Stafylidis and Fetfatzidis most experienced players in Ethniki squad

Without the likes of Kostas Manolas, Sokratis Papastathopoulos and Vasilis Torosidis in the squad, Konstantinos Stafylidis and Giannis Fetfatzidis are currently the most experienced players in the Greek national team.

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With Greece virtually out of the running for UEFA Euro 2020 qualification, head coach John van ‘t Schip has decided to begin building the team for the future, notably leaving Manolas, Papastathopoulos, Torosidis, Andreas Samaris and Kostas Mitroglou out of the team to face Italy and Bosnia. Instead, the Dutchman has summoned the likes of Konstantinos Galanopoulos, Pantelis Hatzidiakos, Panagiotis Retsos and Vangelis Pavlidis to the team as he aims to build the team for the upcoming 2022 FIFA World Cup qualifying campaign.

“We feel that this is the right time to give young, talented players with potential a chance to play for the senior national team,” revealed Van ‘t Schip in an interview published on the Hellenic Football Federation’s site. “This will help create a new approach and culture. Obviously, this brings about changes to the roster, but I would like to make it clear that no player has lost their place. Everyone remains at the disposal of the national team. All of the players are focused on achieving the team’s goals, and I am happy that they put the national team’s interests above their own.”

Interestingly, without Manolas, Papastathopoulos, Torosidis, Samaris and Mitroglou in the team, Konstantinos Stafylidis (27 appearances) and Giannis Fetfatzidis (26 appearances) are the most experienced Ethniki Omada players in this current national team. Sokratis Dioudis and Hatzidiakos are yet to play in a game for the senior Greek national side.

Let’s take a closer look at how many appearances all players in this Ethniki Omada squad have made for the senior national team in the past:

Vasilis Barkas (10)

Odisseas Vlachodimos (4)

Sokratis Dioudis (0)

Michalis Bakakis (11)

Dimitris Giannoulis (3)

Dimitris Siovas (17)

Panagiotis Retsos (5)

Konstantinos Tsimikas (3)

Konstantinos Stafylidis (27)

Pantelis Hatzidiakos (0)

Vasilis Lampropoulos (2)

Manolis Siopis (3)

Dimitris Kourbelis (12)

Carlos Zeca (18)

Andreas Bouchalakis (8)

Marios Vrousai (2)

Konstantinos Galanopoulos (1)

Petros Mantalos (23)

Efthymis Koulouris (11)

Tasos Bakasetas (21)

Vangelis Pavlidis (2)

Anastasios Donis (9)

Dimitris Limnios (1)

Giannis Fetfatzidis (26)

Giorgos Masouras (8)

Image Source: marmita-sports.gr

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