Athens LXXVI, October the 10th | Results: Page 2

[goalkeeper]

Congratulations Alkis
Nice to see Ektoras is in form to reach a WC half final
Well played all others

[gdh82]

Well played Alkis on this challenging title losing only to 100+ goal Ektoras. Good to see everyone claim at least one victory too. I see Costas was unlucky to be the wrong side of a number of single-goal defeats including a 2-3 v Alkis!

Any success with capturing some KO2 action with you new widget, Costas ?

[alkis21]

Every time we take a long break between tournaments, the question is always the same: why the hell did we wait so long?

It's been six month since we played and we enjoyed it as much as ever. So much in fact that we renewed our appointment for next week at my place. It's sad that Spyros missed this but I have to wonder if I'd have won it had he been there; we'd have probably played a single round tournament and I don't know if I'd have won the title, considering my awful start.

After an anemic victory in a poor match against Panayotis, I was pleasantly surprised by Ektoras' pre-game statement: instead of the usual, boring phrases I hear all the time "I haven't played in ages", "I haven't touched a joystick since the last time we were here", "you'll probably thrash me" etc. Ektoras boldly stated that he had practiced a lot and indented to put an end to my winning streak! He wasn't kidding either as he was beating me 6-1 in the beginning of the second half! I barely managed to finish the match with a flattering 6-3. So in my first three matches I had a 3-1 against Panayotis, a 3-6 defeat to Ektoras and a 3-2 win against Kostas in a game where he took the last 10 shots! With a mere 3 goals average I needed to shape up soon. At least my defense saved me from worse, as I always say when nothing works in front of the goal you need to stay focused on defense to get those points. I managed to find my rhythm later on and I didn't drop any points until my rematch with Ektoras (who had lost to Panayotis in the meantime). We engaged into a ruthless thrash talk threatening each other with a heavy defeat, most enjoyable. I wasn't going to let him get away twice in one day and although I didn't manage to give him the double figures I promised, I'll settle for the 9-3 I got. He does look in shape for the WC though.

Driving back home, I had a brief moment which I'd like to share with you if it's not too mushy for your liking... I was wearing my 2001 WC shirt and had my joystick on the passenger's seat, so I thought how that image would seem had I been watching it in a magic crystal ball 10 years ago: me driving back to my beautiful wife, after a day of Kick Off 2 with my mates. It probably wouldn't seem half bad to my year 2000 self. It's a nice thing to keep in mind when life's problems are giving you a bad mood: I may not have everything I've dreamed of as a younger man, I may still be one million shy of becoming a millionaire, but overall things are going well for me.

My new motto is "When life gives you lemons, lob it".

[Steve1977]

You should have called this the greek championship! Fantastic amount of games and well played to Alkis. Some nice thoughts in your closing comments too.

[manicx]

Even though I was sick, I forgot about it as soon as I arrived. Thank god I called Kostas before I leave because of that cycling tour so I managed to arrive there safely on time. Ektoras seems to be in good shape for the WC and Alkis is in his usual KO shape... Good to see that from two Greeks who are going to WC. Regarding performance, I could have won the second match with Ektoras but that was about it. Didn't expect anything else because the last time I played KO was about 7 months ago (if I remember well). Really wanted to see The Ka bros and Spyros there.

Regarding a discussion we had yesterday. Panayotis said that if ourselves in 2010 were playing against ourselves in 2002-2004, we would lose. Alkis disagreed but I think that Panayotis is right. Back then, we were playing KO2 every month. Sometimes, twice a month. I remember tournaments with 6 people, Me, Alkis, Panayotis, Spyros, Vasilis and George. At the end, the difference was 1-2 pts. It may be that the level of KO2 in an international level is a bit higher today but the level in the Greek tournaments back then was much better because we were constantly playing KO2. And I mean, what the heck, Spyros won the WC two times in a row and played almost equally against Gianni last year. We still have this (1.4e) magic ability in us, but we are grown ups and not able to compete so often because of our daily commitments.

