Giorgos Samaras

Is a strong friendship between two former soccer players enough to make one of them heed the other's call and travel to work together on the other side of the world?

The Greek soccer federation on Friday insisted that international defender Jose Holebas had been dropped from team training in Austria because of injury and not for any other reason.

Media reports out of Italy said that the 30-year-old player had trained normally with his Roma squad after departing from Austria on Tuesday.

Greece’s Deputy Health Minister Katerina Papacosta has written to 11-year-old Jay Beatty from Northern Ireland, an ardent fan of Greek soccer player Giorgos Samaras (pictured with Jay), to thank him for raising awareness about Down Syndrome in Greece.

Greece has reached the knock-out stages of the World Cup for the first time ever as an injury-time penalty by Giorgos Samaras gave Greece a dramatic 2-1 win over the Ivory Coast to set up a clash with Costa Rica in the round of 16.

By George Georgakopoulos

Greece’s players stressed that they got what they deserved, but appeared quite reserved after the game with the Ivory Coast being visibly tired from the historic triumph of the national team that has seen it through to the last 16 of the World Cup.

By George Georgakopoulos

No beautiful horizon lies ahead for Greece after its performance at Belo Horizonte on Saturday and its 3-0 loss to Colombia in its opening game for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, as besides its defeat the national team was disappointing in many ways.

Greece optimistic about World Cup chances

Pundits and predictions say the team could advance past the group stage for the first time.

Editor's note: This is one in a series of stories previewing the 2014 World Cup and teams from Greece, Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH).

 Concern over injury to Sokratis Papastathopoulos

By George Georgakopoulos

Greece managed a goalless draw in Portugal in its first World Cup warm-up game on Saturday, although its performance at the Estadio Nacional in Lisbon left much to be desired both in defense and in attack.

Fulham striker Costas Mitroglou, who has barely played this year due to a knee injury, was included in a 30-man provisional World Cup squad reluctantly revealed by coach Fernando Santos on Wednesday.

Santos had previously stated that he would not announce his provisional squad, only his final selection of 23 players, on May 19.