Watering Down The Ethniki. Is There Such A Thing?

Watering Down The Ethniki. Is There Such A Thing?

By George

John van't Schip and his team have been a positive influence for the Ethniki from top to bottom and team selection by far and large has been based on club form rather that the players name or status in the game. A breathe of fresh air.

Along the way the coaching staff have been open about the possibility of capping players who have Greek heritage even if they don't speak the language or have played in the Greek League.

Players like Sebasian Vasiliadis who came in to the squad recently,  George Baldock who has been rumoured to have agreed to be part of the upcoming squad and players like Kaj Sierhuis, Leonidas Stergiou and Orestis Kiomortzoglou who are in ongoing discussions to play for us. 

This isn't an entirely new thing, players with Greek heritage in Holebas, Vlachodimos and Zeca who after spending a large part pf his life in Greece became an citizen all chose to represent Greece in recent years but they were always few and far between, And all had cut their teeth in Greece so fans had gotten to see them up close and personal. 

Yet.. the question that is starting to raise its head is,

Are we watering down the Badge? The Greek Flag? The Ethniki Omada? 

Many fans had never heard of these players prior to their names being mentioned in the Greek media and many have never seen them play so are the concerns valid or are we overreacting. 

The usual question that arises is, if these players had their mother countries chasing them as much as we are chasing them right now, would they consider us?

Van't Schip isn't a fool and in recent training camps, reports were coming out that he wanted all players to communicate in Greek as much as possible. Be Greek, Be proud!

I personally think we are maximising the opportunities in front of us and building a big squad that relies on players form picking the team, but the flip side is when or if the going gets tough, will they want to stick it out or will they back their bags and "retire" from international football?

John van't Schip has done wonders with the team so we can only hope that he will never allow for complacency to creep into the squad, be it if they were born and raised in Greece, have the Greek flag tattooed on their chest, if they have a Greek grandparent or their only link to Greece is when they have hit the islands to party in the summer. 

Lets trust his process! 

Hellas Football.