Greekaroos

Should play the Greek Cup Final in Germany, Australia or the USA with a referee from that country. They would defiantly get a bigger crowd than playing it in Athens. Only problem it's too close to the play offs. A good marketing idea to lift the profile of the competition.

Football formations are like trends & fashion & in 2016 this back 3 with the wing backs rather than traditional right & left back has returned. It was trendy back in the 1990's & made a comeback at Brazil 2014 with eventual champion Germany using it. The idea is in attack the wingback are attacking midfielders or wingers & in defense fullbacks. One of the best Greek teams to miss out on World Cup qualification the team during qualifying for France 1998 used this formation. Apostolakis & Georgatos were great wing backs at the time.

Opinions are like ass holes. We all have one.

I haven't seen much of Papazoglou whom must be a late bloomer & the reason for getting his 1st cap at the age of 28 years of age. Maniatis might not be the most skillful & not good on PlayStation but in reality he is very important to a team. At Euro 2012 he was clocked at as covering the most distance of any player in the tournament per match. He is fearless in not taking a backward step in the midfield turning 50/50 challenges towards his team & therefore more possession for his more creative & attacking players whom if you have played appreciate these hardworking defensive midfielders. People whom don't understand the tactical side of football & recognize that at Brazil 2014 Maniatis slotted into right back for cover when Torosidis went forward & left back when Holebas went forward knowing if they lost the ball the therio had their position covered, working well with Samaris whom would slide into the middle. Watching recent matches like the loss to Iceland & many other recently Greece would dominate possession & when ever the opposition got the ball they would go through the midfield like they won't there. The Greek defense got no protection from the midfield at all. It was a rizili! Tachtsidis looked very good & creative in the midfield but seemed to get into Fortounis way trying to compete with him as the number 10 playmaker of the team rather than doing the job he was selected to do of a defensive midfielder. He leaves Samaris on his own & doesn't want to ruin his hair in 50/50 challenges but just walks around lost when defending. Tachtsidis & some others seem to be playing for themselves, trying to impress agents. Maniatis is a team playing doing all the dirty, unpopular duties which are unnoticed by most football fans but are appreciated by team mates.

Michalis Sifakis in goals for K.V. Kortrijk for a 2nd consecutive match away to Standard Liege. The match finished 1-1 with both goals scored by Greek internationals Thanasis Papazoglou for K.V. Kortrijk in the 12th minute & Giannis Maniatis from the penalty spot for Standard Liege in the 31st minute.

Panagiotis Kone made his Fiorentina debut coming on as a 82nd minute substitute for Josip Ilicic in this afternoons Serie A loss away to Empoli.

FIFA showed they are taking government involvement into football seriously when they banned Kuwait from all international football, including the Russia 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifying where they were 2nd in their group before the ban. I think Indonesia might also be in trouble.

The Australia v Greece two FIFA international friendly matches in Sydney & Melbourne in June 2016 are now in doubt as FIFA ban looms due to government interference. http://www.espnfc.com/international-friendly/story/2845320/australia-vs-greece-friendlies-in-doubt-as-fifa-ban-looms

The Australia v Greece two FIFA international friendly matches in Sydney & Melbourne in June are under threat as FIFA ban hangs over Greek FA. http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/sport/football/socceroosgreece-june-doublebill-under-threat-as-fifa-ban-hangs-over-greek-fa/news-story/c1690cbd751f8233545912e2b01e8042

Gekas scores his 2nd goal of the match making it 0-4 in the 48th minute & then substituted in the 63rd minute. Match finished Lugano 0 Sion 6.

The replay of the Khimky v Olympiacos Euroleague basketball match from the previous night was actually on just before the Benfica v Braga match on Saturday morning.

As usual Theofanis Gekas has once again scored a goal for his club Sion with the opening goal of the match in the 20th minute away to Lugano in Switzerland's Super League. It is currently half time with the score Lugano 0 Sion 3.

He had played in the Belgium Cup but this was his first Jupiler League match for K.V. Kortrijk. He did play 10 matches in the Belgium Jupiler League for Charleroi S.C. back in season 2012/13.

Greek-Dutch teenager defender Pantelis Hatzidiakos played the full match for AZ Alkmaar going down 2-4 at home to PSV in overnight Dutch Eredivisie action.

In Australia if you have Foxtel you can watch every Benfica home Primeira Liga match through the Euro Sports channel. Now from what I've seen this season it seems as though at Benfica he has three attacking midfielders like Fortounis whom attack from the midfield, creating space for others like Mitroglou & the other striker Jonas whom become isolated rather than being cramped for space because the midfielder like Tziolis & every attacking midfielder other than Fortounis go side to side & wouldn't know what creative is. At Benfica even Samaris looks more creative as defensive midfielder because the attacking midfielder were busy creating space & attack minded.

Michalis Sifakis finally made his Belgium Jupiler League debut for Kortrijk in overnight (2 April 2016) action in a scoreless draw at home to Royal Moucron-Peruwelz.

Match finished 5-1. Mitroglou played the full match where Samaris came on as a 65th minute substitute for former Olympiakos team mate Ljubomir Fejsa & scored 7 minutes later.

Andreas Samaris came on for Ljubomir Fejsa in the 65th minute of tonight's Primeira Liga match which finished Benfica 5 Braga 1 & Samaris scored in the 72nd minute. Mitroglou finished with two goals.

Benfica are leading 5-0 against Braga with around 10 minutes remaining. Mitroglou has 2 goals & Samaris 1 so far.

In the post match press conference against Montenegro he said four players which included Mitroglou & Manolas would be going back to their clubs to be rested as they have a very busy schedule coming up & four other players will step in. I would love to see Holebas playing in this system of wingback with the cover of three central defenders which suites him & Torosidis on the right best. Vellios will score two goals on his debut if he starts & has the Holebas on the left flank.

I think this coach is going in the right direction with 3-5-2 as it suits the current best Greek national team players. Our right & left backs are more like wing-backs than traditional right & left backs. We have three very good world class central defenders whom when fit & healthy can play in any league so why leave one out. Our strikers are more effective when our wide players are giving them good service with crosses in the right areas. The national teams end of season tour of Australia will be very important as the coach will have a lot more time to work & get the team understand his system without club commitments etc.

Mitroglou was celebrating his goal for Benfica against Tondela last week while his coach was giving him a mouth full for getting a yellow card for taking his shirt off.

24 year old Amiri Kurdi is a Saudi Arabian-Greek dual citizen whom currently plays his club football with Giannis Fetfatzidis at Al-Ahli Saudi FC. Apparently he plays mostly at right back or midfield. Born on 11 September 1991 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia but moved to Greece from a young age where he came up through the Panionios youth system & eventually the Panionios first team where he has played 62 matches & having scored 1 goal between 2009-2015.

The national team is the last thing on Georgios Samaras mind at the moment. First of all staying fit & healthy to actually be able to play at his full potential should be his number one priority. Second is his passion & enjoyment of the game in order to give 100%. Everything else will fall into place with his quality if his body & mind is all good.

Surprise surprise! Gekas just scored in Sion's Switzerland Super League match away Young Boys. Currently Young Boys 1 Sion 2 at half time interval.