Greece 0-0 Bosnia-Herzegovina: Woodwork denies Greece Group G lead
October 13, 2012 ·
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*Greece players reflect on game vs. Bosnia-Herzegovina
By Peter Katsiris
Greece were denied pole position in Group G after being held by Bosnia-Herzegovina 0-0 at the Giorgos Karaiskakis Stadium in Piraeus on Friday night. Two efforts that found the woodwork suggested Greece were better on the night, but the visiting Bosnians were denied a goal themselves thanks to some alert defending by Giannis Maniatis.
Both sides were coming off back-to-back wins to open their respective qualifying campaigns, with Bosnia’s scoring prowess the most impressive aspect through the first two rounds. But the fire power of Edin Dzeko and Vedad Ibisevic was kept at bay in the port city as Greece’s clinical defending kept Orestis Karnezis’ net clear of any fire for most of the evening.
The match started with Greece testing Bosnia’s nerve, a sharp counter-attack led by Giorgos Samaras ultimately found Theofanis Gekas staring down a gaping Bosnia net but the Levante man couldn’t do better than hit the post with his grounded effort.
Bosnia’s first chance of the match would come a few moments later as Sejad Salihovic looked to test Karnezis with a free-kick from some distance, but the Panathinaikos ‘keeper did well despite slightly fumbling the effort before keeping it in his grasp.
With both sides managing to limit most attacking endeavors, most forward rushes were either intercepted by a defender or a shot from distance. In Greece’s case it was a matter of the final ball lacking and ruining the hard-work of players like Kostas Fortounis.
For Bosnia, their attempts relied on an over-working midfield. On 24 minutes that hard-work nearly paid off as Bosnia attacked down the right flank before ultimately playing a cross to find Zvjezdan Misimovic at the far post. The Dynamo Moscow midfielder fired a volleyed effort on target, but Maniatis managed to deny the Bosnian a breakthrough tally with a header off the goal-line. Moments later Bosnia returned with another chance, this time the ball falling for Dzeko who could only fire his grounded effort into the waiting arms of Karnezis.
At the other end Greece were beginning to rely on Bosnia errors for their own benefit, they received one just before the interval as Vassilis Torosidis ultimately collected a loose ball inside the Bosnia box before firing an effort off the crossbar of Asmir Begovic’s goal.
Senad Lulic would have the last chance of the first half, the Bosnian forcing a double-save from Karnezis as a grounded effort nearly caused problems for the Greece ‘keeper. With the woodwork doing its part to deny Greece, the match remained scoreless at the interval — although just barely.
The second frame didn’t prove to be as lively as both managers struggling to get the better of a pure tactical battle. Fernando Santos’ introduction of Dimitris Salpingidis in attacked spurred one chance for Greece, but the PAOK superstar would have likely wanted a do-over as he had his mini-break opportunity saved by Begovic.
Aside from a few counter-attacks from the Bosnians, the Greek defense was left unbothered for most of the night although the Greek bench would have been concerned when Stelios Malezas was stretchered off shortly after the hour mark. The Fortuna Dusseldorf defender had given a solid performance on night that saw him fill in for the ill Kyriakos Papadopoulos. Giorgos Karagounis replaced Malezas as Santos looked to change tactics, a move that would help Karagounis earn his 121st cap for Greece — making the Fulham player the most-capped Greek international ever.
Despite being the difference for Greece the last time he wore a Greece shirt against Russia at UEFA EURO 2012, there was no magic from Karagounis on this night. A poorly taken free-kick and a couple harmless corners wrapped up what turned to be a historic night for Karagounis, yet not for the Greek National Team as the side failed to take an early lead in the Group G standings.
The visitors appeared to be quite happy with the result at full-time, Safet Susic’s men remaining in contention for that automatic qualifying berth. Bosnia lead the way in a three-way tie for first place in Group G, while Slovakia — 2-0 winners over Latvia — and of course Greece, wrap-up the runaway trio.
Greece travel to Bratislava for a date with Slovakia on Tuesday, Bosnia will welcome Lithuania to Zenica on the same day.
Greece 0 - 0 Bosnia Herzegovina
Greece (Fernando Santos): Karnezis, Torosidis, Papastathopoulos, Malezas (67′ Karagounis), Spyropoulos, Maniatis (80′ Mitroglou), Katsouranis, Tziolis, Fortounis, Gekas (57′ Salpingidis), Samaras
Bosnia-Herzegovina (Safet Susic): Begovic, Mujdza, Vranjec, Spahic, Lulic (75′ Stevanovic), Salihovic, Zahirovic, Medunjanin (75′ Ibricic), Misimovic, Ibisevic, Dzeko
Bookings:
Samaras (17′), Dzeko (22′), Vranjes (74′), Fortounis (81′)
Referee: Antonio Damato (Italy)
Venue: Giorgos Karaiskakis Stadium, Piraeus, Greece
