Pontos

'Glucose' saving us from embarrassment there

You get Fetfa the hell out of those oil fields and put him in a black and white shirt

Greek-German goalkeeper Odisseas Vlachodimos (brother of Panagiotis) played his 3rd senior game for Stuttgart last night and kept his first clean sheet in a 4-0 win against Augsburg. He's currently the German U21 squad for their upcoming Euro qualifier's. Looks like a talented goalkeeper

He'd clearly be a level above Greece though, just training with clubs like Barcelona is enough to come to Greece and dominate. So long as he doesn't come here thinking about collecting his weekly paycheck and puts in the effort required.

I'm with Pash, Torosidis was once the best early cross of the ball I'd seen. I haven't seen him provide one of those in years

While I knew Mitroglou was of Romani origin I've recently read he also stated that he has Pontic roots from his father. The town in Pontos which they hail from is called Bafra. A revised squad. ________Mitroglou___Klaus_________ ____________Fetfatzidis____________ Klonaridis__________________Aravidis ____________Tachtsidis____________ Stafylidis Tavlaridis Khacheridi Torosidis _____________Lodygin_____________

Klaus' ability to play the ball goes somewhat unnoticed. He was a midfielder during his youth days, he makes simple skills that most GSL players make a meal of look effortless.

Hope I'm not intruding, I've got a question for you guys. In either 2004 or 2005 my hometown (Adelaide) hosted a tournament featuring youth sides from around the world. Panathinaikos' U20's participated and I remember meeting most of the players, now out of curiosity I've been trying to find a roster from that U20 squad to see what became of them. The only one I remember is Vellidis and after a bit of research I found Alexandros Tseberidis. Anyone able to shed some light on any other players they know that were apart of the squad that travelled?

While usually I would agree, I think Petsos was hesitant to play in Greece. He is a product of German football, when the time came for him to consider playing outside of Germany I'm sure Greece popped up as a potential destination but with all the politics one can't blame him for going to play in Austria. But you're right, I would've loved to have a player like him instead of cameo appearances by Noboa, Natcho and Maduro.

Just calling it as I saw it Sheriff. While I had an idea that this was going on in Greece I wasn't totally aware of some specifics. This was my first time back in Greece as an adult so I saw a lot of things I wouldn't have understood when I first visited.

Indeed, it's a stance against modern football which I can appreciate but they take it way too far and they hold the club back

You guys may already know this but while I was in Thessaloniki I learnt a lot about what the PAOK hooligans stand for. Ever since the junta they have all had a complex with authority, they hate any form of it, police, referees, government. They are almost left wing radicals, anarchists, meaning they are pro-refugees to my surprise. Their love for Pablo Garcia went beyond his performance on the park, Garcia is apparently a communist and shares the similar political views as the fans. They all see him as one of them which is why they caused a ruckus after his dismissal. They discourage capitalism, money spending for no reason. They know their ideology and want they want makes it harder for the club to be successful but they would rather the club keep its integrity than abandon what they stand for to win trophies.

Ochoa was without a club prior to the World Cup when his club in France decided not to give him another contract. After a good tournament he had offers from a number of teams. He signed with one of them in Malaga, and soon after found himself on the bench. I don't trust him, I think he was able to pull of some big saves at a time when the whole world was watching and it saved his career. If he did come it would be for ridiculous money, don't want

Perhaps I've put in a whole lot more information than you were expecting haha. I myself played at semi-pro NPL level but wasn't good enough/determined enough to be anymore than a fringe player. I now play for a smaller Pontian team in a less competitive league

