European champions Greece and arch-rivals Turkey will both be seeking to heal bruised egos when they clash in what is sure to be a fiercely contested World Cup qualifier on Wednesday.
Greece will be seeking immediate salvation after going down to an embarrassing 2-1 defeat to Albania in their opening Group Two qualifier on Saturday.
Turkey will also be seeking immediate redemption following their disappointing 1-1 draw with Georgia in Trabzon on Saturday.
On top of that, Turkey's pride has been damaged after winning local bragging rights two years ago when they reached the semi-finals of the World Cup in South Korea and Japan.
Greece have now usurped them by winning Euro 2004 -- a competition Turkey even failed to qualify for. So plenty is at stake, besides just World Cup points, in a rare meeting between the two neighbours and traditional political rivals.
Passions are running high for Greece's first home game since their shock European championship success and their players had a taste of their new-found fame even while training with hundreds of fans watching and chanting Euro 2004 slogans non-stop.
"With a win against Turkey we will cover the lost ground from the Albania game," attacker Zisis Vryzas told reporters after training, while Vassilis Tsiartas said that "people believe in us and have not forgotten what we did in Portugal".
"Our victory will come from the people we saw on television how they queued passionately to buy tickets," said defender Takis Fyssas, adding: "We want to do our duty for this team that we love so much".
For Greece's German coach Otto Rehhagel, a shrewd tactician known as a pillar of pragmatism, things were less sentimental.
"Our victory in Portugal does not matter, and the game against Albania does not matter, it's the 90 minutes on the pitch that matter," Rehhagel said in a news conference.
"People should not think that we will win every game, it's not like we are footballing supremos lording over the whole world. Every match is a challenge and the most important thing is that players follow their instructions."
The Greeks will have to do without their towering defender Trainos Dellas who pulled a thigh muscle and has already left for Italy and his club AS Roma.
Nikos Dabizas is expected to start despite playing poorly against Albania when he was substituted early in the first half.
THIGH INJURY
Turkey will be without midfielder Hasan Sas who is suspended after being red-carded against Georgia on Saturday, but defender Servet Cetin has been recovering from injury and is a possible starter after training with the team on Monday.
But striker Hakan Sukur is not expected to start after he complained of a thigh injury following the Georgia match.
"We got off to a bad start, but we are capable of turning this around. It will be a tough match, but we intend to win," said team captain Bulent Korkmaz, likely to start on the bench, as he has not fully recovered from a knee injury.
Coach Ersun Yanal, who took over as coach earlier this year and faced harsh criticism for the Georgia draw in the Turkish press, acknowledged injuries plagued the Turkish side, but said he was confident other players would make up for their absence.
"It's going to be a tough match ... but we have enough strength for this. The team does have injuries but our other players can handle this situation," he said.
Probable teams:
Greece: Antonis Nikopolidis; Yourkas Seitaridis, Nikos Dabizas, Michalis Kapsis, Takis Fyssas, Giorgios Karagounis, Costas Katsouranis, Theodoros Zagorakis, Angelos Basinas, Zisis Vryzas, Angelos Haristeas.
Turkey: Rustu Recber; Serkan Balci, Ibrahim Toraman, Umit Ozat, Servet Cetin; Nihat Kahveci, Okan Buruk, Emre Belozoglu, Tuncay Sanli; Fatih Tekke, Gokdeniz Karadeniz
Referee: Anders Frisk (Sweden)
More from rediff