Greece drew 1-1 with Ecuador in a friendly in New York on Tuesday, after a modest display, and risk missing out on getting seeded for the 2014 World Cup draw next month.
Alexandros Tziolis’s goal was not enough for the national team to win in front of as many as 20,000 Greeks at the Citi Field in the Big Apple, the home of baseball franchise the New York Mets.
Friendly matches also count toward the official FIFA ranking and Greece could come out of Europe’s top nine teams by the July 31 draw if France or Norway score friendly victories until then.
The players of manager Fernando Santos appeared tired, three days after Greece’s victory over Malta for the Euro 2012 qualifiers, allowing Ecuador to enjoy more possession while trying to threaten in counter attacks.
As a result they could not hold on to their first-half lead and had little to offer in attack after conceding the equaliser in the second.
Santos fielded a much-changed team to the one that won 3-1 on Saturday in Piraeus. He opted for Stefanos Kotsolis in goal, Yiannis Maniatis on the left side of the defense and Loukas Vyntra on the right, with an unchanged central defender duo of Kyriakos Papadopoulos and Vangelis Moras.
Pantelis Kafes and Tziolis were the defensive midfielders, Lazaros Christodoulopoulos and Panayiotis Kone were on the wings, with Giorgos Fotakis behind Greece’s lone striker Costas Mitroglou.
The Greek fans may have been outnumbered by those of Ecuador at the 45,000-capacity ground, but were not outshouted.
Their loudest cheer came at the 16th minute when a Fotakis free-kick picked Tziolis at the edge of the six-yard box. The Racing Santander midfielder rose unchallenged to head the ball in for 1-0.
Greece had two or three more chances in the first half as Ecuador enjoyed more possession but seemed toothless in attack.
The best first-half chance for Ecuador, who are preparing for the Copa America that starts on July 1, came two minutes from half-time when a Michael Arroyo freekick was parried by Kotsolis.
The South Americans started the second half much stronger and put more pressure on the Greece goal that soon translated into the equaliser.
It was the 58th minute when Fricson Erazo headed in from just three metres away an Edison Mendez cross from the left, in what was probably the only instance that the otherwise excellent Greek defence was caught napping.
Knowing that Greece needed to win this friendly, Santos responded immediately by making four substitutions in three minutes, bringing on Sotiris Ninis, Giorgos Karagounis, Yiannis Fetfatzidis and Stefanos Athanasiadis. Towards the end he also introduced Nikos Spyropoulos.
Yet all Greece got to create in this last half hour was a Fetfatzidis free-kick that swerved just wide of the right post of Ecuador at the 72nd, and a Ninis one-on-one with Ecuador keeper Alexander Dominguez that had the Greek midfielder shoot straight at him two minutes from time.
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Oi Ellines panigirizoun to goal tou Tzioli sthn... by koukos_81