Was anyone able to answer your question about Greek clubs down under Dutch? If not I'd be happy to list them EDIT: Had some spare time so I've whipped this up. In Australia's national competition that ran from 1977 to 2004 (National Soccer League), most clubs were of ethnic background, Greek, Italian, Croatian, Hungarian etc. Greek clubs that played in this competition came from the cities of, Melbourne (where you have the largest Greek population outside of cities Athens and Thessaloniki) Sydney and Adelaide. Melbourne: South Melbourne Hellas Est 1959- Still the countries most successful ever club. 4X NSL Champions, 1 Oceanic Champions League Title and an appearance in the FIFA Club World Cup (where they played Manchester United). Heidelberg United Est 1958- Formed by Makedones mostly from Florina, 2X NSL runner's up Sydney: Sydney Olympic Est 1957 - 2x NSL Champions Adelaide: West Adelaide Hellas Est 1962 - 1 NSL championship The folding of the NSL started up a new national league (The A League) where clubs of ethnic background were not permitted (at least the more stigmatised ethnicities like Greeks, Italians and Croatians) entry and mostly brand new clubs were born. The Greek clubs mentioned have since played in their domestic leagues in the states of Victoria (Melbourne), New South Wales (Sydney) and South Australia (Adelaide). Seeing as the A League does not have a second tier competition the domestic league, the NPL (National Premier League) is run within each of Australia's states and territories. This is where you'll find many more Greek clubs like the one which you saw in Darwin Olympic who play in the Northern Territory. Domestically clubs and players of ethnic background still dominate, this is why you see players with Greek, Italian, Croatian last names running around in Australian shirts. However not as many as before when the NSL was running. The NPL is a semi-professional level however the big Greek clubs like South Melbourne and West Adelaide still have aspirations of gaining entry into the A League. The two states who's NPL are the nation's strongest in my opinion would be New South Wales and Victoria. I'll now quickly list as many Greek NPL clubs as I know, there are many, many more clubs playing in several other competitions below the NPL also. Victoria: Bentleigh Greens (Cypriot) Northcote City Oakleigh Cannons Port Melbourne South Melbourne Heidelberg New South Wales: Sydney Olympic Hamilton Olympic South Australia: Adelaide Comets Adelaide Olympic West Adelaide Hellas Adelaide Cobras (Cypriot, play in another division below) Western Australia: Floreat Athena Northern Territory: Darwin Olympic Hellenic Athletic Queensland: Olympic FC ACT: Canberra Olympic Tasmania: Olympia FC

I'm not going to lie there is always going to be bias, this is the GSL the only team you watch week in, week out is your own so you're going to see a lot more from your own players than say for example a Panathinaikos fan would if you were a PAOKtzi. Getting back to Klaus though, when I watch him play it's clear to me he's on another level, he can be an inconsistent scorer at times but around the park, it's simple things he does where he leaves no room for error, there are a handful of players in the league who can do so as confidently as he does. For whatever reason Fernando Santos wasn't a fan of his, even when Klaus was showing some of his best form he wasn't selected. The lack of solid consistent game time for the Ethniki hasn't given him the best of chances to score the goal that alludes him, and now that long awaited goal has embed itself into his mentality whenever he puts on the blue and white fanela. There isn't a Greek forward on his or Mitroglou's level, give the guy a real chance, give him 90 minutes, alternate both him and Mitroglou as the main guy on form.

I've done my part in securing a new GK by tweeting Odisseas Vlachodimos from Stuttgart :tup: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ut7xkzsGg8A In all seriousness I do hope we make him a target. He's been in all of the German National Team's Youth sides, seen as one of the premier GK talents, problem for him is that they have many, potential asset to us? He's currently with the National U21's and has recently played a handful of senior games for Stuttgart in the Bundesliga. Could potentially kill two birds with one stone, drag him away from Germany and bring him into the fold for the Ethniki. I'd much rather bring in another younger piece to develop while we're in this phase of building with youth instead of getting 1 year from a Pletikosa like signing

People seem to think that Klaus is has been given legitimate chances but he's only started and played over 65 minutes twice for the Ethniki against Hungary and Finland.

I think we both have the same poster Pana

wrong thread

Yeah I had a look at that but it didn't give a reason as to why it was named 'Hellenic Football League.' Was hoping someone might know but I'm beginning to think there might not be any reasoning behind the name.

Hahahaha. We are s%$#!

That was gift wrapped for Mak, piss poor.

Goal Klaus! Thank goodness. The first appeal was a definite penalty, the second I didn't think it was. You can hear Tudor shouting on the sidelines for Charisis to come and pick up the ball from Tziolis and Malezas to get us going forward. A few errors by Charisis but I like Tudor encouraging the team to play through him from deep.

Flicking through channels I stumbled on a first round FA Cup game between Didcot Town and Exeter. In the crowd I saw a Greek flag, so I decided to google and see whether they one of the teams had a Greek player. As I researched Didcot Town, I read they once played in a competition named the Hellenic Football League. I thought it might've been a now defunct league featuring clubs started up by Greek diaspora but I couldn't find anything saying so. In fact I think the competition may still be running. Anyone able to shed some light on this?