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Return leg is going to be huge. Can't wait to revisit this

^Yes. He's injured. Taxi. What a journeyman. Although owned by Genoa on 21st April 2010, he was loaned out on 7 occasions to other Italian clubs prior to making his debut with them on 23 Aug 2015. As if this wasn't enough he then gets sold to Torino on 5 Aug 2016 who then loaned him out to Cagliari, where he's doing great. Another player who should be in the starting 11 when he's fit and available.

This match will be more about tactical play. Neither team will want to lose it at this stage of qualification. It may be decided by one mistake or one moment of brilliance. I think that Bosnia will sit back and wait for their opportunity and they will surely get them, as we have been vulnerable on counter attacks for some time now. A draw away to Greece will suit them. A win for us without Manolas, would be huge psychological victory for us and damaging for them. Damaging in the sense that it puts them 6 points behind us on the Table. A nice buffer for us going into the match with Belgium in Belgium. Manolas and Holebas absences are a huge loss. Stafylidis and Samaris will be key players in this match, and we will need them to do a job both in a defensive and offensive sense.

To not have at least 1-2 changes is disappointing. Heard an interview with a well known coach answer the question "How would you describe your footballing philosophy?" to which he answered, that "first of all, having memorable matches, in a row" and "that the people really want to see the next game, can't wait to see the next game". While the last campaign was mired with embarrassing losses and it's good to see us winning this campaign, nothing memorable about the way we have been playing. In fact, we have only scored 1 goal in the three 2nd half matches with Gibraltar, Cyprus and Estonia. For me, that's not good enough by Greece and the coach, and is a small sign that not all is well. Hope I'm wrong.

I think the stats are a bit deceiving and it's actually 3 goals in 25 appearances for the NT excluding U21. Most as a substitute. He simply hasn't started enough matches and the ones where he starts, he gets taken off. He has only started in 5 internationals since 2012 excluding U21 and he's been subbed off in all of them. In his career, excluding U21, Fetfatzidis has started in 10 (subbed out in 8 of them) and come on as sub in another 15 games and has had a total of 1004 mins or a goal every 334 mins. So he has only ever played 2 full 90 min games for the NT. If you compare with Salpingidis who had 12 goals, had started in 59 and subbed in another 22 games and had a total 4940 mins or a goal every 411 mins it's actually better. Source: http://au.soccerway.com/players/ioannis-fetfatzidis/103765/

Enjoyed that video. Fetfatzides can shoot, pass and cross the ball. That alone should worthy of a call up. Enough with the !@#$%^ call ups.

In the end it comes down to personal preference, with pros and cons. I prefer the 32-team and 16-team formats purely because top 2 teams get through. It's a simple, unbiased process. The positive with more teams, is even if you lose your opening 2 matches you still have a chance of qualifying to the knock out. Great for fans. The negative is, and I can see it happening, is that you end up with two teams in different Groups with the same points, same goal difference, same goals for and against, and then its a coin toss to see who makes it. E.g. in Euro 2016, when Turkey lost to Croatia 1-0 and Spain 3-0, then beat Czech 2-0 in their last game they had a good chance of making it. As it turned out, they missed out to NI who also lost 2 matches but had a better goal difference. If Germany beats NI 3-0 in their last Group match, then both Turkey and NI end up with identical points and goals for and against.

He wasn't in the Dortmund team which drew 3-3 with Ingolstadt. After 24' they were 2-0 down, from soft goals in the middle of the box, coming from set plays. Even their 3rd goal conceded, came from a cross and poor marking in the box. I was shocked to see how poor Dortmund defended without Soc in this match.

Shocking news. Greece has a small pool of talent and can ill afford losing players like Holebas as we try to rebuild. I can't understand not using Holebas in place of injured Tzavellas and Samaris. I can't understand why Scibbe persists with Maniatis and Tziolis and ignores Holebas. Makes no sense. I haven't seen the 2 matches with Cyprus and Estonia but while the results were good the display wasn't from all accounts.

