[MHaifa1913]

Panathinaikos vs. Olympiakos

Well, Itzhak Shum really has his work cut out for him tonight. His son, Idan Shum, who plays for Maccabi Herzliya (if memory serves me correct) flew out yesterday for tonights match which unfortunately falls out on Yom haShoah (or Holocaust Remembrance Day) in Israel so there will be no live television broadcasts. Ha'aretz's English language website has a good article to get you prepared for this match and I think it will be shown live in the United States and Japan.

Soccer / Do or die for Shum as Pana shoots for Greek title
By Haaretz Sports Staff

Greek league leaders Panathinaikos takes on Athens rival Olympiakos tonight in a clash that its coach Itzhak Shum needs to win to move a step closer to the club's first title in seven years and to secure his own chances of staying with Panathinaikos.

Shum's team may lead the Greek league with an impressive record of 20 wins, four draws and one defeat, but after seeing Olympiakos take the title for the past seven years in a row, the club's fans will not be prepared to accept anything less than a win. Shum's predecessor, John Christas, hadn't lost a single game last season, but defeat at the hands of Olympiakos at the same stage cost the club the title and Christas his job.

Olympiakos for its part recently appointed the veteran 69-year-old Nikos Alefantos as its 19th coach since businessman Socrates Kokkalis took over the club 10 years ago.

The Apostolos Nikolaidis stadium will be packed to capacity tonight with Panathinaikos fans only: Police in the Greek capital have barred Olympiakos fans from attending the game, fearing clashes in the stands.

Panathinaikos will be without former Maccabi Haifa midfielder Raimondas Zutautas and Silvio Maric, who will miss the match due to injuries, while Olympiakos is at full strength for the game.

The two teams are likely to face each other again on May 8 for the Greek Cup final. Panathinaikos has already booked its place with a defeat of AEK Athens, while Olympiakos is expected to cruise through after winning 3-0 away at third division Kastoria in the first leg.

[Kappa18]

I wish Itzhak Shum all the best of luck

[MHaifa1913]

Panathinaikos 2-2 Olympiakos

Itzhak Shum was not hurt by the chair throwing crowd and almost lost this one. Pana were down 2-1 up to around the eightieth(80th) minute I believe. Shum put on three strikers and took off a defender to equalize. Thank G-d he did because he could have been a dead man.

[Kappa18]

Originally Posted by KYHS Soccer

Panathinaikos 2-2 Olympiakos

Itzhak Shum was not hurt by the chair throwing crowd and almost lost this one. Pana were down 2-1 up to around the eightieth(80th) minute I believe. Shum put on three strikers and took off a defender to equalize. Thank G-d he did because he could have been a dead man.

So Shum and Pathanikos tied reigning champs Olympiakos...

Whats next?

Theres like 5 or so games/rounds to go?
Are they still in the top spot?

[MHaifa1913]

Panathinaikos has four more matches to go and only a two point lead on Olympiakos:

Table:

1.Panathinaikos 26 20 5 1 52-15 65
2.Olympiakos Piraeus 26 20 3 3 61-18 63
3.PAOK Thessaloniki 26 17 5 4 43-22 56
4.Aigaleo Athinai 26 14 6 6 34-21 48
5.AEK Athinai 26 13 6 7 49-28 45
6.Halkidona 26 12 6 8 36-32 42
7.Neos Panionios Athinai 26 10 10 6 35-25 40
8.Iraklis Thessaloniki 26 11 5 10 37-35 38
9.Xanthi 26 8 6 12 26-35 30
10.OFI Heraklion 26 7 6 13 24-39 27
11.Ionikos Nikea 26 6 5 15 26-39 23
12.Kallithea 26 4 10 12 32-37 22
13.Aris Thessaloniki 26 5 5 16 19-42 20
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
14.Paniliakos 26 4 7 15 26-52 19
-----------------------------------------------
15.Akratitos Neon Liosion 26 4 7 15 27-60 19
16.Proodeftiki 26 3 8 15 20-47 17

