Futsal Planet

Greece vs Palestine

OFFICIAL MATCH REPORT

by Damon Shaw from Tripoli

Greece saw of a tough Palestine team in the quarter final of the 9th to 16th placed ranking and will now finish at least 12th in the competition thanks to goals from Ioannis Delaportas (2) and Christos Stratis and some fine saves in goal from MVP Dimitrios Theofilou. Greece were, however, less than convincing and had to survive a late scare as the Palestinians scored with 45 seconds on the clock.

Greece, who played the last game last night could have been suffering from two games in quick succession, but took a very early lead after winning a free kick on the right hand side. It was worked for Ioannis Delaportas who scored after just 20 seconds of play on the clock.

Palestine could count themselves lucky as Greece may have had a goal ruled out incorrectly. Theodoropoulos followed up on a Kouvaras shot that hit the post and it seemed to be dragged back from beyond the goal line by the beaten Hussein Albattrawi. The referee on the far side was in a good position however and the goal was not given. Just two minutes later though, Greece had their second goal as some good play to work the ball from one side to the other resulted in Christos Stratis finishing first time with his left foot.

Palestine’s Sami Aldaour got himself sent off just before the break. He allowed his opponent to steal the ball as the last man and he had to chase him but pulled him down when Manos was through on goal. He took a straight red card and Palestine had four men for the next 2 minutes.

They held out and only two minutes after being restored to five players Hasan Huthut broke free and poked past the goalkeeper to make it 2-1. Both teams exchanged efforts, mainly from distance, but Antonios Manos had a quickfire double effort saved both times from Albattrawi. Then Greece restored their lead as Delaportas doubled his tally for the match and that should have been enough to see Greece home in a game lacking in chances and spark.

Palestine were obviously getting frustrated and received a couple of bookings for hard challenges. Greece really could have wrapped the game up on the 30 minute mark but somehow after great work down the right from Papaefstratiou saw a loose ball drop to Stratis who hit the bar from 4 metres!

It didn’t matter in the end as Greece saw the game out despite Palestine scoring in the last minute to give Greece a scare. They couldn’t muster any other chances, despite the spectators willing one to make this game more interesting and Palestine will now compete for places 13-16, while Greece go ahead and play for 9-12.

Dimitrios Theofilou won the Futsal Planet MVP award after some fine saves, that proved to be decisive in ensuring the Greek win. It was a lacklustre game, with some good moments, but not one that will go down in the history books.

Posted by Luca Ranocchiari --> luca.ranocchiari@futsalplanet.com