Greece may have given their fans little to cheer about in Sarajevo on Wednesday, but did snatch a 0-0 draw against Bosnia to maintain its unbeaten record under coach Fernando Santos.Bosnia were by far the better side in Sarajevo and were dominant for most of the 90 minutes as Greece played a defensive game with the odd counter attack by lone striker Giorgos Samaras.
The Celtic forward wasted Greece’s two biggest chances, one at each half, as he lacked the edge required to finish such goal-scoring opportunities.
Santos, who on Thursday completes one year at the helm of the national team, had resorted to his favourite 4-3-3 formation, with Sotiris Ninis and Yiannis Fetfatzidis on the wings.
Ninis had a good game and stayed on up to the 72nd minute, providing Samaras with the through ball at the 27th that could have set up a goal for Greece. Fetfatzidis was substituted at half-time, but his replacement, Nikos Liberopoulos was not any better, missing a good chance in injury time.
Yet Greece’s best player by some distance was goalkeeper Michalis Sifakis. The Aris stopper denied the hosts twice in the first half with spectacular saves and was also efficient in the second when the Bosnians called him to the task.
“We are focusing on the two games that are coming against Israel and Latvia. We wanted victory, but we must understand that when victory does not come, we should avoid a defeat. Defeats do not do the player’s confidence any good,” said Greece’s Portuguese coach.
“At any rate we take from this game the attitude of the players, their effort and desire. They worked a lot, they tried hard and were well-organised in the game. What we liked the least was that we missed the good passing of the ball, which is only corrected through training, but we did have some good spells.”
Santos also gave a Greece debut to Costas Zaradoukas and Thanasis Petsos, who came on as second-half substitutes.
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