Greece's Promising Generation

Greece's Promising Generation

By Pos Karantonis

Years before that Euro 2004 Championship, Greece finished second to Spain in the 1998 Under 21 European Championship with players such as Dellas, Karagounis, and Basinas as the core of the team. Beating Germany and Holland along the way showed early on that the promise was there. As is the case in most countries, you can often see the potential within a generation of players early in their international careers. Sixteen years later something similar is developing quietly and almost out of nowhere for the Greek National Team.

While the under 21 teams of late haven't made the finals or even qualified for the Euro Championships, they've quietly gone two to three years now with only a few losses (two to three). While the national team's other young age groups (such as the Under 17 & Under 19 levels) also got the attention of many of the scouts across Europe, had good results recently playing against the likes of England, Holland, & Germany, and allowed many of the players to get signed and go abroad early, which has helped their development immensely. Years of austerity measures, UEFA's takeover of the Greek Football Federation (due to the corruption at the top), and in-fighting between some of the top players with the federation led to Greece being at its lowest in decades.

As a result, Greece decided to change paths drastically and go with the Dutch manager John Van't Schip from the Johan Cruyff school of coaching, which is based on possession and pressing rather than the defensive-minded style that the team would predictably often seek in a manager (say Skibbe). The results of course didn't change instantly as the losses to Finland and a draw to Liechtenstein showed, but that just gave the coach the opportunity to make the complete changes that the team had been crying out for years. Coincidentally the timing couldn't have been better as Greece was in the midst of its greatest crop of talent since that European Championship squad that surprised the World. Even Van't Schip couldn't have imagined that the group of players coming up in the youth teams would fit his plans to the style of football he wanted for the team. With that change along with the older guard of players eventually being dropped, it had finally given the young talent the opportunity to shine. So here's a look at the change in the team and the promising generation now leading the way.

* I'm mostly going by Van't Schip's call ups and a few of his quotes to speculate on how the team is being built

 "I'm building a new team"

 "Players in form will play"

 "I won't change a team that keeps on winning"  !!! (In a previous April interview).

Michael Valkanis (Assistant coach) "We want our own style of play to be attacking football, with high energy, and pressing. We would like to have the ball for 90 minutes to play our game but that's not possible, so when we need to defend we will since Greece is known for defending with passion and organization.

 *There are now somewhat older players established in the team who are mostly from the last Greek Under-19 team that did well having made it to the Final in the 2012 Under-19 European Championship. That team were finalists having only lost to Spain 1-0 in the Final and was made up of now 25-27 year olds in Stafylidis, Mavrias, Kourbelis, Bouchalakis, Bakasetas.

 The real hope for Greece though lies in the current and previous Under-21 teams that have quietly become the core of the team.

Vangelis Pavlidis (Willem/21) In his best season yet he scored 11 goals this year in the Dutch Eredevisie as well as opening his account with the National Team (1goal), Van't Schip seems to think highly of him as well recently responding to a question about Mitroglou by mentioning that Mitroglou hasn't done well the last few seasons and that Pavlidis is only 21 and playing great and that we should be talking about him instead (Which for me said a lot about the future).

Dimitris Lymnios (PAOK/21) The winger that Greece had been desperate for, for years, with his pace and ability to beat people one-on-one, he adds a different dimension that Greece haven't had, with his finishing continuing to improve the sky's the limit for the Greek with Brazilian roots.

Kostas Galanopoulos (AEK/22) A midfielder full of energy, good on the ball, and still with a lot more potential to improve. His biggest strength is likely his passing, and while it's a team game, the possession stats Greece has had in the last few matches (he played a starting role in an important #8 midfield position) show the big improvement that I believe he's been a big reason for.

Vs. Bosnia

• 25 shots (7 on target)
• 86% passing accuracy / 448 passes connected to 518 passes
• 51% possession

Vs. Armenia

• 20 shots (9 on target)
• 90% passing accuracy / 535 passes connected to 593 passes
• 60% possession

Vs. Finland

• 26 shots (6 on target)
• 87% passing accuracy / passes connected to 636 passes
• 58% possession

Pantelis Hatzidiakos (AZ Alkmaar/23) A surprise call up at first that quickly earned his place after impressing on his debut versus Italy, good technically having grown up in Holland's youth setup while also having the skill of a Greek defender in clearing and defending everything.

Others at a similar age were already part of the team: Panagiotis Retsos (Sheffield United/21), Tasos Donis (Reims/23), Kostas Tsimikas (Olympiakos/23), Vassilis Barkas (AEK/25), Odysseas Vlahodimos (Benfica/26), Efthemis Koulouris (PAOK/24). Manolis Siopis (Alanyaspor/25)

While others are slowly also joining:

Dinos Mavropanos (Arsenal/22) Has struggled with injuries but on his day is the kind of commanding center back that's good in the air and that clears everything.

