While most of Liverpool players are playing ‘meaningless’ friendlies on international duty today, there is one who is about to play his country’s most important game in more than a decade. Today, Kostas Tsimikas’ Greece will be up against Georgia in Tbilisi.
The stakes for this game couldn’t be any higher for Tsimikas and his country. The winner of the match gets one of the last three spots left and will qualify to the European Championships in Germany this summer.
This would be Greece’s first qualification to a major tournament since Tsimikas made his debut for his national team. In fact, this would be the first time Greece qualified to a major tournament since the 2014 World Cup – exactly ten years ago.
Given Greece’s footballing history, they will be desperate to return to Europe’s elite. The last time they competed at the Euros was back in 2012. But while today could be a great moment for Tsimikas, it could give Liverpool’s new future manager an even bigger headache for the summer.
Why Tsimikas’ qualification could be a headache for future Liverpool boss
There have been no dates set for when Liverpool will begin its pre-season schedule. However, it will likely be around the beginning of July. Although, how many Liverpool players will actually be able to turn up on the first day remains to be seen.
Both UEFA Euro 2024 and the Copa America will last until July 14th. And it is expected most of Liverpool’s players will be involved at the tournament.
At the Copa America, the likes of Alisson (Brazil), Alexis Mac Allister (Argentina), Darwin Nunez (Uruguay) and Luis Diaz (Colombia) are all likely to be involved in the squad.
For the European Championship, there is going to be an even bigger Liverpool contingent from the teams who have already qualified. Virgil van Dijk and Cody Gakpo (Netherlands) are certainties to be at the tournament. There is also an outside chance of Ryan Gravenberch being in the squad. The likes of Ibrahima Konate (France), Joe Gomez (England), Dominik Szoboszlai (Hungary), Diogo Jota (Portugal), Andy Robertson (Scotland) and Trent Alexander-Arnold (England) will all probably travel to the tournament as well.
There is a chance either Harvey Elliott or Curtis Jones also gets selected into the England squad. This would leave very few players actually available to report to duty on the first day of pre-season. And Tsimikas could now put his name on the list of potential absentees today as well.
Which would mean only Mohamed Salah, Caoimhin Kelleher, Jarell Quansah, Wataru Endo, Adrian, Ben Doak and Stefan Bajcetic are likely to be involved on the first day of pre-season with the club’s new manager from Liverpool’s current first team squad.