The national team’s 1-1 draw with Latvia left a sour taste in the mouth of Greece coach Fernando Santos, who rued his teams missed opportunities and composure.
“The match became much more complicated when we conceded a goal as it turned into a game of counterattacks from both sides,” he told Mega Channel after the final whistle on Tuesday.
“At half time I thought I should introduce [defensive midfielder Alexandros] Tziolis so that we could control the midfield and put pressure on their goal. Our equaliser came late but I thought we could have scored a second given the chances we created. I believe that the heart overcame the mind in our players, since if we had clear thinking after the equaliser we could have scored the winning goal. Still, my players deserve congratulations as they gave it all on the pitch.”
“From now on we need to calm down, We still depend on our own results, but we need victory over Croatia, in the game that we always knew would be the decisive one. With the support of out fans I believe we will get the win that we all want,” concluded the Portuguese manager.
Left-back Yiannis Zaradoukas, who followed up his excellent performance against Israel with a spirited show against Latvia, admitted that “we wasted the first half, but in the second we showed what kind of a team we have got.”
“In total the four points we have collected from Israel and Latvia are good enough for us.”
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