Sokratis Papastathopoulos ‒ (Retired)

[pash]

Their game today was postponed until Wednesday (tomorrow)

[pash]

Looks like it was postponed due to a bomb that went off a few kilometers away

[paokara777]

Apparently a player is injured! Praying everyone is OK.

 

Another terrorist attack?

[Chris Tsamados]

Seems like the Dortmund bus was targeted and damaged in three explosions. One player (Marc Bartra) was injured. No word if it was targeted by terrorists or some nut case football hooligans?  

Edited April 11, 2017 by Chris Tsamados

[paokarag4]

Just gave a way a penalty in the 15th minute against Monaco. Didn't look like a penalty to me, very minimal contact, if anything the majority of the contact was made outside the box. 
Justice is served (imo) as Monaco miss the penalty, 19th minute still 0-0 

[pash]

Dortmund's pretty pissed about having the play the game the next day. Sokratis made some headlines with, "We're not animals"

[pash]

Scored an absolute stunner today:

http://www.foxsports.com/soccer/story/sokratis-borussia-dortmund-goal-video-frankfurt-bundesliga-highlights-041517?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

[kbxk508]

I'll say. What was impressive is he collected the ball in the middle of the field and went for a run and then nailed it. Commentator lost it.

[Nikitas]

http://www.bundesliga.com/en/news/Bundesliga/sokratis-borussia-dortmund-blmvp-candidate-blmd29n-441044.jsp

[georgelaz]

sokratis has elevated to superstar level this season. I haven't watched Hummels closely, but I think he's had a better season.

[skinny]

Fat Phil had a soda with him in Hamburg

[Nikitas]

he had a decent game yesterday , dortmund made again many defending mistakes which leds to the 3 goals they conceded yesterday. they need some more muscle next season. yes they have a hrad time at the moment but its a pretty much failed season so far for them.

http://www.espnfc.com/club/borussia-dortmund/124/blog/post/3107395/matthias-ginter-and-erik-durm-off-the-pace-as-dortmund-go-out-of-the-ucl

[Nikitas]

not sure when but he picked up a knock and didnt played yesterday. its unsure if he will be fit for the semi final of the german cup against bayern wednesday. dortmund won 2-3 against monchengladbach.

[paokarag4]

Dortmund beat Bayern 3-2 in the German cup semi (in Munich)  and make the final! Huge win for them. Sokratis played the full 90, they will play Frankfurt in the final on May 28th

Edited April 27, 2017 by paokarag4

[js1000]

Just won the German cup with Dortmund, well deserved, an absolute legend. Probably the best player we've ever produced.

[Rockafeller Skank]

Sadly noone will acknowledge a centerback as being elite, if he is not Spanish or German.

[Argy]

He is considered elite in Germany; easily a top 5-CB in Bundesliga, probably top-3. He is the best player Greece has ever produced.

Despite our lack of depth and skill in many positions, we are still in the midst of our most talented generation. Sokratis, Manolas, Mitroglou, Torosidis, Kpap, Karnezis would all be in Greece's all-time 23-man roster, most as starting XI. A case can probably be made for a couple of other current players as well. 

Edited May 29, 2017 by Argy

[Rockafeller Skank]

Our defence. With Either Stafylidis or Holebas as LWB with this Offensive duo of Mitroglou - Fortounis(talking about Fortounis of NT who obviously is much more interested than the one in Olympiakos lately- and I do not blame him), are honestly some of the best people we ve produced. Midfield is a problem. This team with some young Katsouranis/Karagounis would actually be a top 10 national team no matter who else took part in it.

Problem is that the team has a number of very decent top tier players, but 90% of them are defensive based. We need the key chain to unite this good defense with a good offense ending up in giving results but also an image of a team dominating some periods of time. We were shakey vs Bosnia vs Estonia vs Belgium, even vs Cyprus. Not to mention friendly vs Belarus. Even vs Australia. When the team is able to stand up to its feet in game, then will I agree we ve got a very decent team that can go furthen than Group stage of an upcomming WC or Euro. And as long as we surrender the midfield to every opposition, from pot 10 to pot 1 team, we won't see such a feature in the NT. 

[georgelaz]

                          Mitroglou

              Tsiartsas     Karagounis

                         Zagorakis  Kats

Torosidis Sokratis Kpaps Manolas Seitaridis

                             Karnezis

 

Essentially our defense from now + seitaridis. our attack circa 2004 + mitroglou would be my starting 11.

 

[Rockafeller Skank]

I think Stafylidis will make it big.

[pash]

If he makes a smart move after Augsburg, I'm sure he'll do great. Agreed that Sokratis is the best player we've ever produced. He's an absolute beast.

Now to find a replacement for the rapidly declining Torosidis.

[Argy]

21 hours ago, georgelaz said:

                          Mitroglou

              Tsiartsas     Karagounis

                         Zagorakis  Kats

Torosidis Sokratis Kpaps Manolas Seitaridis

                             Karnezis

 

Essentially our defense from now + seitaridis. our attack circa 2004 + mitroglou would be my starting 11.

 

Maybe Nikopolidis starting over Karnezis, but the rest seems right. I would have an attempt at drawing up an all-time 23-man roster, but I do not have enough knowledge of pre-2000 Greece. 

[georgelaz]

yeah same not gunna lie just got into football circa 2004.

I think Karnezis is the more talented goalie. Niko was always very shakey on crosses. Despite the euro victory. Niko also benefited from the park the bus era whereas now we press much higher with Manolas and Sokratis. Niko also was only Greek league whereas Karnezis is a top keeper in serie A. We never had a fully healthy Karnezis at a tournament and if was healthy during world cup we probably would have advanced to final 8 or more.

[Argy]

I'll give it a shot with my limited knowledge of pre-2000. This is based more heavily on their accomplishments with the ethniki, rather than at club level:

GK: Karnezis, Nikopolidis, (fill in blank)

DF: Sokratis, Manolas, KPapadopoulos, Kyrgiakos, Dellas, Seitaridis, Torosidis, Avraam

MF: Tsiartas, Karagounis, Zagorakis, Basinas, Katsouranis, Giannakopoulos

FW: Mitroglou, Gekas, Machlas, Charisteas, Salpingidis, Saravakos

Alternatives: Samaras, Samaris, Kapsis, Fyssas, Nikolaidis, Anastasopoulos

Edited May 30, 2017 by Argy

[Boxou]

I think in those lists there are some guys from 70's and 80's or even 90's who had good runs in qualificiation rounds but most of the times they were coming up short. I'm talking about a qualification game against Romania for the World cup 1970, where we needed an away and would top the group ahead of Eusebio's Portugal which we had beaten in Athens. We drew them, eventually, because of coach's ego. (can't recall his name). While the team was accomondating in the hotel, coach called the players for a meeting and Domazos who most of you are aware of his importance as an all-time great in PAO and the NT wasn't wearing the NT t-shirt. Coach says, "hey, take that out and wear your jersey right now". Domazos refused to do so and coach kicked him out of the squad. As a result we didn't manage to qualify, such an amazing opportunity this team missed to make it to the world cup. These guys were legends with their respective teams but nobody mentions them as NT all time greats because they couldn't deliver the results. Sorry for the OT.