Football: Greece selects squad for World Cup qualifier, friendly

ATHENS: Greece coach Michael Skibbe on Friday announced a 22-man squad for next week's crucial 2018 World Cup qualifier with Bosnia and Herzegovina and a friendly with Belarus.

Missing from Skibbe's previous selection are injured Roma defender Kostas Manolas and Watford defender Jose Holebas, who has retired from the national team.

Rejoining the team will be Benfica midfielder Andreas Samaris.

The Greeks first host Belarus on November 9 and then play at home to Bosnia and Herzegovina on November 13.

Skibbe's squad is joint top of Group H together with Belgium with maximum points from three games.

Bosnia and Herzegovina are third with two wins and one loss.

Greece Squad

Goalkeepers: Stefanos Kapino (Olympiakos), Orestis Karnezis (Udinese/ITA), Panagiotis Glykos (PAOK)

Defenders: Sokratis Papastathopoulos (Borussia Dortmund/GER), Marios Economou, Vasilis Torosidis (both Bologna/ITA), Kyriakos Papadopoulos (RB Leipzig/GER), Giorgos Tzavellas (PAOK), Kostas Stafylidis (Augsburg/GER)

Midfielders: Andreas Samaris (Benfica/POR), Giannis Maniatis, Kostas Fortounis (both Olympiakos), Panagiotis Tachtsidis (Cagliari/ITA), Alexandros Tziolis (PAOK), Thanasis Petsos (Werder Bremen/GER), Petros Mantalos (AEK Athens), Giannis Gianniots (APOEL/CYP)

Forwards: Tasos Bakasetas (AEK Athens), Kostas Mitroglou (Benfica/POR), Apostolos Vellios (Nottingham Forest/ENG), Dimitris Diamantakos (Karlsruher SC/GER), Nikos Karelis (Genk/BEL)