Santini succumbs to Rehhagel’s resistance 
26/06/04 | by Alastair Gunn

Yet another star burns its ego out. The sun that was France fades, its galacticos hiding now in the shade of an unlikely lunar eclipse. The small moon, Greece, obscures them from view. The glare of the helios' hype is hidden.

The genesis of Greece’s semi-final berth is in the tactics of their German coach Otto Rehhagel, yet more telling is the absence of tactical consideration from his counterparts. Santini tried to replace Vieira with Dacourt today when he should have freed Zidane up in front of the uber competent Makelele by putting either Rothen or Wiltord on the flank opposite Pires. 

The Greek defence saw Seitaridis and Dellas man-mark Henry and Trezeguet respectively, deploying Kapsis as a sweeper. The superb Seitaridis was the perfect foil for Henry’s runs from the left wing and Dellas dwarfed Trezeguet in the air, nullifying him completely. Fyssas and Zagorakis played as wing-backs, the later crossing from Charisteas’ headed goal just past the hour. 

Like England, France suffered from an asymmetrical midfield. Pires ran the left rail like a blinkered racehorse whilst Makelele and Dacourt did very little in midfield. Their roles were so similar that France was inevitably predictable in consequence. This left Basinas to follow Zidane hawkishly, which he did superbly. The French midfield was in this way contained. 

As one would have expected, Greece did not offer much more than resistance for most of the match. When they did go forward, they exposed the leaky French defence. Thuram and Silvestre are uncomfortable centre-backs, Thuram because he is a right-back, Silvestre because he has no football brain. Lizarazu had too much offensive responsibility to be fully effective and Gallas should have been allowed to deploy his cool at centre-back. 

Thus, when Zagorakis easily sold Lizarazu on the right to put in a useful cross, it was really no surprise to find Thuram absent and Silvestre poorly positioned. Charisteas has a good leap and an accurate head but still the French defence made it easy for him. His nearest player was Gallas: the right-back. 

The French problems amounted to replication of roles. Henry, Pires, Lizarazu and then Rothen off the bench all looked to attack down the left. Dacourt and Makelele made each other superfluous in the centre. Thuram and Gallas seemed to be eying with some envy the others’ position. Zidane's role is described as "floating". True, floating in a stagnant pond unfortunately. 

The Greek advantage amounted to knowing what each player was supposed to be doing, where and when, and setting up a defence like a brick wall. As soon as a canny coach sees that simply firing long shots at their dodgy keeper will probably be enough, perhaps seasoned with a testy cross or two to a tall striker, then Greece will be undone. 

Greece will not be drawn out of their half in any great numbers (inhibiting the traditional continental style that thrives on space), so offensively only a few players need be considered, namely Charisteas and the four midfielders who support him. Once this has been negotiated approximately five players can be committed to attack in whichever way suits. 

Greece have done well to make the semis. That is as far as they will go and is as much due to the failure of the big teams to approach a defensively astute side intelligently and with any passion. Thus the white moon has eclipsed the blue star.