(Just needs games and experience as he's shown on loan with Nurenberg).

Tasos Hantzigiovannis (Panathinaikos/22) Another winger that has pace and can beat people one on one. His end product this season has improved greatly, becoming more consistent and one of the key players in the Panathinaikos team (& perhaps for Greece soon).

Sebastian Vasiliadis (Paderborn/22) The #8 style midfielder that has both the defensive side of the game and the passing skills that are often still lacking in the Greek Team.

Georgios Kyriakopoulos (Sassuolo/24) A left back that has caught the eye of many after his fine performances at Sassuolo.

Plus the two Greek diaspora within that same age group that have already been contacted by EPO and are likely to be added as well:

Orestis Kiomourtzoglou (Heracles/22) A natural #6 type midfielder that's good on the ball, good defensively and with a good range of passing. He showed this season in the Dutch League that he's capable of scoring goals as well which adds even more to his game.

Leonidas Stergiou (St Gallen/18) Came out of nowhere this season in Switzerland making a name for himself starting and impressing at St Gallen in 23 games at only 18 years old. Apparently enough to also get the attention of Van't Schip and his assistants.

 * In both cases the Greek Federation has made approaches, and are in the process of getting their paperwork worked out as both have expressed interest in joining the team.

Players at ages 17-22 that I believe have the potential to play for the Greek first team. 

(The (?) is for players that haven't fully committed to playing for Greece yet)

GK: Christos Mandas (Atromitos/18) Already a starter for Atromitos at 18, and well known within scouts across Europe for his impressive performances with the Greek Under 15-19 teams, he's an athletic keeper that can also play the ball well & is set for a big career.

Marios Siampanis (Nottingham Forrest/20), Antonis Stergiakis (Slavia Sofia/21)

Center Back: Giannis Michailidis (PAOK/20) A left footed center back known for his precise long balls, and tough tackling. He has impressed scouts with really good performances for the Greek Under-19 team (Drawing against England a year ago: 1-1) and is already a part of the PAOK first team having played in a few Greek Cup matches this season.

Dimitris Nikolaou (Empoli/21), 

Konstantinos Dimitriou (Basle/20), 

Giorgos Antzoulas (Asteras Tripolis/20),

George Timotheou ? (Schalke/22).

Right Back: Giorgos Vagiannidis (Panathinaikos/18) While right back is often still a problem position for the Ethniki (Greek team), there's three teenagers all currently playing in the Greek Super League that have the pace and talent to make big careers for themselves (Vagiannidis, Lyrantzis, Liavas). For me because of his upside, skills going forward (he debuted as a winger this season at 17 and scored a goal), pace, and hard work ethic, Vagiannidis has the biggest potential of any right back coming out of Greece in a while.

Eleftherios Lyrantzis (PAOK/20), 

Giorgos Liavas Panaitolikos/18), 

Antonis Aidonis ? (Stuttgart/19).

+ Giannis Masouras (Olympiakos/23) A bit older but can add a lot to Greece's play which he himself has recently mentioned:

" My hope is to get called up, now with Van't Schip who believes in playing from the back all the fullbacks can stand out more".

Left Back: Kostas Tsimikas (Olympiakos/23)& Dimitris Giannoulis (PAOK/24) are now both established as Greece's top Left Backs.

Alexandros Katranis (Atromitos/22), 

Marios Tsaousis (PAOK/19).

Midfielders: Thanasis Androutsos (Atromitos/22) His career has unfortunately stagnated a bit having sat on the bench for Olympiakos for a few years now. The fact that he's played everywhere from winger to right back, to his natural position in midfield shows that he's a skilled player. His passing is underrated and could be incredibly useful with the type of football the Greek National Team currently plays under Van't Schip.

Sotiris Alexandropoulos (Panathinaikos/18), 

Konstantinos Balogiannis (PAOK/21), 

Dimitris Ioannidis (Fortuna Sittard/19)

Attacking midfielders: Giannis Bouzoukis (Panathinaikos/22) Had a breakout season for Panathinaikos a year ago while this season has had to deal with playing out of position on the wing as well as dealing with nagging injuries. Though his future is still undoubtedly bright as a midfielder that can create and score goals. He would already be playing for the Greek first team but is a key player in the Under-21 team (along with Retsos), which still hasn't lost a match & is currently first in their group.

Odysseas Velanas ? (Utrecht/ 21), 

Nemanja Milojevic (Panionios/22)

Wingers: Lazaros Lamprou (PAOK/22) Had 7 goals and 8 assists (in 24 matches) in the Dutch League a year ago, and yet somehow at PAOK couldn't find a rotation spot until late in the season. At his best, he has the pace and skills to create and score goals for himself and others out on the wing.

