Greece vs Norway - October 2006 - Euro Qualifying

[admin]

Greece beat Norway 1-0
7th October 2006

Greece maintained a 100% start to their Euro 2008 qualifying campaign on Saturday with a hard-fought victory over Norway on a rain-soaked Athens night at the Georgios Karaiskaki Stadium.

Kostas Katsouranis' first-half volley gave Otto Rehhagel's defending European Champions all three points in a tightly-contested Group C encounter which was delayed for 50 minutes after a thunderstorm drenched the pitch before kick-off.

Greece now travel to Bosnia-Herzegovina on Wednesday for their last match of 2006 having picked up six points from two games following last month's 1-0 success over Moldova.

Greece, who started the game with Euro 2004-winning skipper Theo Zagorakis on the bench, enjoyed the lion's share of possession in a competitive first half which saw Norway hitman Ole Gunnar Solskjaer also fluff a couple of good opportunities for his team.

After weathering the early Greek onslaught which saw the impressive Seitaridis shoot over the bar and striker Nikos Liberopoulos send a header over, goalkeeper Antonis Nikopolidis made a brilliant save to deny Norway from opening the scoring after 12 minutes.

After John Arne Riise's free-kick was flicked on by Steffen Iversen, Fredrik Stromstad lashed a spectacular volley that the home keeper tipped over the bar superbly.

Solskjaer then wasted two good chances in the space of five minutes just after the 20 minute mark when he first fired a low shot wide of the left post and was then tackled by Nikopolidis as he tried to round the Olympiacos keeper a few minutes later.

The hosts responded in the 32nd minute though as Katsouranis netted only his second international goal. The Benfica man showed great athleticism to swivel and volley in Liberopoulos' knock-down from Georgios Karagounis' free-kick.

Stelios Giannakopoulos was replaced by Angelos Charisteas at half-time as Rehhagel looked for more goals, but it was the visitors who should have levelled the scores 12 minutes into the second half but Solskjaer was again out of sorts as he mis-kicked after being teed-up perfectly by Morten Gamst Pedersen.

The tempo of the game slowed significantly as the second half wore on with neither side able to fashion a decent scoring chance amid a flurry of substitutions and free-kicks.

Norway boss Aage Hareide sent on strikers Ole Martin Arst and Daniel Braaten in the closing stages, but neither could break the determined Greek rearguard.

Arst headed inches wide from a corner with one minute left before Greek substitute Georgios Amanatidis hit the post with a first-time strike from a Georgios Samaras cross.

Greece (1) 1 Norway (0) 0

Greece Nikopolidis, Seitaridis, Fyssas, Anatolakis, Kyrgiakos,Basinas, Katsouranis, Karagounis (Patsatzoglou 90),Giannakopoulos (Charisteas 45), Samaras,Liberopoulos (Amanatidis 71).

Subs Not Used: Kafes, Zagorakis, Salpigidis, Chalkias.

Booked: Samaras, Anatolakis.

Goals: Katsouranis 33.

Norway Myhre, Rambekk (Aarst 85), Hagen, Hangeland,John Arne Riise, Stromstad (Braaten 61), Andresen, Haestad,Morten Gamst Pedersen, Iversen, Solskjaer.

Subs Not Used: Opdal, Marius Johnsen, Kippe,

Tommy Svindal Larsen, Bjorn Helge Riise.

Booked: Morten Gamst Pedersen, Haestad.

Attendance: 25,000

Referee: Lubos Michel (Slovakia).

[Stevothediscokiller]

Good result, alls going well so far =)

[Panathenian_fan]

Originally Posted by admin

Panathenian Fan you are very luck!

Please cheer the whole game as lately I have been dissapointed by the Greek fans. We need to continue cheering the champs.

The stadium was not full as expected, however, even if it was raining cats and dogs I did not regret going there.
We had a very good game and could score more goals. I did not expect this to tell the truth. This team reminded me Greece of 2004.

At the first half we dominated. At the second half the Norwegians had a better ball moving but we were the ones who had the greatest chances. The lost chance of Charisteas and the post of Amanatides wre really "unlosable" chances. Anyway, what is important is the win, and if we perform like we did against Norway we are not going to have serious problems in the continue.

I have to add that the referee had a lot wrong decisions against us in the first half. He probably realised this then, as he was fair in the second half.

[macedonian]

Zags didn't start, bet Rehagel put him in the Bosnia game int he first half.