Soccer

World Cup 2014 squads: Greece name final 23

Fernando Santos has cut his initial 29-man squad down and omitted some familiar faces.

May 22, 2014, 1:44 PM UTC

Ross Kinnaird

On Monday, Fernando Santos unveiled his final 23 man squad headed to the World Cup in Brazil. The list was shortened down from a 29-man preliminary squad unveiled early last week.

Fulham striker Kostas Mitroglou was included despite concerns over his fitness, as are Euro 2004 winners Giorgios Karagounis and Kostas Katsouranis.

To strategically bolster the backline, Santos recalled Hellas Verona centerback Vangelis Moras after a three-year international exile. The Italy-based defender was a regular in the late Otto Rehhagel era and traveled to South Africa four years ago but featured inconsistently under Santos. At the age of 32, Moras had a very solid season to help his club to a mid-table finish in the Serie A. His inclusion comes at the omission of regular centerbacks Avraam Papadopoulos and Dimitris Siovas, both of whom had injury problems this season.

With Mitroglou’s inclusion, Dimitrios Papadopoulos -- another Euro 2004 veteran -- was cut despite being the highest-scoring Greek player in the Super League Greece with Atromitos this season.

Santos has also decided to make a radical change in the goalkeeping department by dropping experienced regulars Michalis Sifakas and Alexandros Tzorvas. Replacing them are Panagoitis Glykos and Stefanos Kapino as deputies to Orestis Karnezis.

Also missing out on the squad are Sotiris Ninis and Kostas Fortounis. Their exclusions may not be too surprising considering both players have been battling injury problems throughout this past spring.

Final Squad:

Goalkeepers: Orestis Karnezis (Granada), Panagiotis Glykos (PAOK), Stefanos Kapino (Panathinaikos).

Defenders: Vassilis Torosidis (Roma), Loukas Vyntra (Levante), Sokratis Papastathopoulos (Borussia Dortmund), Kostas Manolas (Olympiakos), Vangelis Moras (Hellas Verona), José Holebas (Olympiakos), Georgios Tzavellas (PAOK), Giannis Maniatis (Olympiakos).

Midfielders: Alexandros Tziolis (Kayserispor), Kostas Katsouranis (PAOK), Giorgos Karagounis (Fulham), Andreas Samaris (Olympiakos), Panagiotis Tachtsidis (Torino), Panagiotis Kone (Bologna), Giannis Fetfatzidis (Genoa), Lazaros Christodoulopoulos (Bologna).

Forwards: Georgios Samaras (Celtic), Kostas Mitroglou (Fulham), Fanis Gekas (Konyaspor), Dimitris Salpingidis (PAOK).

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