Liverpool FC defender Sotirios Kyrgiakos so close to giving Greece narrow advantage in World Cup qualification play-off against Ukraine

Nov 16 2009 by Our Correspondent, Liverpool Daily Post

LIVERPOOL defender Sotirios Kyrgiakos was inches away from being the Greek hero on Saturday but his late header went wide in his country’s goalless first-leg play-off with Ukraine.

Otto Rehhagel maintains Greece did their utmost to win the match, but praised the resilience of their opponents.

Theofanis Gekas, the overall top scorer in qualifying with 10 goals, wasted Greece’s best chance while Ruslan Rotan was guilty of poor finishing for the visitors on a night when both sides cancelled each other out at the Olympic Stadium in Athens.

“The result leaves everything open,” said Rehhagel.

“Ukraine were impressive in their passing game and their attacking players were very good.

“We wanted to win this game but our opponents were strong on the counter-attack and we always had this in the back of our minds.

“We had some chances to score but unfortunately we just couldn’t convert them.

“It wasn’t possible to play more attacking than we did because of the strength of our opponents.”

Rehhagel was pleased Greece’s defence was not breached, but also lamented the decision to disallow an effort for the hosts.

Greece had the ball in the net after 16 minutes when Gekas turned in a Dimitris Salpigidis cross but the assistant referee had already raised his flag for offside.

Added Rehhagel: “If we had conceded a goal it would have made things extremely difficult for us. We also scored a perfectly valid goal but the referee disallowed it and we are disappointed.”