Samaras: We can't have regrets

Georgios Samaras was just a boy when Greece made their one and only FIFA World Cup™ appearance. It does not count among his most vivid or treasured childhood memories. USA 1994 ended for Greece, after all, with three defeats, ten goals conceded and none scored; typical, some say, of the nation's uneasy relationship with football's premier competition.

Failing to reach Germany 2006 just two years after becoming European champions hardly helped to ease this tension, and Samaras remembers only too well that it was a 1-0 home defeat by Ukraine that effectively sealed their fate. Now, four-and-a-half years on, that same fixture is set to be replayed in Athens as the two sides square off in the first leg of their play-off for a place at South Africa 2010. As the Celtic striker, a key member of Greece's flourishing attacking line-up, told FIFA.com: "Maybe it's destiny."[source]