This time there was no comeback. Greece went into the half-time interval trailing again and came out of it a side transformed again, just as they had in their opening game against Poland. Fernando Santos had sent on Dimitris Salpingidis at half‑time then and he scored. Now he sent on Fanis Gekas and within seven minutes he had scored too. Ultimately, though, it was not enough. Two early Czech goals were sufficient to clinch a victory that sets up a fascinating meeting with Poland in the final game. The 2004 champions must defeat Russia to have any chance of progressing.
Trailing 2-0 after just five minutes to goals from Petr Jiracek and Vaclav Pilar, Gekas took advantage of a terrible error from Petr Cech to roll the ball into an empty net in the 53rd minute. The goal gave the Greeks hope that history might repeat itself and this game was transformed. With Tomas Rosicky's withdrawal and Greece's renewed impetus, what looked like being a comfortable victory for the Czech Republic became a long, sometimes nervous resistance. And yet for all the Greeks' pressure and for the number of balls sent swirling into the area there were few genuine chances. The one they had had, and taken, was gifted them.
Just two minutes and 15 seconds had passed when Jiracek controlled Thomas Hubschman's neatly weighted pass with his right foot and hit it with his left, squeezing it past the goalkeeper Kostas Chalkias. Another two minutes and 15 seconds later, Rosicky slotted a clever angled ball between centre-back and full-back for Gebre Selassie's run on the right. Chalkias reached his low cross at the near post but could not cut it out, the ball again squirming past. Pilar skidded in between two defenders and finished with his knee.
Already missing their first‑choice centre-backs, Greece then lost their goalkeeper, withdrawn with an icepack strapped to his knee. The Czechs were over‑running their opponents, finding space behind their advanced back line, angled balls to the right especially profitable. And just when Greece thought there was hope with Giorgos Fotakis's header before half‑time, it was ruled out for an offside that was tight indeed.
Yet surprisingly, there was still life in this game. Greece had improved dramatically after half-time of their first game and there had been much praise for Fernando Santos's inspiring team talk – even though Salpingidis, the man who came on to score the equaliser, was warming up and had not heard it. They needed an even better response here. They very nearly got it. Fotakis was replaced at half‑time by Gekas. And Gekas got the first after 52 minutes when Cech bumped into Tomas Sivok and dropped the ball at his feet. There was half an hour left. It would not be enough to get the second. Read More
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