Vangelis Mantzios
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Evangelos Mantzios | ||
| Height | 1.91 m (6 ft 3 in) | ||
| Position(s) | Striker | ||
| Team information | |||
Current team |
 Panathinaikos FC | ||
| Number | 26 | ||
| ‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 17/05/2007 | |||
Evangelos Mantzios (Greek: Ευάγγελος Μάντζιος) (born 22 April 1983) is a footballer. He is a striker who plays for the Greek national football team and Panathinaikos FC whom he joined in September 2005 from Panionios. He currently has 6 caps for his national team.
Mantzios is a tall, young forward who possesses great technique, dribbling and timing in his runs. He is seen as a good prospect of Greek football but has suffered as a result of his bad workrate, tendency to hold onto the ball for too long and lack of strength for a striker of his size as well as speed.
Panathinaikos
Mantzios joined Panathinaikos from the team where he started his career, Panionios, in a deal that also included Alexandros Tziolis and made an impact within his first year in the green and white. He dazzled in his debut (2005/2006) season for Panathinaikos as he became a first team regular under Alberto Malesani and contributed many crucial goals towards the end of the season. Poor performances, lack of confidence and several coach changes saw Mantzios on the fringes of the first team squad in 2006/2007 as new coach Victor Munoz preferred a striking duo of captain, Dimitris Papadopoulos and new star signing, Dimitris Salpigidis. Mantzios had limited chances but spurned each of them, his season was summed up in the cup final loss to Larissa FC when Mantzios had the chance to level the match in stoppage time but missed a completely open goal, managing to hit the ball into the arms of the keeper.
National Team
After showing good early form following his signing from Panionios, Mantzios made his debut for Greece in a a 2006 FIFA World Cup Qualifying match against Georgia on 12/10/2005. He stayed in the squad throughout the rest of 2005 and into early 2006 but was dropped for almost a year, finally being called up again for the friendly loss to North Korea on 06/02/2007 which was his last cap with the Greek National Team