Olympiakos goalkeeper Antonis Nikopolidis, a key performer in Greece’s Euro 2004 triumph, yesterday extended his contract with the Piraeus soccer club for a further season. It is expected to be the 35-year-old player’s final year in what has been an exceptional career, both in terms of performance and integrity.
Nikopolidis has made clear his intentions to retire at the end of next season. His level of play has not been up to the usual standard over the past year.
The goalkeeper, who joined Panathinaikos in 1989 at the age of 18, made his debut a couple of years later but did not establish himself as a regular starter until the mid-90s.
Waiting his turn in the shadow of leading Polish goalkeeper Josef Wandzik, Nikopolidis showed plenty of patience before seizing his senior-level opportunity to the fullest and eventually establishing himself as one of this country’s finest goalkeepers of all time.
Nikopolidis transfered to Olympiakos, Panathinaikos’s archrival, shortly before Greece’s sensational appearance at Euro 2004 in Portugal. The circumstances behind the player’s controversial move have remained unclear to this day.
Besides his Euro 2004 title with Greece, Nikopolidis has won a string of league and cup titles at both Panathinaikos and Olympiakos.
Nikopolidis’s integrity and consistency earned him the captainship of the national squad following the retirement – from national duty – of Thodoris Zagorakis, who led Greece to its shock European title in 2004.
Nikopolidis made his debut for the national team in 1999 and in just two years established himself as Greece’s undisputed choice for goalkeeper.
He was dropped as first-choice keeper for the national team following a rare poor performance in Greece’s 4-1 home thrashing against Turkey in a Euro 2008 qualifier last March. Coach Otto Rehhagel kept the goalkeeper sidelined for a further two games before bringing him back for last week’s 2-1 win against Moldova.
In a separate development at Olympiakos, Ilia Ivic, a former player at the Piraeus club who later moved to AEK and remained as technical director after he had retired, will assume the same post at Olympiakos, it was agreed yesterday. His activities will focus mostly on the transfer market.
วันพุธที่ 20 มิถุนายน พ.ศ. 2550
Turina in Greek AEK for 300,000 Euro?
While they are having troubles with their main goal keeper in Dinamo, Ivan Turina has arranged everything with Greek AEK.
The situation at the goal keeper post in Dinamo has not been this uncertain for the past 20 or so years, from the time when Drazen Ladic`s era began.
Bulgarian Ivankov turned out to be a too dear of an investment, to be precise, his club Kayserispor is to blame, which requested a brazen amount of money. Joe Didulica has three more months of recovery at least, therefore not even he fits in with Dinamo`s European plans.
Marko Sarlija and Tomislav Vranjic were sent to Zapresic-based Inter FC as a loan and Filip Loncaric and Ivan Turina are fighting for the number one place, while Marijo Lozic was brought in from Lokomotiva as the third goal keeper.
The situation which Ivan Turina is in has not been in favour for this first goal keeper of the Blues for a long time now. He first entered the dog house after Auxerre`s goals at Maksimir stadium which he was criticised for. Soon after the arrival of Branko Ivankovic, Turina has definitely lost his place not only in the first line-up, but the new coach has sent him to the stalls before the first spring match with Rijeka at the Kantrida stadium in February. Ivankovic`s official explanation for such a decision was that he was dissatisfied with Turina`s ambition, enthusiasm and the desire to impose himself as the first goal keeper.
Since then, Turina has been defending little or almost nothing, entering only at village parties where Dinamo had away matches.
The young goal keeper has had enough with such a situation and he saw the new opportunity in the offer of Greek second runner up of the championship AEK, which is prepared to pay 300,000 euro to Dinamo and Turina has recently ensured an apartment and car in Athens. His manager Zdravko Mamic initially accepted the offer, but has changed his mind after lending two goal keepers to Inter so Turina had to unpack his suitcases. But, according to the player himself, it is not over yet:
-Nothing has been completely arranged yet, I will know more tomorrow after speaking with Zoki Mamic. We are at preparations, but my people are intensively working on it and I am hoping of a positive outcome.
The situation at the goal keeper post in Dinamo has not been this uncertain for the past 20 or so years, from the time when Drazen Ladic`s era began.
Bulgarian Ivankov turned out to be a too dear of an investment, to be precise, his club Kayserispor is to blame, which requested a brazen amount of money. Joe Didulica has three more months of recovery at least, therefore not even he fits in with Dinamo`s European plans.
Marko Sarlija and Tomislav Vranjic were sent to Zapresic-based Inter FC as a loan and Filip Loncaric and Ivan Turina are fighting for the number one place, while Marijo Lozic was brought in from Lokomotiva as the third goal keeper.
The situation which Ivan Turina is in has not been in favour for this first goal keeper of the Blues for a long time now. He first entered the dog house after Auxerre`s goals at Maksimir stadium which he was criticised for. Soon after the arrival of Branko Ivankovic, Turina has definitely lost his place not only in the first line-up, but the new coach has sent him to the stalls before the first spring match with Rijeka at the Kantrida stadium in February. Ivankovic`s official explanation for such a decision was that he was dissatisfied with Turina`s ambition, enthusiasm and the desire to impose himself as the first goal keeper.
Since then, Turina has been defending little or almost nothing, entering only at village parties where Dinamo had away matches.
The young goal keeper has had enough with such a situation and he saw the new opportunity in the offer of Greek second runner up of the championship AEK, which is prepared to pay 300,000 euro to Dinamo and Turina has recently ensured an apartment and car in Athens. His manager Zdravko Mamic initially accepted the offer, but has changed his mind after lending two goal keepers to Inter so Turina had to unpack his suitcases. But, according to the player himself, it is not over yet:
-Nothing has been completely arranged yet, I will know more tomorrow after speaking with Zoki Mamic. We are at preparations, but my people are intensively working on it and I am hoping of a positive outcome.
Soccer News
Association football, commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players each. It is widely considered to be the most popular sport in the world. A ball game, it is played on a rectangular grass field, or occasionally on artificial turf, with a goal at each end of the field. The object of the game is to score by manoeuvring the ball into the opposing goal; only the goalkeepers may use their hands or arms to propel the ball in general play; the rest of the team generally uses their feet to kick the ball into position, though occasionally they may use their torso or head to intercept a ball in mid air. The team that scores the most goals by the end of the match wins. If the score is tied at the end of the game, either a draw is declared or the game goes into extra time and/or a penalty shootout, depending on the format of the competition.The modern game was codified in England following the formation of the Football Association, whose 1863 Laws of the Game created the foundations for the way the sport is played today. Football is governed internationally by the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (International Federation of Association Football), which is commonly known by the acronym FIFA. The most prestigious international football competition is the World Cup, held every four years. This event, the most widely viewed and famous in the world, boasts an audience twice that of the Summer Olympics.
Internationals Friendly England-Brazil at Wembley
The Football Association has announced that Brazil will be England’s first opponents at the new Wembley Stadium in a game on Friday 1 June. Its almost seven years since England played a game there when they lost to Germany 1-0 and the old Wembley wasn’t a great advantage for them when they played Brazil either, England only won 2 of 9 matches against them since Brazil first played in England in 1956.The game would have been a sellout who ever England played but tickets will now be even more valuable because of the large number of Brazilians living in London. Brazil have played twice at the Emirates Stadium in the last seven months and both games sold out quickly.Tickets for this game are £30-£60 and the FA are going to hold a ticket ballot for sales to the general public, members of the England supporters club will get a priority sale. It’ll be interesting to see how many tickets go to corporate hospitality now that the FA has to pay off the £757million that Wembley cost to build.
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