Greeks are confident in WC qualifiers

The Greek national team trained for the first time on Monday in preparation for the first two of their Group G 2014 World Cup qualifiers against Latvia on Sept.7 in Riga and Lithuania on Sept.11 in Piraeus. “Our goal is to win both matches so that we can open the way up to qualifying,” said 24-year-old Olympiakos defender Dimitrios Siovas who was called up for a second time by Greece coach Fernando Santos in his 23-man squad. Fortuna Dusseldorf defender Stelios Malezas agreed with Siovas. “The World Cup is not far away,” said the 27-year-old. “We are starting with a tough away match and we must be serious in order to win. We must respect every opponent but I’m optimistic that we will have good results,” Malezas said. Santos, who was praised for guiding the side to the Euro 2012 quarter-finals in June before going out to Germany 4-2, called up for the first time 26-year-old PAOK Salonica goalkeeper Panayiotis Glikos.