Santos' side, still rated 15th in the world rankings, struggled in recent qualifiers, finding it hard to score against lowly Liechtenstein on two occasions. They have missed the reassuring presence of Schalke defender Kyriakos Papadopoulos, a rising star at 21, who has been out all year following a right knee operation.
Santos on Friday said he wanted to give little away before the first game at Karaiskaki Stadium, saying only that he would rely on experienced players.
"I won't say anything about any individual player. But we do have a lot of players who are under the threat of suspension, so we need give ourselves some options," the Portuguese trainer said.
"We have a lot of experienced players who will know how to win the first match without conceding a goal. The Romanians are an excellent team, but I believe we will be the ones to make it through."
Romania named foreign-based players last week, and coach Victor Piturca dropped veteran striker Adrian Mutu as well as Manchester City goalkeeper Costel Pantilimon. Piturca included Greece-based midfielder Costin Lazar of PAOK and defenders Dorin Goian of Asteras Tripolis.
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Greece:
Goalkeepers: Michalis Sifakis (Atromitos), Orestis Karnezis (Granada), Stephanos Kapino (Panathinaikos)
Defenders: Vassilis Torosidis (Roma), Loukas Vyntra (Levante), Sokratis Papastathopoulos (Borussia Dortmund), Kostas Manolas (Olympiakos), Jose Holebas (Olympiakos), Dimitris Siovas (Olympiakos), Giorgos Tzavellas (PAOK).
Midfielders: Costas Katsouranis (PAOK), Alexandros Tziolis (PAOK), Panayiotis Tachtsidis (Catania), Panagiotis Kone (Bologna), Yiannis Maniatis (Olympiakos), Andreas Samaris (Olympiakos), Giorgos Karagounis (Fulham), Sotiris Ninis (PAOK), Costas Fortounis (Kaiserslautern)
Forwards: Costas Mitroglou (Olympiakos), Fanis Gekas (Konyaspor), Lazaros Christodoulopoulos (Bologna), Dimitris Salpingidis (PAOK), Georgios Samaras (Celtic)
