Greece pair overcome injuries
Giourkas Seitaridis and Christos Patsatzoglou have proved their fitness to gain inclusion in Greece’s 23-man World Cup squad.
German coach Otto Rehhagel had concerns over the pair, with former Porto defender Seitaridis playing just eight league games for Panathinaikos this season while a knee injury kept the versatile Patsatzoglou, who plays for Cypriot club Omonia Nicosia, out of the majority of the World Cup qualifying campaign.
The star of the show in qualifying was Fanis Gekas, with 10 goals, and he has been included in Rehhagel’s squad as Greece go in search of their first points and goals in a World Cup finals in South Africa after three straight defeats in their previous finals appearance in 1994.
They face South Korea, Nigeria and Argentina in Group B, but first they will take on Paraguay in a warm-up match in Switzerland tomorrow.
Greece World Cup squad: Michalis Sifakis (Aris Salonika), Alexandros Tzorvas (Panathinaikos), Kostas Chalkias (AEK Athens); Giourkas Seitaridis (Panathinaikos), Loukas Vyntra (Panathinaikos), Vangelis Moras (Bologna), Sokratis Papastathopoulos (Genoa), Sotirios Kyrgiakos (Liverpool), Avraam Papadopoulos (Olympiacos), Vassilis Torosidis (Olympiacos), Nikos Spiropoulos (Panathinaikos), Stelios Malezas (PAOK Salonika); Kostas Katsouranis (Panathinaikos), Alexandros Tziolis (Siena), Giorgos Karagounis (Panathinaikos), Sotiris Ninis (Panathinaikos), Christos Patsatzoglou (Omonia Nicosia), Sakis Prittas (Aris Salonika); Angelos Charisteas (Nurnberg), Dimitris Salpingidis (Panathinaikos), Pantelis Kapetanos (Steaua Bucharest), Fanis Gekas (Eintracht Frankfurt), Georgios Samaras (Celtic).
