Soccer-No place for Giannakopoulos in Greece squad

By Barney Spender

ATHENS, Aug 30 (Reuters) - Former Bolton midfielder Stelios Giannakopoulos may be facing the end of his international career after being overlooked by coach Otto Rehhagel for Greece's two World Cup qualifiers next month.

The 34-year-old, who has 77 caps for Greece and was a member of the Euro 2004 winning team, was released by Bolton at the end of last season and remains out of contract. He spent most of Euro 2008 on the bench.

Rehhagel has named 18-year-old Sotiris Ninis for the first time in a competitive squad while Genoa's 20-year-old centre-back Socratis Papastathopoulos has also been brought into the squad.

Greece play Luxembourg on Sept. 6 and Latvia four days later in Group 2. Both games are away.

Squad:

Goalkeepers: Konstas Chalkias (PAOK), Alexandros Tzorvas (Panathinaikos)

Defenders: Giourkas Seitaridis (Atletico Madrid), Traianos Dellas (Anorthosis Famagusta), Socratis Papastathopoulos (Genoa), Vassilis Torosidis (Olympiakos Piraeus), Christos Patsatzoglou (Olympiakos), Avraam Papadopoulos (Olympiakos), Sotiris Kyrgiakos (AEK Athens), Loukas Vintra (Panathinaikos), Dimitris Salpigidis (Panathinaikos), Nikos Spyropoulos (Panathinaikos)

Midfielders: Kostas Katsouranis (Benfica), Angelos Basinas (AEK), Sotiris Ninis (Panathinaikos), Giorgos Karagounis (Panathinaikos), Alexandros Tziolis (Panathinaikos), Ioannis Amanatidis (Eintracht Frankfurt)