Angelos Charisteas:
The New Greek Hero Had The "Right" Otto

Ozren Podnar reports...

Greece's Angelos Charisteas and Croatia's Ivan Klasnic were born within eleven days in the winter of 1980. They are both Werder Bremen's forwards and both of their national team coaches are called Otto. Only Charisteas's Otto, the German Rehhagel, has arguably a better judgment than Klasnic's Otto Baric.

If there was one Werder forward tipped for Euro glory, it had to be Ivan Klasnic, a witty, smiling chap born in Germany of Croatian parents, who made his debut for Croatia last February.

As it happens, the gigantic Angelos is Klasnic's reserve at Werder, this season's German double winners. The Croat was the biggest Bundesliga revelation and its most improved player with no less than 13 goals and 11 assists in 29 games, most of them for the League's top scorer Ailton Goncalves. He added six goals and eight decisive passes in the German Cup, which ended with Werder's 3-2 win over the newly promoted Aachen - with Klasnic again on the score sheet.

Charisteas on the other hand registered just four goals in his 7 Bundesliga starts plus 17 appearances as a sub. But, while his more famed peer failed to get one single minute in the current European Championships, the brave Angelos now ranks alongside Achilles, Ajax, Ulysses and other legendary figures of Greek mythology.

The Croatian Sportske novosti daily draw the parallel between the two forwards' Euro destiny.
"What really can irritate the Croatian fans is that Charisteas looked at Klasnic's back throughout the club season, but now the Greek is among the most celebrated European players and his team in the Euro 2004 semifinals. Obviously talent is not enough. It is also necessary to have the 'right' Otto as coach."

"Harry" the demigod

The man who sent France packing on that historic June 25th night has a knack of scoring decisive goals for his country, as his debut in February 2001 showed. He came on as a substitute against Russia and netted twice in the space of three minutes. A regular in the Euro 2004 qualifying campaign, he notched both Greek goals in the 2-0 win over Northern Ireland in Belfast and the only goal in the dying minutes against Ukraine when Rehhagel's squad leapfrogged Spain and went on to qualify directly. His next claim to greatness was the equalizer against Spain, that eventually proved fatal for the ambitions of Inaki Saez's squad. After ending France's reign with a magnificent header, he will not have to score another goal in his career to remain a demigod for eternity.

Curiously, Charisteas started his career at Aris against his family's wish. He had to go on a secret mission in order to turn up at a trial at Aris Salonica, while his parents believed he was loitering around his hometown of Serres. The trial was successful and he quickly got a place in the Aris first team, playing in their first spell in the Second Division. Next season Aris was back up, and Charisteas made a name for himself by scoring twice in the local derby against PAOK.

After a brief period on loan at Athinaikos, he returned to Aris for the 1999/00 season and stayed there until the 2002 World Cup. His departure from Aris was controversial because the Greek club's leaders allegedly learned about his transfer to Werder from the press. The Germans had chosen him as Bayern-bound Claudio Pizarro's successor, but Aris's owner at first didn't want to hear about it.

"His passage to Werder is illegal, he is Aris's player and we aren't selling him. He cannot leave without my permission." fumed club president Yannis Zahoudanis.

Of course everybody's for sale and Charisteas's initial price-tag was 5.5 million euros. Aris eventually settled for 3 million and in August of 2002 the Greek giant could finally salute his new fans at Weserstadion. In the meantime, he kept up his competitive form in the national team, scoring twice in his country's 2-4 defeat by Germany.

The coach Thomas Schaaf spoke enthusiastically about the newcomer's abilities.
"He is great in the air and never shirks from taking on the defenders. I'm sure he will be very successful in our club."

And indeed he was, especially in his first season. He soon won a place in the starting line-up alongside Ailton, going on to score 9 times in the Bundesliga and twice in Europe. Nicknamed "Harry", he was thrilled to hear sirtaki being played after his goals at Weser. During the past season he lost his regular spot due to Klasnic's explosion, but luckily for Greece he remained unquestioned for Otto Rehhagel.