2010 FIFA World Cup - Greece
2010 FIFA World Cup - Greece National Team
2010 FIFA World Cup Greece National Team:
Goalkeepers:
1 Konstantinos CHALKIAS, 12 Alexandros TZORVAS and
13 Michail SIFAKIS
Defenders:
2 Giourkas SEITARIDIS, 3 Christos PATSATZOGLOU, 4 Nikos SPIROPOULOS, 5 Vangelis MORAS,
8 Avraam PAPADOPOULOS, 11 Loukas VYNTRA, 15 Vasileios TOROSIDIS, 16 Sotirios KYRGIAKOS, 19 Sokratis PAPASTATHOPOULOS and
22 Stelios MALEZAS
Midfielders:
6 Alexandros TZIOLIS, 10 Georgios KARAGOUNIS, 18 Sotiris NINIS, 21 Konstantinos KATSOURANIS and
23 Athanasios PRITTAS
Forwards:
7 Georgios SAMARAS, 9 Angelos CHARISTEAS, 14 Dimitrios SALPINGIDIS, 17 Theofanis GEKAS and
20 Pantelis KAPETANOS
Coach:
Otto REHHAGEL
Top Players Georgios Karagounis (GRE) and Theofanis Gekas (GRE).
2010 FIFA World Cup Schedule & Scores
The star players
There will be no shortage of experience for the Greeks to call on come South Africa 2010. Chief among their veteran performers are defender Sotirios Kyrgiakos, who played more qualifying minutes than any other squad member, and former Inter Milan and Benfica midfielder Karagounis. Nor are they slouches going forward, boasting as they do ten-goal Theofanis Gekas - the top scorer in European Zone qualifying - and the physical presence of four-goal Angelos Charisteas, scorer of the winner in the final at EURO 2004.
The coach
South Africa 2010 will be coach Rehhagel’s first FIFA World Cup finals, where he is set to be the oldest
strategist on show. After a glittering career in his homeland, the German boss has earned worldwide recognition for
his achievements with the Greek national team since taking over in 2001.
With Greece having only reached one FIFA World Cup and one European Championship prior to his arrival, within three
years of taking the post Rehhagel had guided the Greeks to EURO glory, before going on to clinch qualification for
both EURO 2008 and South Africa 2010.
Previous FIFA World Cups
Greece will be determined to improve on their showing at USA 1994, where they sank to group-stage defeats against Argentina (4-0), Bulgaria (4-0) and Nigeria (2-0) and headed for home at the first hurdle. That competition on United States’ soil was the Greeks’ first and only previous appearance at the finals of a FIFA World Cup.
Records
1
Greece - 2010 FIFA World Cup
2010 - Greece
The outsiders Greece: The archetypal 'hard nut to crack' under Otto Rehhagel, the 2004 European champions
return to world football’s top table for the first time since their debut in 1994. Solid at the back and clinical
up front, King Otto's well-drilled charges will be determined to avoid a repeat of that American adventure, which
brought three straight defeats. What is more, confidence should be high in the Greek camp after they edged out 2006
quarter-finalists Ukraine in the European Zone play-offs.