Greece-Russia Friendly Match Preview

November 10th, 2011 | by: nick | Comments Off

This is probably one of the more interesting posts I will have write as I happen to maintain both the Greece and Russia pages here at World Cup Blog. Check out what I have to say at the Russia Blog. Greece will be taking on Russia at the Karaiskakis Stadium in Piraeus this Friday in a friendly match while four other teams attempt to qualify through the playoffs. Both teams met at the last two European Championships and both ended defeats. Santos may be looking to improve Greece’s record against Russia but he is definitely looking to make some fine tune adjustments. Greece are coming into this game after topping Group F last month. In what initially looked like a tight group with four teams competing for the top two spots, Fernando Santo’s side emerged at the summit after defeating Israel, Croatia, and Georgia this past fall.

Notable Previous Meetings

EURO 2004: June 20, 2004
Group A: RUS 2-1 GRE
Goals: Kirichenko 2, Bulykin 17, Vryzas 43
Greece and Russia met in the final game of Group A at Euro 2004. After defeating Portugal and drawing with Spain, Greece needed a win to guarantee progression into the knockout stage. Anything less would have had to be superior to Spain’s result against Portugal. Greece were viewed as favorites to win the match but had a terrible start as Kirichenko broke though the back line, picked up a loose ball, and fired it past Nikopolidis. Fifteen minutes later, awful marking allowed Bulykin double the score. With Greece facing elimination, Vryzas looped the ball over the Russian goalkeeper to harbor some hope. As the scoreline remained 2-1 in favor of Russia, Nuno Gomes fired Portugal ahead of Spain to gift Greece with second place.

EURO 2008 June 14, 2008
Group D: GRE 0-1 RUS
Goals: Zyrianov 33
Four years after the memorable defeat on that sunny afternoon in Portugal, Greece met Russia in an equally crucial match in Group D of Euro 2008. Both teams lost their opening games and a win for either would provide the initiative to progress to the quarterfinals. After a brief set of attacks, Greece found themselves behind once again after Nikopolidis ventured out of his box. Russia held on to win 1-0 and Greece were dethroned.

Squad
This Friday will certainly be a major test and Fernando Santos seems to be reading this blog and doing his homework. In the squad announced late last week, Santos called up four new players. Stefanos Kapino, Kostas Giannoulis, José Holebas, and Giorgos Theodoridis, will be all be looking to make their debuts and prove they are worth consideration for the final squad. Santos appears to be expanding his efforts in tapping into the talent pool to consider new players. José Holebas seems to be one of the potential candidates to the left-back opening after overtaking his club mate Zaradoukis in the same position. Nikos Spiropoulos seems to be a back up for whoever is first choice and Tzavelas seems to have fallen out of favor.

Recalls were also issued for Kostas Mitroglou and Nikos Liberopoulos which will bolster the attacking options against Russia’s firm defense which conceded only four goals in all ten games. Mitroglu has been in terrific goal scoring form and Liberopolous is able to provide creative depth in place of Ninis and Fetfatzidis.

Possible Lineups and Formations

Potential Players to Watch

José Holebas
German born to Greek father and Uruguayan mother, Holebas has been in fine form this season so far for Olympiacos and if he starts it will be interesting to see how he handles the left flank battling the likes of Anyukov, Zyrianov, and Dzagoev.

Giorgos Fotakis
Scorer of the first goal against Georgia last month. Fotakis could start on either wing or in the center depending on the formation and should definitely be watched closely. Could provide an assist or be one of the scorers on Friday.

Prediction: GRE 1-1 RUS
Greece will likely take an early lead and Russia will equalize during the second half.