DHAKA: Fulham striker Kostas Mitroglou has been included in Greece's provisional 29-man 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil squad despite his faltering form with the Cottagers throughout 2014.
The 26-year-old was brought to Craven Cottage from Olympiacos for £11m in January, but he played just 120 minutes without finding the net as Fulham were relegated from the English Premier League. However, Greece head coach Fernando Santos has still found room in his squad for Mitroglou, who will be hoping to make the final 23-man list of players which has to be submitted by 2 June.
Mitroglou's Fulham team-mate Giorgos Karagounis, Greece captain and their most-capped player of all time with 132 appearances, is included despite featuring sporadically for the west London side this season.
Celtic striker Georgios Samaras, who won the Scottish Premiership with the Glasgow side this season, has also been included. Greece play Colombia, Côte d'Ivoire and Japan in Group C.
Greece squad
Goalkeepers: Alexandros Tzorvas (Apollon Smyrnis), Michalis Sifakis (Atromitos), Orestis Karnezis (Granada), Panaglotis Glykos (PAOK), Stefanos Kapino (Panathinaikos).
Defenders: Avraam Papadopoulos, Dimitris Siovas, Kostas Manolas, Giannis Maniatis, Jose Holebas (all Olympiakos), Sokratis Papastathopoulos (Borussia Dortmund), Giorgios Tzavellas (PAOK), Loukas Vyntra (Levante), Vasilis Torosidis (Roma).
Midfielders: Alexandros Tziolis (Kayserispor), Andreas Samaris (Olympiakos), Kostas Katsouranis (PAOK), Giorgos Karagounis (Fulham), Panagiotis Tachtsidis (Torino), Sotiris Ninis (PAOK), Ioannis Fetfatzidis (Genoa), Kostas Fortounis (Kaiserslautern), Lazaros Christodoulopoulos (Bologna) Panagiotis Kone (Bologna).
Forwards: Dimitris Papadopoulos (Atromitos), Dimitris Salpingidis (PAOK), Giorgios Samaras (Celtic), Konstantinos Mitroglou (Fulham), Theofanis Gekas (Konyaspor).
BDST: 1749 HRS, MAY 14, 2014
