Greece avoids defeat in Romania
Greece replicated its Budapest performance in Bucharest and snatched a goalless draw against Romania on Monday for only its third point in eight games at the Euro 2016 qualifiers.
The national team defended well in an otherwise forgettable encounter in the Romanian capital in which Greece had nothing to play for, but Romania needed all three points to clinch automatic qualification to the finals in France.
Interim Greece manager Costas Tsanas played Costas Manolas instead of Kyriakos Papadopoulos at the center of the defense, resulting in a much tighter back line, while also giving a Greece debut to right-back Stelios Kitsiou.
With most of the game played in Greece’s half, there was little action in the Greek attack, where Costas Mitroglou was once again anonymous. The only real threat to the Romanian goal came from substitute Panayiotis Kone in the second half.
Greece has two more games left to play in October, in Belfast against Northern Ireland and at home against Hungary, hoping to scramble at least a win as it has remained winless in the entire campaign so far.
