Croatia held 0-0 by Greece in Euro 2012 qualifier

By foxsports
Published

Croatia and Greece played a scoreless match Tuesday in qualifying for the 2012 European Championship.

Croatia, which missed numerous chances throughout the in Group F match, pressured early on and produced the first scoring opportunity when Niko Kranjcar's 20-meter shot was saved by goalkeeper Michalis Sifakis in the eighth minute.

Croatia striker Ivica Olic missed a chance in 18th, shooting wide after being played in by Kranjcar. A minute later, the Greeks had their first good chance but Georgios Samaras shot wide.

Greece sat back for most of the first half, waiting for Croatian mistakes.

Croatia's Nikica Jelavic had a goal ruled out for offside in the 48th, as did Greece's Fanis Gekas two minutes later.

Croatia substitute Ivan Rakitic shot wide in 58th minute. He was well positioned for another effort in 72nd but was blocked.

In stoppage time, Eduardo Da Silva - Croatia's best striker who recently transferred to Shakhtar Donetsk - missed the best opportunity of the match after his shot was blocked from five meters.

''Our plan was to get six points in two matches but four is not bad, too,'' said Croatia coach Slaven Bilic, referring to his team's 3-0 win over Latvia.

Greece coach Fernando Santos was happy with a point after his team had previously drawn 1-1 with Georgia in Athens.

''We improved today and showed better concentration,'' Santos said. ''We always play to win, but today's result was good and gives us more confidence for a tough road ahead.''

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Lineups:

Croatia: Vedran Runje, Ivan Strinic, Josip Simunic, Vedran Corluka, Danijel Pranjic, Ognjen Vukojevic (Ivan Rakitic, 57), Luka Modric, Darijo Srna, Ivica Olic (Eduardo da Silva, 70), Niko Kranjcar, Mladen Petric (Nikica Jelavic, 46).

Greece: Michalis Sifakis, Georgios Tzavellas, Loukas Vyntra, Avraam Papadopoulos, Sokratis Papastathopoulos, Vasileios Torosidis (Georgios Seitaridis, 90), Georgios Karagounis (Sotiris Nini, 70), Konstantinos Katsouranis, Dimitrios Salpingidis (Fanis Gekas, 60), Georgios Samaras, Alexandros Tziolis.