Page 4 – AZ Olympia Soccer

April 28, 2016 by index

GIORGIOS KARAGOUNIS ON LOW KEY SINCE NATIONAL TEAM DIRECTOR JOB LOSS

Former National team director of Greece and Ex-Fulham Midfielder, Giorgios Karagounis has been leading a rather personal life since his disgraceful exit by the apex footballing body in Greece. Greek football federation (EPO) terminated the contract of the 38-year-old who doubles as the most capped Greek player. Giorgios Karagounis has 139 caps to his credit for the national team.

The star player was fired alongside other technical staff August last year. The apex body also claimed Giorgios Karagounis interfered with the job of Sergio Markarian when he was the head coach of the Greek team. Local media concurred with the claims of the Greek apex body and even went further to say Karagounis was the reason behind the resignation of Markarian.

The star player, whose club footballing career includes Panathinaikos, Inter Milan, Benfica and Fulham, refuted the claims.

January 28, 2016 by index

giorgioskaragounis did not finish in good terms with the Greek national team

GiorgiosKaragounishas played a huge role for the Greece national football team as he’s the most capped player in the history of the national side and the Karagounis was a key figure in the European Championship that Greece won back in the 2004 Euro’s. His importance and influence in the team was so evident that he became the captain of the national team and helped them in qualifying for the 2010 FIFA World Cup.

However, even with everything that GiorgiosKaragounis accomplished with Greece during his playing career, it seems like his relationship with the head chiefs of the national side isn’t very good as the former captain and manager of the Greece national team revealed details concerning things that happened involving him and the head chiefs.

It’s important to remember that when GiorgiosKaragounis decided to hang up his boots and retire, he later went on to become the manager of Greece but his time in charge didn’t last very long as he was sacked after suffering a fairly embarrassing home defeat against Faroe Islands which ultimately led with Karagounis being replaced by Sergio Markarian.

Karagounis stepped up as he had a few things to say concerning the Greece national side and he said: “The most striking thing is that since all of this first started I have kept seeing my professional dignity being tarnished in the media and nobody from the Greek football federation has bothered to contact me to tell me anything’’

October 30, 2015 by index

The future of Sam Allardyce at West Ham United is at risk

Sam Allardyce has been the manager of West Ham United since June of 2011 but his time in the Premier League club might be reaching it’s end as the 60 year old English manager is continuously being linked with a move away from the club at the Boleyn Ground.

The managerial contract that Allardyce has with West Ham United expires at the end of the season and so far it remains uncertain if he will be offered a contract extension beyond the summer.

Marcelo Bielsa, David Moyes, Eddie Howe and Rafael Benitez are just some of the names which have been popping around as any of them are being rumored on taking up the managerial role at West Ham United if Sam Allardyce is not offered a new contract in the next few months.

Sam Allardyce himself has announced that he remains unsure as to what will happen as the English manager said: “No, I don’t know if I’m going to be here. But I don’t see any other way, that in my position, when you are contracted at a football club, you do the job that you are paid to do.”

July 26, 2015 by index

Franco Di Santo reckons the top tier Football in Germany

Franco Di Santo reckons the top tier Football in Germany is quite intense, probably a little more than that in England.

If Di Santo had made this statement some time back, it would have been considered ridiculous, but, the way the English teams have performed in the Champions League over the last couple of years, it seems the Argentina international is not off the mark.

There were only a couple of English teams in the Round of 16 in the previous season’s Champions League and neither of them managed to advance to the quarters.

When asked to compare the leagues in Germany and England in an interview, Di Santo said, “Frankly speaking, I had not expected Bundesliga to be that intense, but, having played in it for a full season now, I would say it’s more intense in comparison to any other league I have played in my career so far. As a player; you are under pressure all the time.”

“The training regimes are also quite different in the two countries. They have a different philosophy back there in UK. They don’t put that much pressure on the body of the players. There is more emphasis on rest. In Germany, it’s not like that. We have to train quite a bit and I have realized it’s beneficial in terms of stamina.”

April 20, 2015 by index

Many stadiums in Brazil are fast turning out into a major financial disaster

Some of the stadiums built for the World Cup 2014 in Brazil are fast turning out into a major financial disaster. Unable to bear the huge operational and maintenance costs of the World Cup stadiums, a few have already come into the market on sale. Natal’s Dunas arena is one of the stadiums available for purchase. The stadium hosted four games during the World Cup tournament. Since then, however, it has struggled to attract crowds due to the lack of high-profile matches with a lot of attendances. Despite Brazil exporting a lot of players the rest of the world, it does not necessarily have a league with high attendance figures.

Even the top matches involving the likes of Corinthians and São Paulo struggled to fill up the massive stadiums built during the World Cup. The stadiums were constructed at a cost of huge expenses with most of the funding coming from the taxes. Brazil are reported to have spent around $ 3.6 billion in constructing the stadiums. They total 12 in number but only a handful are running close to breakeven. Some of the stadiums – like in Brasilia – have not hosted five events since the World Cup came to a close. This led to widespread protests even during the tournament, but Brazilian public have not been able to prevent Fifa running away with record profits as a result of this tournament.

March 4, 2015 by index

Sergio Markarian Manager Position Accepted by Greece

Greece are mulling at the possibility of offering Sergio Markarian a role as the national team manager. The 70-year-old recently left his job as the national team manager of Peru. He has been appointed after the recommendation from former Fulham midfielderGiorgosKaragounis, who is now the current technical director of the Greek national team.

Claudio Ranieri recently departed the Greek team after a run of poor results since his appointment just after the World Cup. The Greek FA were aware that the next appointment was going to be extremely important. Hence, the task of finding a suitable replacement was given toKaragounis.

Karagounis played underMarkarian when the latter was the manager at Panathinaikos FC. Despite being a South American,Markarian is expected to lead the Greece national team with a lot of passion.