Without a doubt, South Africa held the world’s attention for a month with vuvuzelas and all. Spain became the first team to lose their opening game, and  go on to win the World Cup. Spain scored in the 116th minute of overtime against 10-man Holland (due to a red card) with Iniesta striking home, leading the supporters of Spain into a fanatic frenzy.

Greece finally recorded their first ever win and scored their first ever goals in a World Cup by defeating 10-man Nigeria 2-1 in the group phase of the tournament. Dimitrios Salpiggidis and Vasilios Torosidis were on the score sheet for Greece’s historic comeback win.

Otto Rehhagel stepped down as Greece’s head coach after the 2-0 loss to Argentina. “King Otto” produced nine glorious years with the Ethniki managing to win 53 games out of 106 games he coached. His biggest accomplishment came in 2004 when Greece lifted the European Championship in Portugal. Fernando Santos is now the new coach of the Greek National Team. Santos says the team will adopt a different playing style, signaling a departure from the defensive tactics employed by his predecessor; Otto Rehhagel. The Portuguese coach has signed a two-year deal with the Greek Football Federation.

A NOTE FROM THE EDITOR

We’d like to introduce one of our contributing writers, Billy K. Billy is our soccer guru, and this is his first article for CarolinaGreeks.com. If you liked this article, feel free to repost it on your favorite social networking website or to add contributing thoughts or comments below. If you have any ideas for future articles, contact us. We’d love to hear what’s on your mind.