Ranieri brings in new faces for his first Greece squad
New Greece coach Claudio Ranieri announced Wednesday a 24-man squad for the first Euro 2016 qualifier against Romania at home on September 7.
Earning a first time call up were Olympiakos 21-year-old striker Dimitris Diamantakos and Levante’s 29-year-old defender Nikos Karabelas.
Ranieri left out six players who helped Greece make it to the World Cup last 16.
He selected six players from Greek champions Olympiakos and seven players from Italian clubs.
The 62-year-old Italian coach took over from Portugal’s Fernando Santos who quit after taking Greece to the World Cup.
Greece squad
Goalkeepers: Orestis Karnezis (Udinese/ITA), Panagiotis Glykos (PAOK), Stefanos Kapino (FSV Mainz 05/GER)
Defenders: Vasilis Torosidis and Kostas Manolas (both Roma/ITA), Loukas Vyntra and Nikos Karabelas (both Levante/ESP), Vangelis Moras (Verona/ITA), Kyriakos Papadopoulos (Bayer Leverkusen/GER), Avraam Papadopoulos and Jose Holebas (both Olympiakos), Sokratis Papastathopoulos (Borussia Dortmund/GER)
Midfielders: Giannis Maniatis, Dimitris Siovas and Kostas Fortounis (all Olympiakos), Andreas Samaris (Benfica/POR), Panagiotis Tachtsidis (Verona/ITA), Panagiotis Kone (Udinese/ITA),
Forwards: Giorgos Samaras (West Bromwich Albion/ENG), Lazaros Christodoulopoulos (Verona/ITA), Dimitris Salpingidis and Stefanos Athanasiadis (both PAOK), Dimitris Diamantakos (Olympiakos), Kostas Mitroglou (Fulham/ENG)
[AFP]
