If it withstands the pressure in Greece, you will not “break” in any championship Blog – Vassilis Samprakos
On the occasion of a discussion with Tassos Bakacetas, Vassilis Samprakos writes about the excessive pressure exerted by the Greek football environment on footballers, whom he trains hard to withstand the pressure of unreasonable expectations and excessive criticism.
A few weeks ago I had a discussion with Tassos Bakaceta about how a footballer manages the pressure exerted by a special, demanding audience like Turkish football fans. His reaction was almost reflexive. Smiling, he commented that the footballers who have played in a great Greek team have no problem getting used to the pressure and learning not to “break” and not have. If you have it in Greece, you can withstand the pressure anywhere “.
I was listening to the champion with Trabzonspor and it was like having this conversation with him again. Because his own experience led him to the realization – the slogan of the Greek football player who immigrates. During the last 25 years, when a steady flow of exports of Greek footballers to foreign leagues has been established, I have had this conversation with a large number of children who have lived football away from Greece. The vast majority of them had the same opinion – that with so much toxicity, so much fanaticism, such irrationality and so much cruelty and exaggeration in criticism, the Greek football environment makes the footballer the hardest training he could do to learn to deal with stressful situations and withstand pressure.
All this is obviously part of the explanation for the fact that the majority of Greek footballers “find their paradise” away from Greece even when they are not going to play in one of the 4-5 biggest European championships. All this is part of the explanation for the fact that many footballers make more opportunities away from Greece, or for the fact that they seek to extend their stay abroad and often choose a small-medium team or a small-medium league instead of repatriation. for the sake of a great Greek team.
Judging by what has happened in recent years in Greek stadiums footballers like Fortounis, Mandalos, Bouhalakis, Masouras, Pelkas and so many others, without going back in time, one finds that some of the evidence of top Greek footballers in recent years have often operated under conditions of great to unbearable pressure created by internal controversy – that is, the controversy by part of the world of the team in which he plays.
The reputation that the Greek football public has created in the European market functions as a comparative advantage of Greek footballers in the minds of those who decide to offer contracts. Because a team that operates in an environment that exerts pressure, does not have to worry a Greek footballer who has played in a large Greek team is or is not familiar with the great and often excessive or irrational pressure. If they have seen someone “endure”, “fight it” in Greece, then they do not worry at all to sign him. They know that they will probably endure everywhere.
Conversely, the way foreign players cope with the pressure is a key skill that is sought after and measured by those who select players for the big Greek teams. This is often intensely worried when they go to “shop” players from an Austria, a Sweden, a Norway, that is, from a country whose football fans do not have the same temperament as the Greek one. This is often an important part of the explanation for footballers who come to Greece and ultimately perform lower compared to the performances of others in the past. In other words, it happens that footballers who were not used to operating under great psychological pressure “break” when they experience in Greece the questioning, the murmuring, the “falling” of the podium, the exaggerations.
As the Greeks we will not stop being “excessive” in our own reactions, and we will continue to “set up an easy, just as fast, with the same comfort a wedding in the first goal and a funeral in the first mistake”, as he told me . about two decades ago the shocked, at that time, Fernando Santos, the Greek football environment will continue to function as a tough school. Those who do not “break”, will go out and will surprise the coaches and the technical directors as much as Costas Tsimikas surprised Jürgen Klopp with his composure in the execution of the 7th penalty in the final of the English Cup. And those who “break” will regret the moment; whether they were born here or who came to our place for a ball.