Dimitris Emmanoulidis (Panathinaikos/ 19), 

Marios Vrousai (Willem/21), 

Charalambos Makridis ? (Jan Rosenberg/ 23), 

A.Gaitanidis (PAOK/20)

Strikers: Argyris Kampetsis (Panathinaikos/20) His talent was obvious enough for Borussia Dortmund to sign him away from Olympiakos' youth team at 16. While his finishing needs work (as his coach Donis himself has mentioned this season) he has great technique, is a good dribbler, and able to hold the ball up well while bringing others into play. While many have begun to write him off already after a difficult season, I still believe he has a big career ahead of him (for Panathinaikos and Greece).

Tasos Douvikas (Asteras Tripolis/20), 

Kristos Shehu (Bologna/20)

Talent in academies across Europe & in Greece:

Center Backs; Vasilis Pavlidis (Schalke/17) The younger brother of Vangelis, he has impressed scouts with his performances for the Greek Under-17 team and in Schalke's academy, a player Van't Schip and his staff are reportedly keeping a close eye on.

Nikos Michelis (Ac Milan/19)

Midfielders: 

Antonis Siatounis (Sampdoria/17),

Ilyas Koutsoupias (Bologna/18), 

Christos Evangelou (Bayern Munich)

Attacking Midfielders: 

Giorgos Vrakas (Napoli/19), 

Nikos Zografakis (Stuttgart/20)

Wingers: Alex Bantzigiannis ? (Bayern Munich/18) A talented winger that has pace, and scores goals. He's under contract with Bayern Munich until 2021 and has actually played in a friendly for Olympiakos when they tried him out last season. 

Although he can play for Germany, Poland (Mother), or Greece (Father), when asked about playing for Greece, his response was: "I would be interested in playing for Greece, why not"

Christian Vasilakis (Real Madrid/ 19) An intelligent forward with good movement both inside and outside the area who possesses real pace. Vassilakis has great ability with the ball at his feet and is a fantastic goal scorer, two qualities which make him a real threat. He scored over 500 goals for Valencia's youth setup before moving to Real Madrid after a spell at Villareal. He has continued to score at a high level & is now playing for Real Madrid's U19 team. Van't Schip was even specifically asked about him recently and his response was interesting.

Van't Schip: "I've heard about Vasilakis. Such players must be at a certain level of competition and there must be some kind of reliability to be selected. For sure it's good that he's at Real Madrid but you have to have a little career behind them to choose, there's a lot of names". 

He went on to mention that he speaks to his team of scouts and assistants once or more within a week and that, "we speak about many players. We must be ready if something new pops ups up, we won't always call up the same players. We won't change just to change if of course we have good results, but we have to be ready if we see that there's a player that deserves to play for the Ethniki (Greek National Team)."

*I believe he was referring to the fact that while it's great that he's at Real Madrid he's still playing at youth level and until he starts playing professionally he can't select a player without any professional games played yet. All of that makes perfect sense, yet clearly he's a player Van't Schip & his staff are tracking and that perhaps the Greek Football Federation (EPO) is pushing to call him up soon before Spain beats them to it.

In Greece midfielders: 

Theocharis Tsiggaras (PAOK/19), 

Andreas Athanasakopoulos (Panathinaikos/ 18), 

Sourlis (Olympiakos/17), 

Giannis Mpotos (AEK/19), 

Ioannis Konstantelias (PAOK/17) , 

Panagiotis Tzimas (Asteras Tripolis/19) as well as striker Christos Tzolis (PAOK/18) are all worth keeping an eye on.

The phenom Georgios Koutsias (PAOK/16)

In an important Under-17 match recently against a talented Germany side, and with the score at 0-0 in the 62nd minute a kid named Georgios Koutsias who had barely just turned 16 came on and within three minutes scored and changed the match in Greece's favour. He scored again in the 82nd minute to clinch the impressive 2-0 win for Greece. Koutsias now starts often for PAOK's second team with players three to four years older than him, and yet with his good technique, pace, strength, and work ethic, he's already been able to make a difference.

*At Under-19 this season, 4 goals, 3 assists in 19 games (& often coming off the bench early in the season)

*Last season with the Under-15's he scored 28 goals in 18 games.

With a 4million Euro buyout already in his contract and teams like Fulham trying to pry him away, it's clear the sky's the limit for one of Greece's biggest prospects in Greek Football.

Van't Schip's recent interview gave some insight to the promise he believes this side is capable of:

:

What are your thoughts on your work with the Greek National Team so far?

Van't Schip "My conclusion is that the team has a lot more capabilities; the players quickly adapted to the style of play our coaches aked from them. There was a balance between attractive football as well as maintaining the values of Greek football, which is defending and being a strong team. There's plenty of talent and skill to play good football and get results." 

The future is bright.

Hellas Football

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