IRAKLIS Posted August 4, 2006 Share Posted August 4, 2006 As the transfer market is comming to a close the only team in Greece I can tip my hat to thus far has been AEK. They have practically saved the careers of Lagos and Kapetanos( even though he was picked up last season). These two players will not only be big for AEK however I believe they will have a major contribution to the national team in subsquent years to come. However, lets look at what may be the real problem and that is quality youth players. Many of us in here complain about teams in Greece not playing there youth players and selecting foreigners to fill the void. In some instances our youngsters are better players than the foreign selections. But the modern game of football has changed drastically now that the best players traditionally are in spain, eng, ita and ger. It is obvious for our youngsters to grow they need to be playing in these leagues BUT MORE IMPORTANTLY OUR BIG teams who compete in europe need utilize these palyers but!!! only the ones who are able to compete. Many of these young players as much as we build them up just simply cant cut it. Our under 21's are not what they used to be and barely compete among todays other nations. So realistically if they cannot compete with other under 21 teams who are the future of football, this shows they may not be fit for international( more competitive soccer) at the international level. I think that Greece made a major mistake in not looking after the players from the under 21 team between 2000-2002. We lost a whole generation of talented players that could be helping the state of greek soccer. LEts take a look and see what happend to them Kyriazis- lost Vakouftsis- in cyprus agritis- stranded in egaleo fotakis- stranded in egaleo patzazoglou- perma injured katsouranis- on a mediocre benfica vallas- bench warmer taralidis- bench warmer moras- bench warmer gittas ?????? Petrou????? Louboutis???? Seitaridis- Athletico Papadopoulos- Pao Salp- paok --------------------------these players are now in there mid 20's, which theoretically should be there prime up to about 30. They are all now lost causes!!! why!!! how did this happen!! Now we are stuck, the gaps between the top 3 and the rest of greece with the exception of iraklis are getting wider. Even paok, xanthi, and panionios struggle to challenge. Somthing needs to change, we have to develop our players and support. Other leagues support there own kind far better than we do eg when u think of Bundesliga u think BALLACK... England you think Gerrad or Rooney... Italy u think Buffon, Prilo, Spain lol ( Ronaldinho, but in the past it was all about Raul and Morientes) When you think of the greek league what players come to mind??? Djole, Gonzalez, Rivaldo..... you dont think nor do xenoi think Lyberopoulos, Papadopoulos, Anatolakis etc This is becuase we do not build up our players very well as personalities, soccer players, stars ect---- instead we bash them, if they dont do well we loan them to the 2nd division or send them to the shttiest teams. If things dont change fast after this batch of players on the ethniki, what are we left with for quality youth that can compete interantioanlly............ Samaras Papadopoulos lagos Kapetanos ??????????????? leontiou????Tsiolis??????Kone...... they are currently on the bench not even playing in Greece how can we consider them prospects when we dont evevn support them here... We dont even have a goalie that has support.. Sifakis is good but he needs experience how is he gonna get playing with OFI struggling to survive in the A ethniki? I think we are in crisis, we have to do somthing once this batch of players is done it hink we are gonna F***ed anyway what are your thoughts? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
evalagoal Posted August 4, 2006 Share Posted August 4, 2006 My man you've hit it right on the head but there's nothing that these clubs do for their youth. Honestly look at any major clubs (Arsenal - Man U - Barca - Bayern etc) and on their website you will find endless information about academy teams and their progression, Bios of players and much much more... In this category we're years behind and EPO and other major clubs need to change this GREAT POST Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drakos13 Posted August 4, 2006 Share Posted August 4, 2006 fotakis- stranded in egaleo katsouranis- on a mediocre benfica Fotakis is in Kilmanrock now, Scottish LeagueKatsouranis is on a mediocre Benfica?????? Benfica......was one of the top teams in european Champions League last year, and before that year the portuguese champions. Not so mediocre. also Louboutis is in the Dutch Willem II Greek youth is looking just fine IMO. There is a lot of talent out there. You just might not have heard about it, or watched the smaller games of the A ethniki... there are young players with promise in the league and who eventually we will see featuring, but greek league has always had more late developers anyways...were not going to see a whole team under 25 yrs old... For strikers: Padelis Kapetanos just hit 2 in a friendly with Benfica....we might see him starting... Mantzios got his big move and impressed....and will get his time this year too. Xaris Pappas is back at OSFP, he might not start but eventually hell force his way on Xristodoulopoulos of PAOK is in doubt or something, but he is very young and very talented Amanatidis - big player in Germany, 15 goals last year Adonis Petropoulos is another 20 yr old who moved to Aigaleo was on the u21 from Xaidari and was pretty good, well see how he does in the A ethniki this year... Midfielders: Tziolis is a regular for PAO Leontiou will be featuring in the team (remember hes only 20-21!) Vangelis - PAOK is a good player who will eventually make a move for one of the big 3, fairly young with years ahead of him... Iliadis - was great for Kalamarias as a teenager, now on PAOK hell get better Kapetanos-Iraklis Pliagkas is a really quick dribbler who was big in Thrasivoulos run last year...on loan from PAO.. Defender: Darlas-PAO already got a cap from Otto Stathis-PAO Fytanidis - Kalamarias - linked to OSFP already, had a good season Avraam Papadopoulos - Aris- very good prospect Papazaxarias - Iraklis , young and had a good season last year, linked to PAO Torosidis- Ksanthi, also had a great year Grigoris Makos has been a starting defender for Panionios since 17 yrs old Goalkeeper is a problem, but we have time and you dont need teenage keepers around, keepers should start to play for the ethniki later after 25 or so... but we have Andriolas - Atromitos - only seen him play once, he played very well good saves, i thought he was in his 30s....but ends up hes 22 or something Sifakis - good keeper, he wont be at OFI forever. Being at OFI isnt that bad because he does get a lot of work- and OFI turned around end of last season, they should be much better this year. Kotsolis- Larisa so there will be players..... and more/more greek players are moving abroad now.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aekrossoponti Posted August 6, 2006 Share Posted August 6, 2006 drakos, i think he meant mid age greek players in their good twenties which is supposedly the best age for footballers. he is right we didn t have many except for katsouranis. fortunately now next generation younger players such as lagos, salp surface that will make their mark. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IRAKLIS Posted August 6, 2006 Author Share Posted August 6, 2006 Thankyou bro! I was trying to explain that we lost a generation of players becuase Greece does not suppor thier players and make them into stars. Then they end up being lost causes, I hope the same fate does not occur to this next batch. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Morphi Posted August 10, 2006 Share Posted August 10, 2006 I think that the real problem is that if tomorrow a young gifted goalkeeper who is half Greek half English has to choose between England and Greece, even if his parents are Greek, he will go for England as the FA will do everything to get him and EPO will just wait and see.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aekrossoponti Posted August 13, 2006 Share Posted August 13, 2006 maybe the player wouldn t accept the offer from the fa but in any case the epo would just wait and see until its too late...you are right about that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Morphi Posted August 15, 2006 Share Posted August 15, 2006 maybe the player wouldn t accept the offer from the fa but in any case the epo would just wait and see until its too late...you are right about that. That's the thing, we would certainly accept it because EPO is not trying to get him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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