World Cup ’94 : WORLD CUP USA ’94 / GROUP D PREVIEW : Greece at a Glance
* COACH: Alkis Panagoulias.
* KEY PLAYERS: Antonis Minou, Dimitris Saravakos, Tassos Mitropoulos.
* STRENGTHS: None to speak of, it seems. Goalkeeper Minou has experience and will need it, but he’s 35. Saravakos boasts an excellent free kick, but he’s 32. Mitropoulos provides the leadership and inspiration, but he’s 36.
* WEAKNESSES: Far too many ancient Greeks. There are more over-30 players on the squad than on any other team. The defense is a shambles when faced by top-class opposition, and Argentina’s Gabriel Batistuta, Nigeria’s Rachidi Yekini and Bulgaria’s Hristo Stoichkov will be lining up to take target practice. The team appears out of its depth at this level.
* WORLD CUP HISTORY: First appearance.
* LITTLE-KNOWN FACT: The Greek team’s mascot in the tournament is a fox named Penelope, in honor of the Homeric heroine.
* OUTLOOK: After doing well to qualify, especially in finishing ahead of Russia, the Greeks have stumbled in warm-up games. They will have vociferous crowd support, but each of their three first-round opponents has the ability to defeat them and probably will.
* PREDICTED FIRST-ROUND FINISH: Fourth.
ROSTERS
No. Name Position 1 Antonis Minou Goalkeeper 15 Christos Karkamanis Goalkeeper 20 Elias Atmatzides Goalkeeper 2 Stratos Apostolakis Defender 3 Thanassis Kolitsidakis Defender 4 Stelios Manolas Defender 5 Yiannis Kalintzakis Defender 13 Vaios Karayiannis Defender 17 Minas Handzitis Defender 18 Kyriakos Karataidas Defender 21 Alexandros Alexandris Defender 6 Panagiotis Tsalouhidis Midfielder 8 Nikos Nioblias Midfielder 10 Tassos Mitropoulos Midfielder 11 Nikos Tsiantakis Midfielder 12 Spiros Marangos Midfielder 19 Savas Kofidis Midfielder 22 Alexandros Alexiou Midfielder 7 Dimitris Saravakos Forward 9 Nikos Machlas Forward 14 Vassilis Dimitriadis Forward 16 Alexandris Alexoudis Forward
