Battling Greeks earn 1-1 draw with Spain

Greece 1 (Haristeas 66)
Spain 1 (Morientes 28)

A 66th-minute goal from Angelos Haristeas cancelled out a strike by Fernando Morientes to give Greece a battling 1-1 draw with fancied Spain in their Euro 2004 Group A match yesterday.

Spain appeared to be heading for their second successive win after taking the lead through Morientes on 28 minutes but Greece refused to lie down, gaining a deserved draw to follow their shock win over Portugal in the tournament's opening match.

Both teams now have four points from their opening two games and retain serious hopes of reaching the quarter-finals.

Spain settled first and deservedly led at the break after Morientes's classy strike. His former Real Madrid team-mate Raul set up the goal after intercepting a loose ball from Michalis Kapsis on the edge of the box.

Raul, darting everywhere and causing the Greek defence problems throughout, back-heeled the ball to Morientes who cleverly made space, gliding past two defenders before powering a drive past Greek keeper Antonis Nikopolidis.

Greece's goal came out of nothing when a long raking pass from the right by Vassilis Tsartas found Haristeas, who controlled the ball well and fired past Iker Casillas for the equaliser.

The match ebbed and flowed between both penalty areas in an exciting second half.

Raul had a great chance to put Spain 2-0 ahead before Haristeas equalised but sent his free header high over the bar.

In the main, though, Spain just about controlled the game and with Carles Puyol and David Albelda outstanding at the back, Greece were largely restricted to speculative long-range efforts.

Typical was a 30-metre drive from Greek skipper Theodoros Zagorakis which just flew past the post.

Winger Joaquin was outstanding for Spain when he replaced Joseba Etxeberria at half-time, but Spain failed to capitalise on his dangerous crosses.

The first half proved costly in terms of bookings for both teams.

A second yellow card of the tournament for Georgios Karagounis means he will miss Greece's next match against Russia on Sunday, while Spanish defender Carlos Marchena was booked for a late tackle on Karagounis and is ruled out of his side's game against Portugal.

Aftermatch quotes...

Greek goalscorer Angelos Haristeas said the 1-1 draw against Spain showed Greece were a team to be taken seriously.

"This goes to show that the Portugal (2-1) win was not a fluke. This shows we are a serious team and that we have character and experience," he said.

"We will battle in every game. I believe in this competition everyone is nervous and everyone feels the pressure. In the second half we played like we were the favourites. Now we have played the two group favourites we have to go on and get a positive result against Russia."

Coach Inaki Saez said one mistake was all it took for Spain to throw away victory.

"We made our only error in the second half and it cost us a draw. We attacked well but we just weren't able to finish off some promising moves," Saez said.

"We had the game within our grasp."

Greece: Nikopolidis, Seitaridis, Kapsis, Dellas, Fyssas (Venetidis 86), Giannakopoulos (Nikolaidis 49), Zagorakis, Karagounis, Katsouranis, Vryzas, Haristeas.

Spain: Casillas, Puyol, Marchena, Helguera, Bravo, Etxeberria (Joaquin 46), Albelda, Baraja, Vicente, Morientes (Valeron 65), Raul (Torres 80).

Referee: Lubos Michel (Slovakia).

HT: 1-0.

Attendance: 25,444.