Paniliakos FC

Paniliakos FC Fan Blog

Greece’s hopes of extending Fernando Santos’ stay as national team manager came to an end after they were knocked out of the World Cup 2014 at the last 16 stage. They were defeated by Costa Rica, who are turning out to be the story of the tournament so far. Greece and Costa Rica played out a 1-1 draw, which saw the match going to extra time and then into penalties. Despite playing against 10 men, Greece were unable to take the lead. After having taken the match into penalties, Costa Rica were confident of creating an upset.

Despite managing just one point at the World Cup 2014 group stages, Greece find themselves still with an opportunity to reach the knockout stages of the competition. Greece managed only a 0-0 draw with Japan in their opening game of the World Cup 2014. This will be followed by a match against Ivory Coast. Since they have not only kept a clean sheet but have also taken a point from the match, things are looking promising for Greece ahead of the final match against Ivory Coast.

Greek outfit Olympiakos are interested in signing Sunderland striker Nacho Scocco in the summer. The former Internacional striker has struggled to fit into the Premier league, as he played very little football towards the end of last season after coming to the club in only January. However, manager Gus Poyet is determined to give him a chance in the team. His presence in the first team could very well depend upon the form he shows in pre-season.

Fernando Santos has lead Greece to the quarter-finals of the 2012 Euro’s and the nation is now headed to their 2nd consecutive World Cup. The Portuguese coach is demonstrating as time passes by why he was selected to replace the previous coach Otto Rehhagel in 2010.

Throughout the entire managerial career of Santos, he has coaches a number of clubs from Portugal and Greece including some such as: Benfica, Panathinaikos, Porto and Sporting CP.

Olympiakos manager Michel Gonzalez says that the troubles faced by their Champions League opponents Manchester United could be a huge burden on the club in the European matches. United will be taking on the Greek outfit Olympiakos looking to progress to the quarter-finals. Last season, they failed to get past the last 16 stage after being knocked out by Real Madrid.

Progression this time around is far more important after their failings in all competitions since the arrival of David Moyes. Only their Champions League performances have been of some worthy.

The defeat in the Champions League match against the Greek Club Olympiakos yesterday has upset the Manchester United owners and there have been reports that if the performance of the team deteriorates even more in the remaining part of the season, they might opt for a different manager in the summer.

Greek football has welcomed Darren Ambrose as the new major signing after the Birmingham city midfielder made the move to Apollon Smyrni.

The 29-year-old has played for the likes of Crystal Palace in the past, but he has been out of favour at Birmingham since the move in 2012. He moved to the St Andrews two years ago on a two-year contract, but he has made just 10 appearances during this period. He will leave the club immediately on a loan deal to Athens, which will last till the end of the season.

AEK Athens, or popularly known as its nickname Queen, is one of the top 4 football clubs in Greece with current league champs Olympiacos, PAOK FC and Panathinaikos FC being the rest. Previous season was a total disaster for AEK Athens both outside and inside the field.

PAOK Salonika has defeated the Israeli club Maccabi Haifa in a Europa League match played at Toumba Stadium on Friday. PAOK won the match by a close margin of 3-2.

This was the second win for PAOK in the ongoing Europa League. With this win, they took their points tally to 7 in 3 matches and they are now at the top of the Group L points table.

PAOK hadn’t got off to a good start in the match against Haifa. They were down by 2 goals at one point of time, but, they came back in style and eventually managed to grab 3 points.

Greek champions Olympiakos have been signing a few strikers already in this transfer window, and they have added young Arsenal striker Joel Campbell to their squad. The striker has moved to the Greek club on a season-long loan deal after failing to establish himself in the first team of the Premier league outfit.

Arsenal have confirmed that the youngster will be looking to get some first team experience before returning to the Emirates stadium. The Costa Rican has been at Arsenal for the last two years, but he has been on loan at various clubs like Real Betis and Lorient.