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One week after Fernando Santos announced that he would leave the Greece helm after the FIFA World Cup finals, they resume their preparations for Brazil against South Korea at the Stadio Georgios Karaiskakis.

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Santos was appointed in 2010 to succeed the man who transformed Greece's destiny and oversaw their UEFA EURO 2004 triumph, Otto Rehhagel. The Portuguese coach responded to the challenge by leading Greece to two consecutive major tournaments for the first time in their history. Indeed they negotiated UEFA EURO 2012 qualifying unbeaten and reached the quarter-finals before earning a berth in Brazil, where they will face Colombia, Japan and Ivory Coast in Group C.

With 24 victories and just four defeats in 41 matches, Santos boasts the highest winning percentage of any Greece coach. Rehhagel and Kostas Polychroniou both came out best in half of their 106 and 34 fixtures respectively. In Santos's era, Greece recorded their longest undefeated streak, 17 matches. This sequence started on the day of his debut with Greece – a 1-0 friendly win in Serbia on 11 August 2010 – and ran until a 3-1 loss to Romania in November 2011.

Last year Greece kept six consecutive clean sheets in a run of wins between June and October, enhancing their reputation as hard to beat with a strong defence. Santos, in total, has fielded 60 players and gave 25 of them debuts.

"I believe that my decision to leave in the summer will not affect my players," he said. "They will give it their all in the World Cup so that our parting will be the best possible. That's my intention as well. My only aim is to see Greece qualify for the World Cup knockout phase and I will do everything in my power to achieve that and make Greek fans happy.

"My contract with the Greek federation runs until 30 June. I believe and hope that we will need to extend it for a few more days, as our team will have made it to the last 16."

Regarding his choices for the World Cup, Santos was adamant: "No player has been ruled out as yet and nobody should consider themselves sure of travelling to Brazil. We have two months ahead to continue monitoring all players and their condition. When the time comes, I will make the picks that I deem fair. I am 200% focused on the upcoming World Cup."

Manchester City manager Manuel Pellegrini celebrates with the Capital One Cup after the Capital One Cup Final at Wembley

MARK OGDEN – PUBLISHED 03 MARCH 2014 09:45 AM

Manuel Pellegrini claimed Manchester City’s Capital One Cup triumph can provide the platform for an unprecedented quadruple after insisting the club remain in contention for four trophies this season.

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Second-half goals from Yaya Toure, Samir Nasri and Jesus Navas secured City’s first league cup since 1976 after Fabio Borini had given Sunderland a first-half lead.

To keep their quadruple hopes alive, City must overcome FA Cup holders Wigan Athletic in next Sunday’s quarter-final before preparing for the more daunting task of overturning a 2-0 first-leg deficit against Barcelona in the Nou Camp in the Champions League round of 16 three days later.

But with one trophy now on its way to City’s cabinet, Pellegrini believes the success can propel his team towards even greater achievements.

“This will give us a lot of confidence now,” Pellegrini said. “If you try to win a title and don’t do it, your mind does not work the same way, so to win the first is very important.

“We have won this trophy and we are now the only club with a chance to win all the competitions.

“For a club like Manchester City, to fail is not acceptable. The team failed last year, but we did not fail today.

“I believe we are going to have a great season when the season ends in May.

"We won one trophy today, but nobody can think that is enough.

“We can improve, but with important players, you can never be satisfied with one trophy and if we beat Wigan next week, we will be back at Wembley for the FA Cup semi-final.

“We are going to try. It is not easy, we have all due respect for Wigan after what happened last season in the FA Cup Final, but we are going to try to do it of course.”

Pellegrini’s bullish appraisal of City’s prospects for the remainder of the season was echoed by Nasri, the French midfielder, who claimed his first Wembley winners’ medal after losing in previous cup finals with City and Arsenal.

Nasri, who received the Alan Hardaker man of the match trophy at the end of the game, said, “I am very happy and I hope that this cup can bring some others.

“I have lost my two finals I have played here so it was really important to win.