Santos names experienced Greece squad
Reuters - Thursday 17 May 2012, 13:03
Greece coach Fernando Santos
leaned on experience in announcing his provisional 25-man Euro
2012 squad on Thursday.
The 57-year-old Portuguese included seasoned veterans such
as Panathinaikos midfielder Giorgos Karagounis, 35, AEK Athens
forward Nikos Liberopoulos, 36 and 37-year-old PAOK Salonica
goalkeeper Costas Chalkias.
There were also places for young talent, however, with
Olympiakos Pireaus' exciting winger Yiannis Fetfatzidis, Schalke
04 defender Kyriakos Papadopoulos and Kaiserslautern midfielder
Costas Fortounis named.
Notable absentees from the squad were Panathinaikos
goalkeeper Orestis Karnezis, along with other Greens players
such as left-back Nikos Spiropoulos and right-back Loukas
Vintra, while promising PAOK striker Stefanos Athanasiadis also
missed out.
Costas Mitroglou of Olympiakos, who spent the season on loan
with Atromitos and finished the season with 16 goals, was
included among the attackers along with Liberopoulos, Giorgos
Samaras, Dimitris Salpigidis and Fanis Gekas.
Two players will be cut following a training camp in Austria
before the final squad of 23 travels to Poland for the opening
game against the hosts on June 8.
They also face Czech Republic and Russia in Group A.
Greece squad:
Goalkeeepers: Costas Chalkias (PAOK Salonica), Michalis
Sifakis (Aris Salonica), Alexis Tzorvas (Palermo).
Defenders: Avraam Papadopoulos (Olympiakos Pireaus),
Sokratis Papastathopoulos (Werder Bremen), Vassilis Torosidis
(Olympiakos Pireaus), Jose Holebas (Olympiakos Pireaus), Stelios
Malezas (PAOK Salonica), Yiannis Maniatis (Olympiakos Pireaus),
Giorgos Tzavellas (Monaco), Kyriakos Papadopoulos (Schalke).
Midfielders: Yiannis Fetfatzidis (Olympiakos Pireaus),
Grigoris Makos (AEK Athens), Costas Katsouranis (Panathinaikos),
Giorgos Fotakis (PAOK Salonica), Costas Fortounis
(Kaiserslautern), Giorgos Karagounis (Panathinaikos), Alexandros
Tziolis (Monaco), Sotiris Ninis (Panathinaikos), Panayiotis Kone
(Bologna).
Forwards: Giorgos Samaras (Celtic), Dimitris Salpigidis
(PAOK Salonica), Costas Mitroglou (Olympiakos Pireaus), Nikos
Liberopoulos (AEK Athens), Fanis Gekas (Samsunspor).