Greece resumes U-21 campaign against Albania

Greece’s U-21 squad continues its quest for a spot in the playoffs with a match against Albania on Wednesday. A match that was originally postponed due to the suspension of the Albanian Football Federation sees Greece in a must-win situation. Currently in third, Greece trails second place Croatia by five points and will need to reduce that gap to just two with a win in Elbasan, Albania tomorrow night.

Nikos Nioplias has several of Greece’s starlets at his disposal for this crucial disposal, but the likes of Sotiris Ninis and Sokratis Papastathopoulos miss out on this match due to duties with the Senior Greek team. Nonetheless, the likes of many players from top Greek clubs have been called up for this match.

Lazaros Christodoulopoulos, Kostas Mitroglou, Giannis Papadopoulos, Antonis Rikka, and Georgios Galitsios all made moves to bigger clubs this summer and will look to impress their employers on Wednesday night.

A crucial match itself, the added fact of Albania being Greece’s neighbours to the north adds more pressure to Greece’s youngsters.

Greece (Nikos Nioplias): Markos Vellidis (Diagoras), Giorgos Georgiadis (Pansseraikos), Dimitris Giantsis (Iraklis), Giorgos Galitsios (Olympiakos), Panagiotis Zorbas (AEK Athens), Stelios Iliadis (PAOK), Georgios Ioannidis (Iraklis), Alexandros Kasmeridis (OFI), Dimitrios Kiliaras (Panionios), Giannis Maniatis (Panionios), Stergios Marinos (Atromitos), Kostantinos Mitroglou (Olympiakos), Sotiris Balafas (PAOK), Vaggelis Ikonomou (Ionikos), Giannis Papadopoulos (Olympiakos), Antonis Petropoulos (Panathinaikos), Vassilios Pliatsikas (AEK Athens), Antonis Rikka (AEK Athens), Stefanos Siontis (Panathinaikos), Lazaros Christodoulopoulos (Panathinaikos)