Greece coach keeps football World Cup dream alive

DONETSK - When Otto Rehhagel won the European Championship with Greece in 2004 his success was hailed a miracle.

If the German coach wants to take the Greek side to next year’s World Cup finals in South Africa he will need a minor rerun of the miracle that took the team to victory in Portugal five years ago.

After Saturday’s first leg play-off for a place at the World Cup finals against the Ukraine, the advantage is firmly on the Ukrainian side.

The goalless draw in Athens is not a result that will instil Greek fans with a lot of confidence ahead of Wednesday’s return leg in Donetsk.

Rehhagel though, remains upbeat. “Of course I would have liked our side to have scored a goal, but it is not always about what you would like to happen. We played against a good side.

“I am happy that we did not concede a goal and that leaves everything open for the return leg. If you do not score, then the best thing that can happen to you is that you do not concede any goals. We managed that, so I have to be at least a bit satisfied.”

For many Greek fans Rehhagel though is - at least - one of the reasons why their team has struggled to score goals.

In Saturday’s match Rehhagel played with Theofanis Gekas as a lone striker up front and even when it was becoming apparent that the side was struggling to find the net and he brought on another striker in Angelos Charisteas, it was a straight swop for Gekas.

With just 19 minutes to go Rehhagel gave a first international cap to 21-year-old striker Kostas Mitroglou, but for most fans it was a case of too little too late.

But if Rehhagel has concerns about his side’s ability to score goals, Ukrainian coach Alexei Mikhailichenko will also have seen that his forward line was anything but convincing.

Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk striker Ruslan Rotan was guilty of missing a number of opportunities which could, if he had converted them, have given the Ukrainians an even bigger advantage ahead of Wednesday’s game.

Mikhailichenko, whose side are chasing a second successive appearance at the finals, believes that both sides still have a good chance of going through.

“We do have a slight advantage because of the fact that we will be playing at home.”

He said he would decide the way he was going to approach the return leg only once he had fully analysed the game in Athens, but he defended his tactics.

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

The winner of the four European play-offs qualify directly for the finals in South Africa next year.