Sokratis: "Only thinking about Euro"

Werder defender Sokratis spoke about the Euro 2012 and Greece’s chances.
First Team
Thursday, 07.06.2012 / 16:05

No time to relax: Shortly after the end of the Bundesliga season, Sokratis began almost immediately preparations for the European Championship. The Greek centre back has been preparing for...

No time to relax: Shortly after the end of the Bundesliga season, Sokratis began almost immediately preparations for the European Championship. The Greek centre back has been preparing for the tournament with the national team for nearly four weeks. And the tournament starts on Friday 8 June 2012 with the opening match against co-hosts Poland. The anticipation is simply huge, as "Pappas" told media members. WERDER.DE was on hand and noted the most important statements.

Hello Sokratis, the European Championship starts on Friday. How excited are you about the tournament?
Sokratis: My anticipation is huge. After the end of the Bundesliga season, I was only thinking about the Euro. This tournament is a huge thing for every player, so also for me.

The Greeks surprisingly won the 2004 European Championship. Is that possible for this team as well?
Sokratis: Of course to repeat that would not be easy but you should never say never in football. It was an unbelievable moment and back then I did what all Greeks did - I went out to the streets and celebrated.

The Greeks start the tournament on Friday with the opening match against Poland. Not only is it a match that the whole football world will be watching but it's also a showdown between you and Werder teammate Sebastian Boenisch.
Sokratis: That will be a very special game for me. Of course Sebastian and I talked about it even before the end of the season in training, joked around a bit. We both are so much looking forward to the game. We are friends but the friendship will end for 90 minutes because each of us want to start the tournament with a victory for our team.

For what strengths of the Greek team must Poland prepare?
Sokratis: We did not concede many goals in the qualification. That speaks for a compact defence. But that is not only about the defence - we don't have any single player who can decide a match alone. But that makes us that much stronger as a unit. That's what distinguishes us.

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