[Panayotis7]

What Nikos said. I believe Alkis disagrees with this 2010-selves vs 2002-04-selves thing because he's the only one who has stayed in shape. Which is why he seems unbeatable in Greek tournaments now, whereas in 2002-04 everyone was in top shape and tournaments had different winners every time - and, like Nikos said, with only a couple of pts difference, several times decided in the last game.

As for this tournament, the thought that Spyros and the K bros would also be there turned out too good to be true. They may show up next Sunday, but somebody else probably won't.

And Ektoras is in insane form! I am expecing a lot from him, if only he could work on his one (major) problem. I won't talk about it publicly though, in order not to give away his weakness to his opponents!

[alkis21]

It's not that I disagree, I'm just not sure about it; you could be right. Comparing different "eras" is never easy. I mean, yes we played a lot back then but we also had the tendency to believe that we were much better than we actually were, and yet we'd get our butts kicked in world cups. And that was even before we actually met post-2004 Gianluca, post-2005 Gianni and Dagh. And what would be a good comparison? Let's say you put "2003 Panayotis" in full form after having played three tournaments in a month up against "2010 Panayotis" after six months of absence, and yes, the former would probably win. But what would happen if you give "2010 Panayotis" a couple of tournaments to get in shape and then have him play his 2003 self? Would he still lose? And then, things are not the same for all of us. Yes I'm pretty sure that "2004 Nikos" would beat "2010 Nikos" but I also believe that "2004 Spyros" would lose easily to "2010 Spyros".

[manicx]

I think that most of us are maintaining the exact same style of game. No change at all except some routine goals that may come from the addition of new tactics. Otherwise, I don't see anything new. The difference between now and then is the ability to control the ball better in the field, defend better and have better finishing. All this comes from practice. Also, about Spyros, I thought of him as a tougher opponent in the past, at least for me. Two years ago (was it two?) in the Greek champs I managed to beat him while he was the World Champion. And I was not even at the last WC in Rome so I was playing almost after a year (and you saw me with long hair so maybe it was more than a year ). I think that it's the style of the game of some players that suits others and is not good for other cases. This is the way this game is.

Regarding Gianni, Dagh and Gianluca, these guys have a privilege that they didn't play the game as much as we did in the past so they could evolve their game whereas we kept playing the same style by adding bits here and there. I still believe though that in the past, and especially you and me Alki, we had a great advantage. We could defend better. We were almost perfect in getting the headers in the center of the pitch while now we keep jumping like spastics for 3-4 times until the ball is in the ground. We had an overall better perception of the field and the physics that we don't have nowadays. We can achieve this during a WC after some matches but still, it's not 100% of what we were. I also see this in defending, we were much better in the past.

I don't say this in order to argue. My point is that if we practice, we may still have it. We may not be able to beat the top players, but we may be able to bring back a bit of the old magic and give them some hard time.

[Abyss]

Too bad I couldn't make it to this one - considering I won't travel to Dusseldorf, it would have been a good opportunity for some action.

Kudos to sensei Alkis for continuing his dominance in greek tournaments.

Try not to focus only on Gianni in the WC and I really think you stand a good chance of winning it this year Alkis.

Nice to see Ektoras practicing and staying away from the toccate di palle crap! No need for modesty - you are good.

BTW, even though in 2003 I (wrongly) thought that Alkis, Nikos, Panayotis and me were the best in the world, I'm pretty confident that I would easily beat my 2003 self now, no matter how long it is that I haven't touched a joystick. Nikos is right about not involving our game - but it's not needed to succeed. To me, the game seems simpler now. You just need some focus to approach it effectively.

[Tripod]

Well played everybody - cept for Spyros, of course. Oh and: Greeks using Roman numerals? That must go wrong. I believe the results screenshot and not the topic title, this was tournament number 75.

[alkis21]

I believe the results screenshot and not the topic title, this was tournament number 75.

Actually, the topic title is the correct one.

[Kostas O]

No the correct is 75.

[alkis21]

No, the correct one is 76. You are probably forgetting the last Greek tournament hosted by Stelios in May.

And where's our picture?