Match № 39

The match № 39, play-offs, ninth tournament day, match for the 9th place

GREECE – TURKEY 1:0 (1:0)

January 13th, 2013, Saint-Petersburg, PSG Zenit, 50 spectators

Referees: Anton Batalov, Andrey Kuzhelev, Alexey Manin

Greece: Giagkiozis (Strezos, 46), Nafpliotis, Myrthianos, Sotirakos, Vlachos, Foukaras (Polimos, 73), Vouros, Popovits, Deligiannidis, Thanailakis (Begklektsis, 70), Pasalidis (Vergos, 65)

Head coach: Theodoros Pachatouridis

Turkey: Kocuk, Karaal, Yilmaz (Cetin, 90), Ruzgar M. (Tufan, 46), Aydin N. (Cicek, 29), Ayaroglu, Tuncer, Kaya, Aktas (Ekin, 46), Taskiran (Kahveci, 70), Aydin B.

Head coach: Hakan Tecimer

Goals: Thanailakis (1)

Yellow cards: Popovits (12), Cicek (38), Kaya (41), Deligiannidis (42), Yilmaz (50), Kahveci (80), Vergos (85), Tufan (89)

Red cards: Kaya (80, 2nd yellow card)

Best players: Popovits Dimitrios, Atabey Cicek

After match comments

Head coach of the team Greece Theodoros Pachatouridis:

– We managed to score a quick goal. This unexpected but a pleasant advantage has determined the result of the game. I think that was the key moment of the match, and the character of the rest of the game was caused by the score. In the first half we had the initiative and played the offensive football. After the break we were not rushing, paying our attention on the defense.

The main our aim at this tournament was the try-out of new players and the examination of their possibilities. We were trying different line-ups and new tactics. We can consider this tournament rather successful in case that our general task is the preparation to Euro.

Head coach of the team Turkey Hakan Tecimer:

– We were eager to win, all the more so that we played against a strong opponent. The guys went in a good disposition. We createrd many scoring moments, but the attacks didn't finish with shots. The fast goal changed the game a lot. Team Greece is famous for their defence, and today we've got another evidence of it. Our opponent played extremely tough in defence and we failed to find the key for it. We're not too successful in the tournament: the 10th place is not what we had in view. Our team got used to be a prize holder at international competitions. Valentin Granatkin Memorial is a tournament with a great history and we wish it to flourish, but we'd like to draw attention to the quality of judging. That concerns not only the referees' decisions about our team but the tournament in a whole.