couple of crucial interceptions.
Towards the end of the first half, we were getting closer to scoring and were fighting all over the pitch for the ball. Dortmund were on the defensive and we were getting forward with the ball winning a number of corners (one of which just missed being a goal) and having a number of shots at goal. If we could have carried this momentum into the second half, we could look towards an equaliser and perhaps even a winner. We even had a handball in the box being missed by the referee so we were unlucky to be one behind at halftime.
The second half started off with a shot on goal from Holebas, unfortunately saved, but then reverted back into a game of battling for possession in the middle of the field. We came shockingly close to conceding a second goal when Megyeri was rounded but luckily the shot was at such a tight angle that it bounced clear off the post. This one blip aside, we continued with our attacking and tried to grab the equaliser.
In a twist of play, it was then Dortmund taking control of the possession and ourselves on the defensive. We coped well with most of the attacks whilst trying to get up the pitch whenever the chance arose. The introduction of Pantelic gave us more options in the final ten minutes of the match and we started to take over once more, dragging the ball up the pitch slowly towards their goal. Unfortunately we couldn't capitalise on this comeback, despite a last minute header on goal, and the game eventually ended 1-0. This was another undeserved loss, we had done enough to grab a point here and had a penalty denied but simply couldn't get the goal we needed. We actually led Dortmund on ball possession (just) so we ended up losing another game that we shouldn't have.
Borussia Dortmund 1-0 Olympiakos
7' Grosskreutz
Olympiakos (Valverde) : Megyeri, Modesto, Mellberg, Papadopoulos, Marcano (67' Abdoun), Fejsa (59' Makoun), Orbaiz, Holebas, Ibagaza (79' Pantelic), Mirallas, Djebbour
Preview : Borussia Dortmund - Olympiakos
Tuesday 1st November - 9.45pm
Westfalenstadion, Dortmund
Yesterday, once the training session in Rentis had been completed, the team of 20 players was announced for Germany. The team set off this morning and is expected to be in Dortmund later today.
Much has been written in the press about the possibility of Costanzo being dropped for Megyeri but I can almost guarantee that will not be happening. We will see ol' "calamity Costanzo" in goals and therefore a stupid goal conceded at sometime tomorrow.
Anyway, heres the team :-
Goalkeepers (2) : Costanzo, Megyeri
Defenders (9) : Maniatis, Papadopoulos, Mellberg, Marcano, Holebas, Potouridis, Papazoglou, Torosidis, Modesto
Midfielders (6) : Fejsa, Orbaiz, Ibagasa, Makoun, Fetfatzidis, Abdoun
Attackers (3) : Djebbour, Pantelic, Mirallas
Rommedahl, Panuel and Niklitsiotis leave team
01:25
03:44
03:26
00:46
02:58
03:09
03:56
01:03
03:56
03:56