GREECE – BULGARIA

Group A

January 12th, 2017; Saint Petersburg, St. Petersburg Sports and Concert Complex, 300 spectators

Best players: Papadogiorgakis, Minchev

Post match comments

Ioannis Gkoumas, Head coach of team Greece:

– In my opinion, we overplayed the team of Bulgaria today, because we held the initiative and fulfilled every task that we had set before the match. I guess that our squad was the strongest in our group. We’ll keep preparing for the next matches with the same goal – to win.

– After the first loss from Tajikistan your team made two notable victories with the same final score 4:0. What has changed?

– We were not fully ready for the first game, because we arrived to Saint Petersburg after a 15-hours flight and did not have time to recover, but after the boys got themselves together. We have great players, and if we shape up from the tactical point of view, we’ll progress quickly with each match. I think we’ll be looking more confident in the next battle.

– Do you follow results in group B trying to predict your opponent for the quarter-final?

– We did everything we could during three previous games, we got out of the group from the first place, and I consider our future rival should be concerned over their play against Greece.

– The second goal was scored by Konstantinos Chatzidimpas, who was not initially included into the starting line-up. Why did you finally let him onto the pitch?

– That was a forced substitution, as Konstantinos Apostolakis was injured during the pre-match warm-up. But it turned out to be a good change.

– Will you change anything for the play-off stage?

– We’ve got twenty players, and their level is much the same, so we do not divide them into leaders or bench-warmers. We modify the line-up according to the future game’s tactics.

– The goalkeeper Antonios Tsiftsis was injured during the last minutes of the match. Is it serious?

– No, that’s just a bruise. I guess he’ll be okay by the next game.

Viktorio Pavlov, Head coach of team Bulgaria:

– I am ready to admit that Greece overplayed us, so I congratulate the country on a win. I must say that it was physically hard for my boys to play their third match on the tournament, so I think this is a normal defeat as they did not have enough energy to perform. It was also hard to motivate them, as we already knew that we got out of the group to the next stage.

– You will play against Russia in the quarter-final. What do you think about this match?

– I expect the team to recover before the next game, as we do not have enough substitutes. We’ll go on the pitch just to play football and to do our best. Team Russia has a great selection of players that they showed during the previous matches.

– What caused three substitutions in halftime and the goalkeeper’s change in the second half?

– We were forced to substitute players, as Greece was playing better. Also I would like to mention Martin Minchev – he is our youngest player, but he showed how he could play.

– Your team was not conceding goals during the previous matches, but today four goals were scored by the opposing team. Is it just tiredness or is it anything else?

– We lacked concentration. As I already said, we were confident that we would not get lower than the second place in the group, and that affected us.

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