The Greece striker Kostas Mitroglou has kept his place in the World Cup squad despite a nightmare start to his Fulham career.
The Greece manager, Fernando Santos, announced his final 23-man squad on Monday and said he believes the 26-year-old Mitroglou will be ready for Brazil despite starting just one game for the Premier League club after his £10m January transfer.
"I wasn't 100% about some of the call-ups until a few weeks ago. Mitroglou was one of those cases," Santos said. "We watched the last 30 minutes of his game, and we paid a lot of attention – and we judged him to be ready ... we're looking at playing ability and physical condition: people who are safe choices."
At the World Cup, Greece will face Colombia, Japan and Ivory Coast in Group C. Despite Greece's speedy opponents, the Portuguese coach opted for more experienced players, including the 2004 European Championship winners Kostas Katsouranis and the captain Giorgos Karagounis.
Three strikers were dropped from the preliminary lineup: Dimitris Papadopoulos of Atromitos, Stefanos Athanasiadis of PAOK and Nikolaos Karelis of Panathinaikos. The defenders Kyriakos Papadopoulos and Dimitris Siovas also failed to make the squad due to persistent injury troubles.
"I was sorry not to include players that helped us in qualification, like [midfielder] Sotiris Ninis and Siovas," Santos said. "But the national team is above players and above the coach. We must use the safest choices."
Santos said training will start later Monday, adding that he has identified "strengths and weaknesses" in all three group opponents.
Greece squad
Goalkeepers: Orestis Karnezis (Granada), Panagiotis Glykos (PAOK), Stefanos Kapino (Panathinaikos)
Defenders: Vassilis Torosidis (Roma), Loukas Vyntra (Levante), Sokratis Papastathopoulos (Borussia Dortmund), Kostas Manolas (Olympiakos), Vangelis Moras (Hellas Verona), José Holebas (Olympiakos), Georgios Tzavellas (PAOK), Giannis Maniatis (Olympiakos)
Midfielders: Alexandros Tziolis (Kayserispor), Kostas Katsouranis (PAOK), Giorgos Karagounis (Fulham), Andreas Samaris (Olympiakos), Panagiotis Tachtsidis (Torino), Panagiotis Kone (Bologna), Giannis Fetfatzidis (Genoa), Lazaros Christodoulopoulos (Bologna)
Forwards: Georgios Samaras (Celtic), Kostas Mitroglou (Fulham), Fanis Gekas (Konyaspor), Dimitris Salpingidis (PAOK)