Bicep injury rules Sokratis out of friendly with Nigeria

Greece defender Sokratis Papastathopoulos will miss his country's next World Cup warm-up friendly with African champions Nigeria in the United States on Tuesday after suffering a biceps injury, the team's medical team announced on Sunday.

The 26-year-old Borussia Dortmund player - who has been capped 47 times and played at both the 2010 World Cup and Euro 2012 - had to go off during the first half of Saturday's 0-0 draw at Portugal and medical examinations revealed the injury which will see him sidelined for several days.

The medical team expects Papastathopoulos - who was sent off in the opening game of the Euro 2012 finals - to be ready for the team's last warm-up clash in the United States against Bolivia on Friday.

After the match with Bolivia, the Greek team heads for their base camp in Brazil at Aracaju.

Greece has never qualified for the knockout stages in its previous appearances at the finals but will fancy its chances as it has been drawn in Group C with Colombia, who is awaiting anxiously to see whether their star striker Radamel Falcao will be fit, Japan and the ageing but talented Ivory Coast.

Greece opens its campaign against Colombia on June 14 in Belo Horizonte.

[AFP]