Sep 21, 2023

No Comments With the matches of the 2nd matchday, the curtain opened on the 3rd National Championship for the 2023-24 season. Epirus is represented by Thesprotos of Igoumenitsa, Renaissance of Arta and Thyella Katsika of Ioannina. All three are in the 2nd group, so the games between them will also be interesting, even though the history of their games has to do with encounters in previous games of the 4th national team. The starting point of the three groups is different. Thesprotos, after a good four-year presence in Super League 2, was relegated, while the other two teams, Anagennisi Artas and Thyella Katsika, were promoted as champions of the local Associations of Football Clubs, passing the tests and the play-off matches. There is no representative from the prefecture of Preveza in the Third National Team. Telikratis Lefkada, which belongs to the same EPS, was promoted to Super League 2 for the first time in its history, Apollon Pargas was relegated, Acheron Kanallakiou and Ethnikis Filippiadas, who used to have a good presence in this category, are in the local leagues. The most tragic thing is that PAS Preveza, the most historic team of the prefecture, is suspended, as it did not even participate in the amateur championship of the local Union, which made many fans bitter. Igoumenitsa experienced important moments in the last four years, where for the first time in history they were lucky to have a team in Super League 2. Thesprotos made a surprise in the 2018-19 season and was promoted to the second professional division, where he remained for four seasons under the coach of Juan Ramon Rocha. Those four years in the second national team will be remembered for many years in Igoumenitsa, as the football of Thesprotia became known all over Greece, breaking the shackles of long-term isolation. It was a real breakthrough, as it is not so easy for a small town like Igoumenitsa to maintain a team in the second professional division of the country. The cycle of this four-year period ended last season, in which Thesprotos was relegated to the 3rd National League. A relegation always leaves open wounds, as the financial situation completely changes and it is not easy to cover existing obligations. Few teams resisted relegation, taking the elevator to promotion again. Most took several years to recover, until the wounds closed. People who are close to the team know best how difficult this part is and how they will manage it. For the fifth season, Juan Ramon Rocha remains in Thesprotos Thesprotos does not give up and will try to straighten up, but with a different philosophy and perception. Architected by Juan Ramon Rocha, he wants to build a new team from scratch, promoting talent from the region to the first team and combining with some experienced players to create a new competitive set. This project is not easy, it takes time and patience. The moves made in the summer in Thesprotos show the change of philosophy we mentioned before. All the football players left last year’s team and there was a radical restructuring of the team. Some targeted transfers were made, relatively young players, who have performances from the 3rd National Team and talented footballers were promoted from the U19 youth team. In last Sunday’s game against Nea Artaki, Rotsa did not hesitate to put 17 and 18-year-olds in the lineup, such as Apostolou, Raptis, Sakkos and Nikolaou. He has worked in the youth teams of Panathinaikos in the past and knows that with time these children will develop into an investment for the team. It is enough for the world to support them and not be influenced by the first results. The renewal of the groups is not done in a magic way, but it takes the corresponding time. At the moment there are 21 footballers on the roster, most of them between 16 and 20 years old. The average age is 21.8. We are talking about a team of “babies”, which maybe there is no other in the 2nd group of the 3rd national team. Of the 21 players, only goalkeeper Giannis Siderakis is over 30 years old and Tsotsos, Tsiafitsas, Zelekou are between 24 and 28 years old. The remaining 17 players are between the ages of 15 and 22. What we call a place in youth, we see in practice in the “yellow and black” of Thesprotia. It is very important that Rocha remained as coach for the 5th season. He has knowledge, experience and above all he knows how to work with young footballers. He has been in Thesprotos since 2019, the local municipality in a special ceremony last June declared him an honorary citizen of Igoumenitsa, he became their own person in the town. The Argentinian coach has a challenge ahead of him, an open bet, to work with these young guys to make a competitive team. Who Rocha is, we need no introduction. As a footballer, he had a great career in Panathinaikos and before that in important Argentine clubs, such as Newells, Boca Juniors. He also has an important presence as a coach in Greek football, being in charge of the youth teams of Panathinaikos and as the first coach of Panathinaikos with successes in Europe as well. He was coach of Panileiakos, Ilysiakos, Kalamata, Aris Thessaloniki, Skoda Xanthi, Olympiakos Nicosia teams. It is a luxury for a team like Thesprotos to have Rotsa as their coach! As for the goals for the new season, after relegation and with the radical renewal that took place, it is difficult for Thesprotos to claim a title. Of course, never say never in football, but common sense says that Rocha’s “babies” will try to make a decent run in the 3rd National League and at the same time become a good team over time. PAE Thesprotos remains, as it was established in 2019, with businessman Giorgos Arambatzakis as a major shareholder. Rotsa’s assistant is Vangelis Kallos, while the issues were recently dealt with by the agents Kostas Kallos, Paraskevas Vlachos, Alexis Mitselos, Giorgos Karakitsos. It has been operating as a club since 1948, one of the oldest in Epirus with its headquarters at the national stadium of Igoumenitsa. Deep cuts were made over the summer in the football department. Acquired Konstantinos Efthymiadis from Heraklis Larissas, Yannis Siderakis from AO Chalkis, Lambros Angeloulis from PO Elassonas, Angelos Tsotsos from Kozani, Antonis Raptopoulos from Panaxiakos, Anastasios Bouboukis from Dimitra Efxinoupoli Magnisias, Christos Palamoutsis, free from Agia Napa Cyprus, Stefanos Symeonidis from Angelochori, Marios Zelekou from Marko, Panagiotis Mantikas from Kampaniakos, Vaios Tsiafitsas from Apollon Pargas, Anastasios Perperidis from the Levadeako Youth team, Stefanos Placiotas from Edessaikos, Fotios Rovinas from AE Moschatou. Talents from Thesprotia were promoted such as Ilias Grigoriou, Vasilios Apostolou, Efstathios Zafeiris, Angelos Nikolaou, Dimitrios Raptis, Konstantinos Lolos, Nikolaos Sakkos. All of them are currently the roster of Thesprotos. Another eight to ten additions are expected. All last year’s players left. Yiannis Rizos returned to PAS Giannina who was on loan and was then transferred to Tilykratis Lefkada, Panagiotis Lyras went to Heraklis Thessaloniki, Spyros Vassilakis and Michalis Ladias to Thyella Katsika, Konstantinos Tromboukis to Kozani, Vasilios Tsimopoulos to Egaleo, Ierotheos Dritsas in Ionian Nicaea, Charilaos Bikas in Apollo Pargas, Konstantinos Economios in Pierikos, Nikolaos Digozis in Pierikos, Matias Martines in Panachaki, Petros Dontis in AO Pylios, Spyros Rousis in Larissa, Vangelis Karabouikis in Tilycratis in Lefkada, Sani in Paneleusiniak, Yiannis Botsaris in Aeolik Mytilini, Ratsko Rastoka in a Serbian team, Giorgi Markatze in Panachaki, Antonios Sermetzakis in Ilysiakos, Georgios Gogos in Kyrenia Cyprus and many others who are free or transferred to amateur teams. It is understandable the difficult task Rocha has to build another team from scratch, 100% renewed compared to last year. The coach does not give up and believes that he will succeed. #Rotsas #babies #Igoumenitsa