Greece’s rising young soccer stars have made it in the knockout round of the last 16 teams participating in the FIFA U-20 World Cup , held in Turkey that runs through 13, after tying Paraguay, 1-1. That came after a 0-0 tie with Mali and a 2-0 win over Mexico.
The young players and their coach Kostas Tsanas, who was named Head Coach of Greece National under-21 football team in August 2012, celebrated their success, although they’ve a long way to go yet.
Because of a tie-breaking system FIFA uses instead of teams playing to see who will get a better seeding, Greece was ranked the top of its division to determine who they will next play. “It’s a very strange situation and very frustrating because your future’s taken out of your hands,” as Greece midfielder Spyridon Fourlanos said.
“When the coach came in and told us the result we all shouted out and jumped for joy,” Fourlanos mentioned. Greece got a boost when Mali was beaten 4-1 by Mexico, but will have to do better offensively, having scored only three goals in three games, and only one in the previous two.
Greece National Team succeed, while Mali lost with 4-1 by Mexico in the group’s other match and it was left to 2 points, with the team from Latin America reaching 4 points.
The group’s final rating:
1.Greece 5
2.Paraguay 5
3.Mexico 3
4.Mali 2
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