Euro 2012 could hit Greek defender's wedding

Posted Thursday, June 21, 2012 by YAHOO Sport

Greece defender Giannis Maniatis will just have to miss his own wedding in the event that his side makes it to the July 1 final of Euro 2012, team-mate Dimitris Salpingidis said on Wednesday.

Pressed on what would happen if Greece continue their march in the tournament, Salpingidis quipped: "He won't be at the wedding!"

As Greece brace for Friday's crunch quarter-final with Germany, Salpingidis laughed off suggestions that the fact that Olympiakos player Maniatis is planning to tie the knot the same day means they don't rate their chances of getting that far.

"He arranged the wedding a year-and-a-half ago, when he didn't even know if we'd be at Euro 2012, let alone that he'd been in the team," the PAOK striker told reporters at Greece's training ground in Legionowo near the Polish capital Warsaw.

Greece are poised to travel north on Thursday to the Polish port of Gdansk, venue of the quarter-final with powerhouses Germany.

They are hoping to pull off the same kind of exploit that saw them win Euro 2004.

The Euro 2012 final is in Kiev, capital of Poland's fellow host country Ukraine.