Akritis_1944

Agreed. They came as tourists then, although it was Australia's Golden generation. Just hope that the Greece team takes it seriously with an eye to the World Cup qualifiers.

Spot on Amorgos. We all know Greece has been horrible and disjointed for some time. I personally don't care who plays as long as they put in an effort. Obviously I don't want to see Vyntra or Moras play as this is short sighted but a hungry Vellios, Bakasetas and Tachtsidis is better than a Mitroglou who looks disinterested.

Manolas had asked to be excluded so that's fine. The concern is that Sokratis and the better regulars miss the tour based on "injury". Australian Federation has stipulated that Greece send their best players so EPO will have to play the koroido and say theres's a spate of injuries to Samaris, Mitroglou, Sokratis etc. We will likely see Moras partner Oikonomou with Vydra on the right and Tzavellas on the left. Tziolis walking in the middle with Papazoglou up top. Even then I still see this being close.

31 players called up. Is this the travelling squad or will it be culled further? Knowing EPO They'll probably leave Bakasetas and Vellios at home while taking Siovas, Vydra and Moras along for the holiday.

Don't be ridiculous. I say the same about anyone claiming an Australian thumping too.

I agree that some of these inclusions are beyond farcical. Vydra and Moras are finished. Tziolis has had way too many opportunities and has proven to come up short every time. So I'd like to not see them together but if the other players selected and firm a semblance of a decent team they can subdue an aggressive yet clueless Australia. I'm not worried.

You're not wrong about how Australia approaches each match and Postecoglou deserves most of the credit for this but they haven't played decent teams. Aside from South Korea in last years Asian Cup, who have they played of any quality?? Yes Greece is a rabble but they can handle Australia.

Btw I am surprised that only Manolas was excluded. The possibility was that many more of our European players were not going to come. We may yet see others drop out due to "injury". He's very much in Skibbe's plans. This is all about him resting and not making the long flight. He's got a 5 month old daughter and doesn't want to be away from his family.

And who's going to put them in? Burns? Giannou? I see a 0-0 in the first match.

Well given that a lot of Belgium's team are Dutch ethnically/culturally or Dutch speakers it makes perfect sense. De Bruyne, Nainggolan, Vermaelen, Mertens, Vertonghen, Alderweireld, Dembele and the rest may as well wear clogs and dress in Oranje. Last time we played the Netherlands away was just before Euro 2004 where we had our kolous handed to us by losing 4-0. Hopefully we will see a better performance.

Samaras is an ex-international. He's never going to play for Greece again so what he does now in his club career is to his detriment.

"John Baker" is spot on. How do you achieve a clean sport without government meddling which risks sanctions?

I'm not defending EPO or the parlous state of Greek football but advocating a FIFA ban will be the death of professional football in Greece. We will be at the level of Monkeydonija by the end of the decade if this happens.

No ban formally announced but the reality is that a ban is always possible given that the government postponed the final. So until it's played and we have a winner the prospect of getting excluded by FIFA is always there.

Which also risks another ban. The idiots at SDNA endorse Greece's expulsion.

About time a man of your intelligence and standing goes over to sort out these village idiots.

True. I'm not even arguing with you. I hope we see some consistency soon.

Better than Hungary?

Exactly, yet modern day Albanians oblivious to their countries history want to claim an ethnic Greek as their own! Borders on being hilarious.

Yes my understanding is his a Northern Epirot. This is what's been claimed for years.

Some random Albanian tweeted to him calling him a"Shqipere" or whatever that blabbling language is called. Unlike Kone I've never read that Ninis is anything but an ethnic Greek.

Kala, he was completely out of form in that Bolivia match. It was the first match I was watching in over a year and I was just shocked at how poor he was finishing. He should have scored at least 5 that day. In the Colombia match he hit the bar with a header on an open goal. It was 2-0 then. If he scored then it would have been very interesting.

That was a friendly. The wide open goal against Colombia was a bigger miss.

He's scoring more goals in Belgium than he ever did in Greece. Very limited player but he showed a good touch to set up a teammate for a goal too. He reminds me a lot of Stavros Labriakos (ex-Aris, Apollon Ath, Skoda) in physique and style. He should probably be 5th or 6th in line for the Ethniki. Better players ahead of him in contention I think (Mitro, Karelis, Klaus, Bakasetas, Diamantakos). Sifakis is a decent Keeper and deserves to be pushing Karnezis for the no. 1 as long as he's playing regularly. I question his motivation though. Hasn't settled at a club since Euro 2012. If he plays out this season he should be selected for the Ethniki. Kapino is not ready yet.

It's just a penalty but he could have missed it but it says a lot that he's been at the club for only a few months and he's taking free kicks and penalties. He must have his confidence back. Surely he should be in the picture for the next friendlies for the NT.