Greek football federation backs injured Jose Holebas

Athens: The Greek football federation on Friday insisted that international defender Jose Holebas had been dropped from team training in Austria because of injury and not for any other reason.

Media reports out of Italy said that the 30-year-old player had trained normally with his Roma squad after departing from Austria on Tuesday.

"On Monday Jose underwent a radiographic examination of which it was diagnosed that he was suffering from a left rib case injury. The player trained in Austria under an individual program but was not fit to be available to play against Hungary," the federation said in an announcement.

The federation added that reports out of Italy cited by the Greek media "leads to completely erroneous conclusions in regard to the willingness of the player to contribute to his commitments with the national team."

"The national team has full confidence in Jose Holebas whom we wish a speedy recovery," the statement concluded.

Greek coach Sergio Markarian called-up Levante UD defender Loukas Vyntras to replace Holebas for the crucial UEFA Euro 2016 qualifier Sunday in Budapest against Hungary.

Also on the injured list and not making the journey to Austria for training were Olympiakos striker Kostas Mitroglou, Al-Hilal forward Giorgos Samaras, Olympiakos defender Giannis Maniatis and AEK midfielder Petros Mantalos.

Greece are bottom of the group with just one point in four matches. Romania head the table with ten points followed by Northern Ireland (9), Hungary (7), Finland (4) and Faroe Islands (3).