Fulham midfielder Giorgos Karagounis is expected to captain the Greek national team after being included in the squad for the World Cup 2014 by manager Fernando Santos. This will be an end of the era kind of tournament for the Greek given that this could be Karagounis’ last appearance in a major tournament. Fernando Santos has also said that he will be stepping down from the Greek managerial post after the end of the tournament. The manager named a total of 29 players for the tournament.
Karagounis was widely expected to be left out of the squad after featuring regularly for the Fulham first-team in the second half of the season. He was an important player for the club in their previous Premier league campaign. Now that the club has been relegated, they are widely expected to sell Giorgos Karagounis in the summer. At 37 years of age, he is one of the most experienced outfield players going to the World Cup 2014. However, the Greek will be hoping to utilise this vast experience and get through into the knockout stages of the competition.
A favourable draw for the group stages is a major reason towards it. The nation will be coming up against the likes of Ivory Coast, Japan, and Colombia in the group stages.
Karagounis is not the only Greek player to have experienced the relegation this campaign, as he will be joined by the likes of Panagiotis Kone and Lazaros Christodoulopoulos as well. The two players were relegated to the second division of Italian football after having been relegated with Bologna. Karagounis is one of the most experienced players at the international level after having made 132 appearances for the national team in a career that started out in 1999.
He was also part of the team that won the Euro 2004.