Papastathopoulos picked by Greece

23 May 2008 16:53

Greece coach Otto Rehhagel has named a 24-man squad for Saturday's friendly against Hungary in Budapest.

The German has included AEK Athens FC centre-back Sokratis Papastathopoulos, 19, in a group that will have to be trimmed by one for the finals. Only 17 players were selected for Monday's victory over Cyprus because of club commitments, but Rehhagel has been able to increase that number for the second of three UEFA EURO 2008™ warm-up matches.

Greece beat Cyprus 2-0 with Panathinaikos FC winger Sotiris Ninis marking his debut with the opening goal after five minutes. Of the 18-year-old, Rehhagel said: "Ninis is a very young player who became the youngest goalscorer for Greece. We wanted to check him out for the future, for after the EURO, and to give him a lift. We have done the same with other youngsters such as Papastathopoulos and Lazaros Christodoulopoulos."

Greece squad

Goalkeepers: Antonios Nikopolidis (Olympiacos CFP), Konstantinos Chalkias (Aris Thessaloniki FC), Alexandros Tzorvas (OFI Crete FC).

Defenders: Sotirios Kyrgiakos (Eintracht Frankfurt), Giourkas Seitaridis (Club Atlético de Madrid), Traianos Dellas (AEK Athens FC), Loukas Vintra (Panathinaikos FC), Nikolaos Spiropoulos (Panathinaikos FC), Ioannis Goumas (Panathinaikos FC), Vassilis Torosidis (Olympiacos CFP), Christos Patsatzoglou (Olympiacos CFP), Paraskevas Antzas (Olympiacos CFP), Sokratis Papastathopoulos (AEK Athens FC).

Midfielders: Angelos Basinas (RCD Mallorca), Stelios Giannakopoulos (Bolton Wanderers FC), Georgios Karagounis (Panathinaikos FC), Alexandros Tziolis (Panathinaikos FC), Konstantinos Katsouranis (SL Benfica).

Forwards: Dimitrios Salpingidis (Panathinaikos FC), Nikolaos Liberopoulos (AEK Athens FC), Theofanis Gekas (Bayer 04 Leverkusen), Georgios Samaras (Celtic FC), Ioannis Amanatidis (Eintracht Frankfurt), Angelos Charisteas (1. FC Nürnberg).