Round 27
Egaleo - OFI
Aris - Halkidona
Kallithea - Xanthi
Olympiakos - Panionios
AEK - Paniliakos
PAOK - Panathinaikos
Ionikos - Proodeftiki
Akratitos - Iraklis

Round 28
Aris - Egaleo
OFI - Kallithea
Halkidona - Olympiakos
Xanthi - AEK
Panionios - PAOK
Paniliakos - Ionikos
Panathinaikos - Akratitos
Proodeftiki - Iraklis

Round 29
Egaleo - Kallithea
Olympiakos - Aris
AEK - OFI
PAOK - Halkidona
Ionikos - Xanthi
Akratitos - Panionios
Iraklis - Paniliakos
Proodeftiki - Panathinaikos

Round 30
Olympiakos - Egaleo
Kallithea - AEK
Aris - PAOK
OFI - Ionikos
Halkidona - Akratitos
Xanthi - Iraklis
Panionios - Proodeftiki
Paniliakos - Panathinaikos

[The2ndMouse]

If Panathinaikos beat Proodeftiki then Paniliakos should not be a problem as they have sold all their teams backbone during the year.

Shum won the Greek Cup too, but not all PAO fans are happy with him yet because of the bad performances of their team in Europe.

However, I guess he did manage to turn around the bad climate against him and if he finally wins the championship then he will be with PAO next year too, with the hope of betetr luck in Europe.

[Kappa18]

Originally Posted by The2ndMouse

If Panathinaikos beat Proodeftiki then Paniliakos should not be a problem as they have sold all their teams backbone during the year.

Shum won the Greek Cup too, but not all PAO fans are happy with him yet because of the bad performances of their team in Europe.

However, I guess he did manage to turn around the bad climate against him and if he finally wins the championship then he will be with PAO next year too, with the hope of betetr luck in Europe.

Thats good..
What are the greek papers saying about Shum and his recent performance overall?

[The2ndMouse]

He won some respect but the championship is the main goal for PAO this season.

If he wins it I am sure he will stay, but if next fall finds him out of Europe early or with some disgracefull scored he is in danger again despite home successes.

Papers support him now more or less

[Kappa18]

Originally Posted by The2ndMouse

He won some respect but the championship is the main goal for PAO this season.

If he wins it I am sure he will stay, but if next fall finds him out of Europe early or with some disgracefull scored he is in danger again despite home successes.

Papers support him now more or less

I see..
I look on Shum in a way to bring Israeli Leauge talent to Greek!
Some reports stated that Hapoel Tel Aviv's GK was rumoured to be coming to AEK...

Is Pathanikos fan also hostiel to Israel.... There Basketball team is with the PALESTINA banners

[The2ndMouse]

Oh! Man, Its a huge story and If we get into it we could not escape political discussion.

I will just say, that as you can see many greeks feel they sympathise with "a part" (nat all) of the people involved with the Palestinian problem. But believe me the people everywhere (and not only Greece) also sympathise fully with the Problems Israeli sivilians suffer and all that vicious circle that has deasdlocked your erea in a state of fear, chaos, uncairtainty and unnecessary force.

And yes, people are stupid and too lazy to think for themselves in all nations. They prefer tha food put into their mouth. So yes, in defeat, for some PAO fans and all fans all over the world (I lived in Belgium and the UK for many years) Shum suddenly becomes the bad Jew, The black layers suffer racist comments, the Greek fall from stardom to constant abuse etc...

One more thing. I think that the PAO board is more keen to stop swaping managers as fast as in the past and give their vote of confidence to Shum for a longer time period (and this is why the Europe Spoiled fans of PAO did not get their wish granted for Shums head on a plate earlier this year). And it did seem to work. I think next year he will also have the boards support. But he also proved with his Israeli team last year that in Europe he goes a bit scared into matches and he pays for it. With PAO this year he seemed unable to read situations before hand too. He paired A slow defender with Giggs at old traford and it was the worst PAO european night for many many years!

He needs to go one better at least next year.

Good luck to him