The Greek national football team drew 1-1 with Romania last night, triumphantly qualifying for a third time for a World Cup and so Greece will be amongst the world’s finest at the international football competition in Brazil next year.
Fernando Santos’s starting eleven was Karnezis, Torosidis, Cholebas, Papastathopoulos, Siovas, Karagounis, Tziolis, Maniatis, Salpingidis, Samaras and Mitroglou, while Romanian couch Piturca chose Tatarusanu, Matel, Rat, Goian, Chiriches, Hoban, Marica, Tanase, Torje, Stancu and Maxim.
Despite Romanian efforts to make up for their 3-1 defeat in Piraeus, the Greek side made its presence know early on the game at the 17th minute, with Jose Cholebas’ shot prompting a difficult save by Tatarusanu. Romania wasn’t that lucky five minutes later though and Olympiacos striker Kostas Mitroglou put an end to their hopes, with a brilliant goal at the 23rd minute in the game, with Fulham’s Giorgos Karagounis providing the assist.
The Romanian squad increased their performance in the second half of the game and thanks to an incredible own goal, as a result from Torosidis and Cholebas miscommunication. Piturca’s players were encouraged by the goal and pressured for a second one, but there was not enough time. Greece managed to repel the Romanian offense, while the 2,000 Greek fans in the stands began celebrating the qualification to the World Cut in the last ten minutes of the game.
As soon as the game ended, the Prime Minister Antonis Samaras contacted the coach and players via telegraph, to congratulate them on their heroic qualification. The Minister of Culture and Sport Panos Panagiotopoulos and his Deputy Yannis Andrianos also expressed their admiration for the football team’s accomplishment and wished them all the best. The group draw for the 2014 World Cup is going to take place on the 6th of December.
