In the presence of Ivan Jovanovich on her bench National team of Greece stood, among others, Konstantinos Koulierakis speaking to News Bulletin 247 for the team’s performance in the matches against England and Ireland for the Nations League.
“Obviously the quality didn’t appear suddenly in those two matches where we got the good results, The thing and the key is that someone comes and gives you confidence and tells us that we can do it as a team“, underlined the international stopper of Wolfsburg, who earlier spoke about the first period of his presence in the German team.
At the same time, he explained the effort of the “blue and white” to createfor her to do the build up in the matches, underlining how the internationals apply the coach’s ideas.
Koulierakis spoke about the difficult times experienced by all in the representative group in the news with his loss George Baldockwho from now on will be the motivation for everyone so that the National Team can return to a major competition.
“It was our motivation, that we want to go to a big tournament and play for George and we had his help. Everything in life happens for a reason“, he said characteristically.
In detail what Konstantinos Koulierakis said on the show “Pressing” with Michalis Tsochos and Vaios Tsoutsikas
About his early days at Wolfsburg: “The team there helped me to adapt, to find my home, to find my footing. It’s been a month since I got to know the kids and the team. I can say that now I am very well there.”
About how difficult the decision was to go to Germany: “It was a relatively easy decision, since I was ready for the next step in my career. Wolfsburg with their approach made it easier for me.”
About the German league and its tactical approach: “From my little experience, it’s a different league. It’s open football, but it’s important to be good in other parts of the game. It will help me a lot…”
For the team that has a dream to play: “Wouldn’t Real be…? There are very big clubs, but Real is something else.”
For the tactical approach to the game in England: “Obviously the quality didn’t appear suddenly in those two matches where we did the good results, The thing and the key is that someone comes and gives you confidence and tells us that we can do it as a team. We brought out our quality. We had nothing to envy or fear. And we, however, are the Greek National Team, we are good players and we went there to win and not to steal the match.
Regarding the build up, we had done it in the previous matches as well. And with Finland it took us 20 minutes to do it and with Ireland it was the same. All the kids have the nice and normal football, let’s put it that way, we have the quality and with the coach’s ideas we implement it. No one thought of it now and no one was afraid of it.”
On how he observed the match, since he didn’t play yesterday: “It seemed from the first minutes that we were going to win. We had the will and the energy, it was the crowd with team one and we had 3-4 classic chances in the first half. I got a little nervous there. In the second half, they came in and did what had to be done, and then everything went very well.”
About the atmosphere in the calls of the national team and what they discuss among themselves: “I have had many conversations with my teammates and with football people who say that if you have a great success with your national team, you can be complete as a footballer. I agree and I expect to experience it and I believe it will happen. We are moving forward calmly and humbly, without saying big words, in order to be in a big event with the National Team and to experience this too”.
For the reaction after what happened with the bad news and the image of the team in England: “It seemed that fatigue had set in. Every child was aware. We generally have it as a people, after a great success or a great victory, we relax and there was this fear. We beat England but we have one more game at home. The coach reminded us that there is another match and we have to be focused, so we didn’t relax at all.”
About how hard Thursday night was: “All of Greece was very difficult. We had lived George. There were children who outlived him. It was very difficult. And it was even harder to put it aside to play the game. But he was by our side, during the match, he gave us strength and after the 1-1 it seemed that the whole team did not want the draw. We had all that energy to score another goal and win.”
For the character of George Baldock: “You know it’s a little difficult to talk about something like that. He was a smiling child, a calm and good person. You saw him and he gave you strength.”
On whether they wanted to play after the initial shock: “There was a hesitation and that was very normal. I don’t know, for some reason our idea was not approved and in the end it worked out for us and we had an extra motivation. It was our motivation, that we want to go to a big tournament and play for George and we had his help. For some reason everything happens in life and from what it appeared the match went well and we played for his memory”.
Source: Sport Fm
I am currently a news writer for News Bulletin247 where I mostly cover sports news. I have always been interested in writing and it is something I am very passionate about. In my spare time, I enjoy reading and spending time with my family and friends.
