Dellas and Kapsis selected

Defenders added to squad for Greece’s Euro 2008 qualifier against Turkey on Saturday

Defenders Traianos Dellas and Michalis Kapsis, Greece’s central defense duo for the national team’s Euro 2004 triumph, are fit to play in Saturday’s European Championship qualifier at home against Turkey.

The game’s result is likely to prove crucial in Group C’s final standings. Defending champion Greece and Turkey are level at the top with nine points from three games apiece. Norway follows with six points.

The top two teams qualify for the finals, to be co-hosted by Austria and Switzerland in the summer of 2008.

Dellas and Kapsis were named yesterday in Greece coach Otto Rehhagel’s 23-man roster, and will also travel to Valletta for a qualifier against Malta on March 28.

Dellas missed a friendly against the Korean Republic in London last month through injury, while Kapsis, now back from injury, has performed impressively with his new club, APOEL, in Cyprus.

Rehhagel also recalled Panathinaikos’s attacking pair Dimitris Papadopoulos and Dimitris Salpiggidis, who were left out of Greece’s squad for the friendly against Korea, which Greece lost 1-0.

The Greek squad gathered at an Athens hotel yesterday and held its first public training session ahead of Saturday’s eagerly anticipated match. Highlighting the game’s interest, some 300 fans crammed into the stands of a 200-capacity training facility in Aghios Cosmas, southern Athens.

Midfielder Giorgos Karagounis was missing from the squad because of club-level obligations with Benfica in Portugal. Karagounis has been troubled by injury but is expected to be fit for Saturday.

The situation looks less optimistic for injured striker Angelos Charisteas of Dutch club Feyenoord, who is struggling to regain his fitness for the Euro 2008 qualifier.

Insiders, however, believe that the player was expected to miss it.

His most likely replacement – Fanis Gekas, the German Bundesliga’s joint top scorer who has scored six times in the past five rounds for a total of 13 goals this season – appeared confident at yesterday’s news conference.

“I’ve held on to a goal for Saturday. It’s a tough game that feels like a final. We have the advantage because of the home crowd,” the striker said.

Tickets for the match were snapped up within hours last week.

Reports yesterday said Turkey will be missing attacking midfielder Gildiray Basturk, one of the team’s leading players, due to injury. (Kathimerini, AP)