Scoring mission to Ukraine
Greece’s national soccer team arrived yesterday in Donetsk, eastern Ukraine ahead of Wednesday’s all-important return leg of the World Cup playoff against the hosts. Ukraine held Greece to a 0-0 draw in Athens on Saturday, which means that Greece will need to score a goal to qualify for the 2010 finals in South Africa, unless the Ukrainians also fail to score and the match is decided by a penalty shootout. «We are going for the big battle, which we started on Saturday and are going to finish on Wednesday,» said defender Vangelis Moras. Originally depleted by the absence of several defenders, such as Vassilis Torosidis and Giourkas Seitaridis, the Greek back line was reinforced on Sunday by the emergency call-ups sent by manager Otto Rehhagel to Olympiakos’s Giorgos Galitsios and Panionios’s Giorgos Tzavellas. Reports from Cyprus confirmed that Rehhagel also contacted Euro 2004 star Traianos Dellas, but the Anorthosis central defender declined. The German manager is once again planning to field three central defenders (Sotiris Kyrgiakos, Sokratis Papastathopoulos and Moras), while there may be a second defensive midfielder alongside Costas Katsouranis, possibly Vassilis Pliatsikas. The Greek federation appeared concerned about the spread of swine flu in Ukraine and made sure that all its players were equipped with face masks, while the mission to Ukraine also includes a cook and hundreds of bottles of mineral water. Tonight the Greek Under-21 team faces Portugal away, in a very important game for the European Championship qualifying group. The Greeks top the table and a draw at Olhao should see them finish in the top two at least, along with England.