Δεύτερο στοιχείο: επεισόδιο στον πάγκο "... Λάθος γιατί τότε έκλεισε η πόρτα της Εθνικής για τον Ζήκο και δεν έκλεισε ούτε αναίτια ούτε εξαιτίας κάποιου μυστικού γεγονότος. Δεύτερο φιλικό της Εθνικής με τον Ρεχάγκελ, κόντρα στην Κύπρο στο γήπεδο της Καισαριανής. Ο Ρεχάγκελ έχει κάνει τέσσερις αλλαγές και στο 85’ ζητάει απ’τον Ζήκο να μπει κι αυτός. Ο ποδοσφαιριστής αρνείται, επικαλείται το γεγονός πως ο αγώνας τελειώνει σε λίγο και οι δυο τους έχουν επεισόδιο στον πάγκο, πριν τελικά ο Ζήκος μπει ως αλλαγή και φορέσει το εθνόσημο για τελευταία φορά." ... Προς τιμήν του, ο Γερμανός όχι μόνο δεν μίλησε ποτέ δημόσια για το επεισόδιο με τον Ζήκο στα εννέα χρόνια που ακολούθησαν, αλλά πήγε να δει και τον Ζήκο από κοντά τη σεζόν 2003-04 όταν αγωνιζόταν στη Μονακό. Στην επιστροφή του είπε στον Γκαγκάτση “καλός είναι, αλλά εγώ θα καλέσω τον Κατσουράνη”. http://www.contra.gr/Columns/Mythbusters/giati-o-rexagkel-den-adikhse-ton-zhko-to-2004.3387465.html

All coaches have their favourites, and German coaches value team before individual talent. Scibbe is no different. Zikos' last international was with Cyprus, as a sub coming on in the 85' minute in Athens, in Nov 2001. I think, story has it that Rehhagel tried to get Zikos on the park earlier but Zikos refused. After that Katsouranis came into squad and rest was history. Interestingly, Greece lost to Cyprus 1-2 in that match.

Oh no. Holebas complained to Scibbe about being used as a LM and not as the LB, and it looks like coach wasn't too impressed. Hope this blows over. http://www.contra.gr/Soccer/Hellas/National-Greece/stravwse-me-ton-skimpe-o-xolempas.4251389.html

Ouch. I'll take the win, 4 goals and 3 points and worry about the next match. Positives for me was Mitro's goal plus 3 good minutes. Fortounis is a good player too. How Gibraltar didn't score a 2nd in the 2nd half was puzzling. Seemed harder to miss. With our world class defenders, we should never be conceding goals to Gibraltar, Estonia or Cyprus. Velios tried to rip the net when a simple pass to the corner would have had his name on the score sheet. Gibraltar's goalie made 4 decent saves in the 2nd half, which is 4 more than I expected.

For Foxtel users, ESPN3 is streaming this match live from 04:35 AEST 7/9.

Well our offense isn't exactly going to send shivers. We need to take them very seriously and two draws would be a win for us imo.

Woman's Pole Vault final on 20/08 will include Ekaterina Stefanidi who qualified equal best 4.60m, is a chance for a medal.

Latest in the Men's 470 Sailing, after 7 races 1. Croatia; net 14 pts 2. Australia; net 25 pts 3. Greece; net 32 pts 4. France; net 36 pts 5. Austria; net 42 pts Looking good for a bronze and a chance for silver. Croatia looks a certainty for the Gold. Next 3 races will be decided 16/08/2016 02:05-04:55 Sydney time.

In the Men's Two Person Dinghi - 470 Sailing, after 4 races 1. Croatia; net 4 pts 2. Australia; net 7 pts 3. Greece; net 9 pts Field is made up of 26 countries, and there are total of 10 races between 11-16 Aug with points awarded depending on finishing positions (1 point for 1st, 26 points for 26th). Each boat is allowed to discard its worst score, and 10 boats with lowest accumulated scores reach the final on 18 Aug. In the final, points scored are doubled and added to the opening series' scores to determine top 10 positions and medals. Greeks are ranked 4th in the world in this sport.

Greece 8-8 Hungary (final) in the water polo. We equalised with 5 seconds to go in the match. Next match in 3 days with Brazil then Australia. Standings Group A: Brazil: 4 pts Greece: 4 pts Australia: 3 pts Hungary: 3 pts Serbia: 2 pts Japan: 0 pts All teams played 3 matches, except for Serbia and Brazil who play tomorrow. Top 4 get though to round of 8.

Our ranking is 52, behind Panama, Scotland, South Korea, Iran and Albania. Players like Fetfatzides are rare talent, who on their day can win a match or turn a match. As long as he's fit, at 26 he should at least be a squad player for the NT. Never really got a chance under Santos. He can control a ball, pass it, dribble, run with it and shoot it, better than most in the squad. He's also got smarts on the field as that video shows. Not good to be dismissing talented players given our current ranking.

Sorry mods. I deleted as it was in the wrong topic.

That's it. In a league of his own over there. More freedom to play the way he likes and get paid dong what he loves. None of this sitting on the bench m*****es at Genoa.

The last 2 pages of this thread is hilarious. I recall he was about to sign with Sampdoria in 2015, but failed the medical, due to a back problem. Pretty hard to top what he's achieved with NT. Two Euro's and two WCs between 2008-14.

Greece slowed in the 2nd half, but never waivered from the win. You could see Scibbe urging the team towards the end of the game. In our last 7 matches, we have scored 2 or more goals in four of them. Another good sign.