Greece 2-0 Lithuania: Greeks cruise to win in Piraeus
September 12, 2012 · http://www.footballhellas.com/2012/09/1 ... n-piraeus/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;



*Sotiris Ninis and Alexandros Tziolis celebrate, Greece
By Peter Katsiris

Greece made it two wins from two on Tuesday night against Lithuania as goals from Sotiris Ninis and Kostas Mitroglou ensured Fernando Santos’ men keep pace with Bosnia-Herzegovina in Group G.

A dominant performance from Greece in the opening frame didn’t offer any goals as the visiting Lithuanians managed to keep pace with a hungry Greece. Tweaks to the team at the interval, mainly Kostas Mitroglou entrance for the injured Giannis Maniatis, meant Greece were even more on the offensive after the restart and it didn’t take long for that to translate on the score-line.

Ninis broke the dead-lock 10 minutes after half-time, the Parma midfielder recovering after Mitroglou’s header found the bar moments earlier. Ninis would turn from goal-scorer to play-maker as he combined with Mitroglou for Greece’s second — the latter forcing his way into the Lithuania box before tucking home a finish past Zydrunas Karcemarskas.

Greece’s second half performance, like last Friday’s against Latvia, was refreshing compared to the opening 45 minutes in the port city. Theofanis Gekas was the biggest culprit of missed chances on the night — the Levante man wasting half-a-dozen opportunities in front of the goal.

Greece’s lack of finishing comes costly only on goal differential as the Ethniki sit second to Bosnia-Herzeogovina only on goal differential — the Bosnians holding a +11 goal differential after two games compared to Greece’s more modest +3. Greece will have a chance to edge past Bosnia-Herzegovina in October when both sides meet at Karaiskaki on third day of World Cup Qualifying.

Greece 2 - 0 Lithuania
Ninis (55′), Mitroglou (72′)

Greece (Fernando Santos): Karnezis, Torosidis, K. Papadopoulos, Papastathopoulos, Spyropoulos, Maniatis (46′ Mitroglou), Katsouranis, Tziolis, Ninis, Fortounis (67′ Holebas), Gekas (80′ Mavrias)

Lithuania (Csaba Laszlo): Karcemarskas (GK), Zaliukas, Klimavicius, Vaitkunas, Borovskis, Mikouliunas, Semberas, Cesnauskis (46′ Borovskij), Vicius, Velicka (76′ Novikovas), Sernas (57′ Rimkevicius)

Bookings
Cesnauskis (21′), Vicius (27′), Sernas (43′), Rimkevicius (60′), K. Papadopoulos (62′), Mikouliunas (84′)

Referee: Mark Courtney (Northern Ireland)

Venue: Giorgos Karaiskakis Stadium, Piraeus, Greece