Thursday Sep 29 2005 14:46
Angelos Charisteas is regretting his decision to promise his Werder Bremen team-mates that he would retire if Greece reached the final of Euro 2004.
The 24-year-old striker has been one of the stars of Greece's surprise run in Portugal and admits that he may now have to reconsider his pledge.
"I am in a bit of a dilemma because I told my team-mates at Bremen that if we got to the final I would quit as a footballer," he said.
However, Charisteas is not letting his rash promise affect his preparations for Sunday's final against the host nation, who he believes will be a totally different proposition to the team Greece beat 2-1 in the opening game of the tournament.
He added: "We are not getting over-excited because there is still one game to play. We took some risks (in the semi-final against the Czech Republic) but in the end we got the result we wanted.
"Portugal will not want to fail against us again but in my opinion each side has a 50 per cent chance of winning.
"We have a great spirit and there is plenty of confidence now and I do not see why we should stop playing now.
"We will give everything on Sunday even though the Portuguese are very motivated and will not make it easy for us."
Charisteas has so far scored twice in the tournament, an equaliser against Spain in the group stage and the winner in the quarter-final against France.
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