Rehaggel announce's 30-man provisional roster

Greek national team coach Otto Rehaggel announced tuesday his provisional roster selections for this summer's World Cup. These players will play in the two remaining tune up games (May 25th vs. North Korea and June 2nd vs. Paraguay) and hope to impress enough to make the final 23 man roster. Alexandros Tzorvas is practically guaranteed the starter's job in goal, after that you won't find any real surprise's. Although you can argue that Rehaggel might be taking a chance on Giorgos Seitaridis. The Greek veteran has played only 8 games all year for League and Cup winners Panathinaikos, despite this the defensive line once again looks to be Greece's strongest asset. On the striking front things are looking to heat up, with only 4-5 spots available Greece finally have a healthy selection of options. Veteran's Angelos Charisteas and Theofanis Gekas will fight it out with in-form Dimitris Salpigidis, newcomer Pantelis Kapetanos and Giorgos Samaras. Kostas Mitroglou, who many thought would be a guarantee at the beginning of the year might be the odd man out after a poor season with Olympiakos. The midfield looks to have a great mix of speed, strength and football vision. Sotiris Ninis is my pick not only to make the squad but turn some heads this summer. His speed will be a key asset to the greek offence. Returning veterans Kostas Katsouranis and Giorgos Karagounis will form a strong anchor in the midfield which should give Ninis space to unleash his quickness. The final roster will be announced on June 1st and will be trimmed from 30 to 23.

Greece preliminary squad:

Goalkeepers: Michalis Sifakis (Aris Salonika), Alexandros Tzorvas (Panathinaikos), Kostas Chalkias (PAOK Salonika);

Defenders: Giorgos Seitaridis (Panathinaikos), Loukas Vintra (Panathinaikos), Evangelos Moras (Bologna), Socrates Papastathopoulos (Genoa), Sotiris Kyrgiakos (Liverpool), Avraam Papadopoulos (Olympiakos), Vasilis Torosidis (Olympiakos), Nikos Spiropoulos (Panathinaikos), Stelios Malezas (PAOK Salonika), Giorgos Tzavellas (Panionios), Kostas Manolas (AEK Athens), Giorgos Galitsios (Olympiakos), Stergos Marinos (Panathinaikos)

Midfielders: Kostas Katsouranis (Panathinaikos), Alexandros Tziolis (Siena), Giorgos Karagounis (Panathinaikos), Sotiris Ninis (Panathinaikos), Christos Patsatzoglou (Omonia), Grigoris Makos (AEK Athens), Sakis Prittas (Aris Salonika), Lazaros Christodoulopoulos (Panathinaikos);

Forwards: Angelos Charisteas (Nuremberg), Dimitris Salpigidis (Panathinaikos), Pantelis Kapetanos (Steaua Bucharest), Theofanis Gekas (Hertha Berlin), Giorgos Samaras (Celtic), Kostas Mitroglou (Olympiakos).