Greece beats Serbia 1-0 in friendly

Dimitros Salpingidis' header gave Greece a 1-0 victory over Serbia in a friendly on Wednesday ahead of the start of qualifying for the 2012 European Championship next month.

Salpingidis scored in the 45th minute after a cross from Vasileios Torosidis in one of Greece's rare first-half chances.

Serbia had its best first-half chance with a close-range header by Nikola Zigic in 32nd minute which went first into the ground and then over the goal.

The host stepped up the pressure in the second half and had several good attempts on goal. Zoran Tosic hit the post with a powerful shot in the 57th minute, and another header by Zigic struck the crossbar in the 68th.

''We had chances that are hard to miss but we did not have luck,'' Serbia coach Radomir Antic said.

Greece mostly played defensively in the second half and made few attempts on Serbia's goal.

The 10,000-strong crowd chanted in support of Antic, who was suspended for three matches and fined by FIFA over his behavior after Serbia lost 2-1 to Australia at the World Cup on June 23.

Serbian football officials say they will decide next week whether to replace Antic ahead of the start of qualifying against Faroe Islands on Sept. 3.

Lineups:

Serbia: Andjelko Djuricic, Branislav Ivanovic, Nemanja Vidic, Ivan Obradovic (Aleksandar Kolarov, 46), Neven Subotic, Zdravko Kuzmanovic, Milos Krasic (Zoran Tosic, 46), Milan Jovanovic (Dragan Mrdja, 65), Nenad Milijas (Milos Ninkovic, 46), Radosav Petrovic (Gojko Kacar, 57), Nikola Zigic (Marko Pantelic, 75).

Greece: Michail Sifakis, Nikolaos Spyropoulos, Loukas Vyntra (Ioannis Maniatis, 81), Sotiros Kyrgiakos (Avraan Papadopulos, 46), Sokratis Papastathopoulos, Konstantinos Katsouranis (Ioannis Papadopulos, 75), Georgios Karagkounis (Stergos Marinos, 87), Vasileios Torosidis (Pantelis Kafes, 63), Sotiris Ninis, Georgios Samaras, Dimitrios Salpingidis (Theofanis Gkekas, 46).