The Greek World Cup secret's out - Mitroglou is in
By Graham Wood
ATHENS (Reuters)- - Fulham striker Kostas Mitroglou, who has barely played this year due to a knee injury, was included in a 30-man provisional World Cup squad reluctantly revealed by coach Fernando Santos on Wednesday.
Santos had previously stated that he would not announce his provisional squad, only his final selection of 23 players, on May 19,
However, following the circulation of an inaccurate squad list on various international media websites, the Portuguese coach opted to end the speculation.
Mitroglou, who joined the London club from Olympiakos Piraeus for 11 million pounds in January, played for only two hours in three matches as the club were relegated.
However, his three goals in the 4-2 aggregate playoff victory over Romania that took Greece to the finals have obviously kept him in favour.
The 26-year-old’s team-mate Giorgos Karagounis, the Greece captain with 132 caps but who played only 14 times for Fulham this season, was also named in the squad, along with other experienced campaigners such as midfielder Kostas Katsouranis and Georgios Samaras, who is leaving Celtic this summer.
Contrary to the inaccurate squad released by some news sites, goalkeeper Michalis Sifakis (Atromitos), defender Dimitris Siovas (Olympiakos) and midfielder Sotiris Ninis (PAOK) havenot made the provisional squad, while there are places for defenders Nikos Karabelas (Levante) and Vangelis Moras (Hellas Verona), midfielder Nikos Karelis (Panathinaikos) and strikers Stefanos Athanasiadis (PAOK) and DimitrisPapadopoulos (Atromitos).
Greece face Colombia, Ivory Coast and Japan in Group C in Brazil.
Greece squad:
Goalkeepers: Orestis Karnezis(Granada), Panaglotis Glykos (PAOK), Stefanos Kapino (Panathinaikos), Alexandros Tzorvas (Apollon Smyrnis).
Defenders: Avraam Papadopoulos, Kostas Manolas, Giannis Maniatis, Jose Holebas (all Olympiakos), Sokratis Papastathopoulos (Borussia Dortmund), Giorgios Tzavellas (PAOK), Loukas Vyntra (Levante), Vasilis Torosidis (Roma), Nikos Karabelas (Levante), Vangelis Moras (Hellas Verona).
Midfielders: Alexandros Tziolis (Kayserispor), Andreas Samaris (Olympiakos), Kostas Katsouranis (PAOK), GiorgosKaragounis (Fulham), Panagiotis Tachtsidis (Torino), Ioannis Fetfatzidis (Genoa), Kostas Fortounis (Kaiserslautern), Lazaros Christodoulopoulos (Bologna) Panagiotis Kone (Bologna), Nikos Karelis (Panathinaikos).
Forwards: Dimitris Salpingidis (PAOK), Giorgios Samaras (Celtic), Konstantinos Mitroglou (Fulham), TheofanisGekas (Konyaspor), Stefanos Athanasiadis (PAOK), Dimitris Papadopoulos Atromitos)
(Editing by Mitch Phillips)
