Blackhawk

Kind of surprised that Oliveira is not starting. However with the possibility that the game might go into extra time it will be nice option to throw in a fresh player with Oliveira's stature in the second half to gain the upper hand.

PAOK will play a friendly game on July 12 against Universitate Kluz in Romania. It's a game that will celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Romanian team.

I have my doubts about Charisis, but he probably is better than the other two. Still I don't he has a place on the team that plans on playing in CL.

If your are going to consider bringing Charisis back, might as well consider Moulin and Kace. I think none of those three have place on the team anymore.

I think Lucescu will go with the following lineup tomorrow: ------------------ Paschalakis ----------------- Matos - Varela - Crespo - Giannoulis -------- Oliveira ------------- Shakhov ------ Limnios ------- Pelkas ------- Biseswar -------------------- Akpokm --------------------- BENCH: Papadopoulos, Lyratzis, Ingason, Canas, Jaba, El Kaddouri, Swiderski but I would prefer this lineup -------------Paschalakis ----------------- Matos - Varela - Crespo - Tosca -------- Oliveira ---------- Canas ------ Jaba ------- Pelkas ------- Biseswar ------------------ Akpokm ------------------ BENCH: Papadopoulos, Lyratzis, Ingason, Shakhov, Limnios, Henrique, Swiderski

The farce (thanks to incompetent government and EPO) that the final of the Greek Cup has become will be televised as follows: GREEK CUP - FINAL PAOK THESSALONIKI - AEK ATHENS OAKA STadium (without fans) GREECE: 20:30 EEST: COSMOTE Sport 1 HD (Live), 22:30 EEST: ERT Sport HD, ERT Sport HD Web Stream (Tape Delay) CYPRUS: 20:30 EEST: Cytavision Sport HD, Cytavision Sport 2 (Live) USA/CANADA: 12:30 CDT: Antenna Satellite (Live) AUSTRALIA: 03:30 AEST: Antenna Pacific (Live) WORLDWIDE: 17:30 GMT/UTC: laola1.TV web stream (Live) https://www.laola1.tv/en-int/livestream/2019-05-11-paok-thessaloniki-fc-aek-athens-fc-len REST OF THE WORLD: 17:30 GMT/UTC: Arena Sport 5 (Croatia), Arena Sport 2 (Serbia, North Macedonia), SportKlub6 (Slovenia)

Unfortunately lost 2:0 to the Czechs.

Well I am sure not all 3,000 policemen will inside the stadium, but still it's laughable. In the meantime the team is already in Athens. All the healthy players traveled with the team and final squad will be determined before game time.

BATE was the weaker team in Europa League as well and was able to eliminate us from the competition. The good thing is that we will be starting the official games in August, which means we will gave more time to prepare.

3,000 policemen will be deployed for the Greek Cup final. They will watch over 900 people that will be present at the stadium in empty OAKA. That comes out to 3.33 policemen per person. Things are getting more bizarre each day ...

Ok. We are 99.9% sure to start in QR3 (August 6,7 / August 13). The 0.01% chance to start in QR2 is for Tottenham to lose in CL final and not finish 4th in Premier League. For that to happen they need to lose to Everton and Arsenal needs to beat Bournmouth and cover the 8 goal deficit, something quite impossible. In QR3 we will be unseeded are looking to face the following teams: Ajax or PSV Eindhoven (HOL) Celtic Glasgow (SCO) or a team that eliminates them in QR2 FC Copenhagen (DEN) or a team that eliminates them in QR2 Dinamo Zagreb (CRO) or a team that eliminates them in QR2 BATE Borisov (BLR) or a team that eliminates them in QR2 Astana (KAZ) or a team that eliminates them in QR2

Stupid Ajax blows it, conceding a goal in 95th minute. Unfortunately we will now find them in our path. Let's hope Liverpool beats Tottenham as there is still a chance we might have to start in qualifying round 2 in CL.

Matos and Giannoulis practiced with the team and will be available Saturday. Giannoulis has been a liability defensively so I am not sure if he will start. Myself I would prefer Tosca instead of Giannoulis. Matos is a must on the right side of defense. Also want to see if Canas gets a start over Shakhov.

Destroyed by Belgium (0:3). Final game tomorrow against Czech Republic. With a win we have a chance of qualifying.

Should be a nice final if it ends up being Liverpool - Ajax.

The AE Pontion Iraklis Katerini, also known as Iraklis Thessaloniki has been relegated from Football League and now there are rumors that they will try to buy the tax ID number of the newly promoted to Superleague team NFC Volos (or New Football Club Volos). Apparently the starting bids are around 3 million Euro, since Apollon Smyrnis is also interested in that tax number so they can remain in Superleague. Needless to say that NFC Volos is nothing than FC Pydna Kitros whose tax ID number was purchased by a Achilleas Beos, a person that did jail time for match fixing and renamed them NFC Volos. The team has no fans at all and only the player's relatives were attending their game in Football League.

Crespo's views on the final:

Found the perfect place to play the Greek Cup final:

Last season in the Greek Cup many 3rd division did not apply to play in the cup despite the fact that they could according to the Greek Cup rules. However they decided not to citing the high cost of application fee. I don't remember any of those teams being punished with fines and/or point deductions. There is a precedent. Now in Greece anything is possible depending on who runs the show, so it's always possible they can invent any rules to suit their purpose.

I am not saying not to play on Saturday. I am talking about the next season's Greek Cup. Can't be punished if you don't enter the competition and pay the entrance fee. Agree on the other points, but if the police did their work there would never be any problems in the stadiums. The police is actually part of the problem.

Assuming Barcelona wins the CL and Ajax the Dutch title here are the confirmed PAOK opponents in the 3rd qualifying round: Ajax Amsterdam Celtic Glasgow FC Copenhagen Dinamo Zagreb Bate Borisov unknown at present

Completed the title conquest undefeated. Only done once before in 1964 by Panathinaikos when it was way easier to accomplish such a feat. Our record is better and I can't see how it can be broken in the near future.

What a joke. Greek police gets cuts from the ticket sales in order guarantee safety at the stadiums and then they have the audacity to claim that they can't guarantee that the final can be played safely. The Greek government (Vasiliadis) playing political games by excluding fans from the game that should be a showcase of Greek football. EPO that has no balls to tell the idiots from the government to take a hike and have the game be played with fans, even if it means playing the game outside Greece. Also EPO should go to UEFA and complain about governmental interference in the game of football. The Greek Cup is slowly becoming a farce. If I was PAOK, I would not enter the competition next season in protest. Can't really say I will enjoy watching the game on Saturday.

Why not just play Lyratzis. It almost a meaningless game.

Tomorrow is the meeting to determine the details of the final. The politician wants the easy way out and have the game played without fans. Apparently if that is the case PAOK will ask to have the game moved out of Athens to a neutral venue. They are promising that VAR will be used at this game, but I would not hold my breath. The fact that a foreign ref will call the game is a big step in the right direction.