Siopis on sport-fm.gr: Inhuman that we played against England, I cursed Kourbelis-Jovanovic’s greatest success

The family of Ethniki spent one unimaginable shock due to the loss of an active member. By George Baldock. It came out A FIST from this “blow”, as first he had to make terrible excesses. Not terrible, terrible.

The main thing was the dedication of his soul. Because, the UEFA in her way she left no room for Greece and the forced to fight the next day against England at Wembley for the Nations League.

Result; A historic “double” in London and a few 24 hours later another “three point” against Ireland in the warehouse “C. Karaiskakis”, which made the blue and white woman even more united in her relations with the world.

Cornerstone of all the above was the Manolis Siopiswho hasn’t… stopped running. Since the boy he is missing makes up for it with her big heart which has

“In general, when you play for the national emblem, it’s something different. I don’t know, I really give what I have and what I don’t have. It’s a special feeling. I believe in the team I’m in (s.s. means the respective club), I couldn’t give what I give for the national team“, he stated in sport-fm.gr after the victory over Ireland, where he was considered MVP by many, taking a breather ahead of the “final” against England in the OAKA.

At the same time, he referred to the reason he cursed his… Dioskouros in the midfielders, Dimitris Kourbelisthe influence of Ivan Jovanovic since his arrival at the National Team and the greatest success of the former coach of Panathinaikos.

In detail what he said to sport-fm.gr and Apostolis Livanios

You broke the resistance of Ireland, making it 4/4. What are your first thoughts after this match, what elements gave us the victory?

“The coach told us at half time that we are very good, but we need to be more patient. As long as we have the ball, they cannot run behind the ball for 90 minutes and not have spaces. We were lucky in the first two phases that we did in the second half to score the goal. He unlocked the game, then we fell a little further behindbecause it makes sense, we had a big match two days ago. We managed to score a second goal. I am very happy for all the children, because we have been through a lot in the last few days. Lots of emotions, ups and downs… I want to congratulate all the guys for giving their all in both games. Our aim now is to close the group properly».

Regarding what you said about the final stretch, it was the manager’s plan to go back a bit to take advantage of the speed you had with the entry of Douvikas and Zafiris to end the match with a second goal or so the development brought it showdown?

“No, I believe so we were a bit carried away by the game. We felt safer. We weren’t threatened that much, but we didn’t have the ball. The coach told us, we should have had more of the ball in this period, so as not to waste energy on runs to get defense».

I don’t know where you draw so much strength from, maybe everywhere in the field, I don’t know if what came before was extra motivation…

“In general, when you play for the national team, it’s something different. I don’t know, I really give what I have and what I don’t have. It’s a special feeling. I believe in the team I’m in (s.s. means the respective club), I couldn’t give what I give for the national team».

You were excellent in the match against England, you have formed an excellent duo with Kourbelis, who we will miss in the next match against England due to cards. I want you to tell me about your collaboration with him and his absence from the OAKA match.

“Ok it’s a long absence, he’s a very experienced player and very quality. We work together very well, we know each other very well, we have been together for years and in most matches with the big teams we play together. It’s a long absence. Ok, I cursed him as soon as he got the card (laughter), but what can we do… We have players who can help because they have talent. This helps us so much, from the presence of the young kids who have talent and we give them with our experience the guidance they need and we are all a group all together, on the path that the coach has set us».

There are several days until the next game against England, of course the victory in London is recent, how do you have this particular game in mind, which is a championship final?

“Okay, it’s a championship final. First of all keep all the kids healthy until then. It’s a final, it’s a match anyone will want to play in. This game will be a joy».

What do you have to say about Ivan Jovanovic’s influence on the team so far? You have done your absolute best under his guidance…

“The biggest success of the coach so far it is that he believes in all of us and it has crossed our mind that we should only have victory in mind. That I think is that it shows straight away, from the first moment he came and we worked together».

The win against England is historic, we will never forget it, but no lies, it was inhuman that the match took place. You who live it from the inside, do you have it in your mind?

“Of course that it was inhumanbut as soon as UEFA tells you that you can’t do otherwise and you have to play… We are professionals, so you go in and play. I have not yet realized, as you all have realized from the outside, what we have done. So much happened that, the game passed and I was only thinking about the victory against England».