Socratis Papastathopoulos plays soccer for the Greek national team, but also for the German team Werden Bremen as a defender, skills he has to use these days not in his game, but defending his country against animosity by many Germans.
He told German media that a barrage of negative stories about Greeks – that they are lazy, indifferent and need bailouts because they don’t like to work – hurt him and he finds himself trying to explain why the stereotype isn’t accurate.
“It is definitely hard to be Greek in Germany nowadays, especially when having so much heard about Greece. Now Germans needn’t to tell us what to do as we Greeks, we’re already aware of the fact that some things didn’t operate as they should in our country. However, things as presented in the press have nothing to do with the Greek reality,talking ’bout bad press.This problem doesn’t only concern Greece but the whole Europe as well. We were just more vulnerable to the economic crisis than others,” he said.
The international player seems to be really optimistic that the Greek national team will make the World Cup field for 2014 in Rio De Janeiro. “So far, we are doing very well in the club. Except for the talent and the experience, the national team provides a family atmosphere and all the guys will give their best shot for Greece ‘s sake so as to make Greeks proud and happy,” he said.
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