Working in tandem with Dutchman John van’t Schip - whom he partnered at Melbourne City and PEC Zwolle in the Eredivisie - the pair have replaced fear with flair as the Ethniki approach qualifying for Qatar with national pride on the up - despite missing out on Euro 2020.
After taking charge in September with the Euros campaign already in tatters under former coach Angelos Anastasiadis, the van’t Schip-Valkanis combo saw Greece finish with three successive wins to end up four points adrift of second-placed Finland, with Italy topping the group.
A first-up loss to the Finns, a daw with little Liechtenstein and a 2-0 defeat in Italy, with a much-improved performance, marked their opening three games at the helm.
“Qualification was the furthest from our minds when we took over,” said Valkanis.
“We knew it was going to be a difficult task and we looked at our mission always as being a long-term plan for Qatar.
“Beyond the last few results what’s most pleasing has been performances.
“Coming into camp and changing the way the team has played in recent years, and the mindset of how they’ve played in the past, was always going to be a challenge.
“But we’re really happy with the way the team have been adapting to a more attacking brand of football and a more modern approach to the game.”
Greece, Valkanis believes, have been trapped in the past ... haunted by the ghost of 2004 when, against all odds, they erected a defensive wall to win the European Championship.
That success set in train an era of risk-averse football which van’t Schip and his assistant Valkanis are supplanting with adventure and freedom of expression.
“In the past they’ve been accustomed to defending and playing on the counter-attack ... being able to change that approach has been the biggest positive so far,” added Valkanis, who spent six years in Greece as a player at the height of his career.
“People have been saying, ‘wow, can Greece actually play this way.’
“The truth is anybody can play this way. Our players are technically good enough and they are tactically great.
“It was just the mentality of having won the Euros in the past, playing a particular way and believing that was the only way they could achieve success.
“We’re instilling an entertaining attacking type of football we also think will bring success, as well as bringing back support to the national team.
“There’s been this feeling that ‘we’re not good enough and have to sit back and defend to get a result’. But that’s changing.
“In Greece, the national team represents everything and people had turned their backs a bit over the past four years or so.
“We’d dropped to our lowest FIFA ranking but for the first time in a while, people are asking ‘when the team is playing next’?”
They are in action again late this month with friendlies against Costa Rica and Mexico in the US before facing off against the Netherlands in May.
“It’s baby steps but it’s also giant steps and we have to keep plugging away, playing our brand of football and getting the results we need,” added Valkanis.
“We’ve brought in a number of younger players who had been on the fringes a bit, players based in Greece and also abroad.
“You’d have seen three of them last week for Olympiakos when they knocked Arsenal out of the Europa League -
Konstantinos Tsimikas, Andreas Bouchalakis and Giorgos Masouras.
“I think we’ve re-energized the team with a lot of pace and a real excitement factor. Tactically and technically they can also improve further.
“We’re going to continue to be fearless - no matter who we face.”
