Greece miss two penalties but beat Armenia
Reuters - Thursday 31 May 2012, 20:43
Greece concluded their Euro 2012
preparations with a straightforward 1-0 win over Armenia in
Kufstein, Austria, on Thursday in their final friendly before
the tournament
Fernando Santos' side controlled proceedings from the
kick-off and went ahead in the first half through central
defender Kyriakos Papadopoulos' header.
Greece missed two penalties in the second half with Celtic
striker Giorgas Samaras and Panathinaikos midfielder Kostas
Katsouranis both seeing their efforts saved by the impressive
Armenia keeper Roman Berezovsky.
Santos gave a first start to 19-year-old midfielder Kostas
Fortunis in place of the rested Sotris Ninis, and the
Kaiserslautern player pressed his claim with a series of direct
runs and intelligent passing.
As was the case with the 1-1 draw with Slovenia four days
earlier, Greece again showed promising glimpses of their
attacking game in patches while always remaining solid in
defence.
Dimitris Sapigidis went close to opening the scoring for
Greece in the 10th minute with a downward header from captain
Giorgos Karagounis left-wing free-kick which bounced over the
bar.
After an uneventful spell of play, Greece then took the lead
in the 23rd minute when Schalke defender Papadopoulos rose
unmarked to head home a Karagounis free-kick which was lofted
into the penalty area by the Panathinaikos midfelder.
Striker Fanis Gekas then narrowly missed adding a second
when he was centimetres away from connecting with a Salpigidis
cross on the half-hour mark before then seeing a shot cleared
off the line by an Armenian defender.
Berezovsky ensured the scoreline stayed at just 1-0 when he
brilliantly pushed a Karagounis long range strike round the post
just before halftime.
Greece goalkeeper Michalis Sifakis was called into action
for the first time in the match when he made a fine low save
from Gevorg Ghazaryan's snap shot three minutes into the second
half.
But it was Greece who should have added to the scoreline.
Substitute Samaras, who replaced Fortunis at half-time, won a
penalty 19 minutes from full-time after being fouled by Sargis
Hovsepyan but his poor side-footed effort was gathered
comfortably by Berezovsky.
Substitute Giannis Fetfatzidis was then felled in the
penalty area by Artak Yedigaryan four minutes from time as he
weaved his way between defenders but again Berezovsky came to
the rescue to save from Katsouranis.
Greece face co-hosts Poland in the opening game of the
championship on June 8.