World Cup Qualifying Preview: Greece - Luxembourg

Greece will be eyeing a win over Luxembourg on Wednesday night, but their hopes of automatic qualification to the World Cup Finals in South Africa relies on another result...

Oct 13, 2009 9:00:23 PM

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WCQ: Greece v Latvia (INTIME)

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Players

Theofanis Gekas

Kick-Off: Wednesday, October 14, 2009. 21:00 CET.  OAKA Spyros Louis Stadium, Athens, Greece.

Uncontrolled Destiny

A four-goal performance from Theofanis Gekas fuelled a 5-2 defeat of Latvia in Athens on Saturday night, which all but assures the Greeks of at least a play-off spot – provided Otto Rehhagel’s men overcome Luxembourg, of course.

The race for top-spot is still open, but the door is quickly closing on the Greeks. Even if the 2004 European Champions collect maximum points against Luxembourg, their hopes of earning top spot, and more importantly direct passage to the Finals in South Africa, depends heavily on Israel’s clash with Switzerland in Basel.

The Swiss lead the group by three points; hence, a win for the Greeks and a loss for the group leaders is the only combination capable of satisfying Greece’s hunger for pole position in Group Two.

But it will be important for Greece to focus on the task at hand as complacency has cost them dearly in the past. They’ll feel confident, however, as their attack – one that has lagged on many occasions throughout this campaign – appears to have rekindled a lethal chemistry.

Luxembourg Playing for Pride

Lightning didn’t strike twice for Luxembourg over the weekend, as Switzerland struck early to overwrite a shock loss to the minnows in the reverse fixture.

Their hopes of reaching South Africa are long gone by now, with their only objective now to avoid a last-place finish. Pride, however, will be on the line in Athens.

The Luxembourg defence will have to be at its defense if they are to stymie a Greek attack, and avoid a shellacking similar to the one they suffered against Israel last month.

The campaign has been relatively successful by Luxembourg’s standards as five points to their name marks a huge improvement over their qualifying campaign for the 2006 World Cup in Germany.

Set to sign-off on another campaign, manager Guy Hellers will be hoping his side can walk away with some confidence as his squad targets their next task: the qualifiers for 2012 European Championships.

FORM GUIDE

Greece

Apr 01 - Greece 2-1 Israel (WCQ)  

 Aug 12 - Poland 2-0 Greece (Friendly)    

Sep 05 - Switzerland 2-0 Greece (WCQ)    

Sep 09 - Moldova 1-1 Greece (WCQ)

Oct 10 - Greece 5-2 Latvia (WCQ)

Luxembourg

Apr 01 - Latvia 2-0 Luxembourg (WCQ)

Aug 09 - Luxembourg 0-1 Lithuania (Friendly)

Sep 05 - Moldova 0-0 Luxembourg (WCQ)

Sep 09 - Israel 7-0 Luxembourg (WCQ)

Oct 10 - Luxembourg 0-3 Switzerland (WCQ)

TEAM NEWS

Greece

The defensive pairing of Avraam Papadopoulos and Sotirios Kyrgiakos return to the line-up after sitting out Saturday’s tilt with Latvia through suspension. Their return could demote either Vaggelis Moras or Sokratis Papastathopoulos to the bench. The rest of the starting XI is expected to remain the same – including ‘keeper Alexandros Tzorvas, who replaced Kostas Chalkias in the Greece goal.

Possible Starting XI: Tzorvas- Torosidis, Kyrgiakos, Papastathopoulos, Seitaridis- Karagounis, Katsouranis, Patsatzoglou- Gekas, Salpingidis, Samaras

Luxembourg

The visitors arrive in Athens with a fully-fit squad at Guy Hellers' disposal, and he will be keen on fielding his best side in a bid to dent Greek hopes.

Possible Starting XI: Joubert, Strasser, Hoffmann, Kintziger, Janisch- Blaise, Peters, Lombardelli, Bettmer- Payal, Pupovac.

PLAYERS TO WATCH

Theofanis Gekas (Greece)

With nine goals to his name, Gekas is the joint-leader at the top of the scoring charts in Europe alongside England’s Wayne Rooney. Although Gekas declared his impressive tally takes a back-seat to the team’s success, a further marker on Wednesday could propel the Bayer Leverkusen striker into sole-control at the top of the charts.

Jeff Strasser (Luxembourg)

Captain of the Luxembourg national team, Jeff Strasser is the pinnacle of experience for the national team with his 90 caps a record for the national team. It will be Strasser’s veteran leadership that will be called upon on Wednesday night, with the defender required to lead by example if Luxembourg are to avoid a rout in the Greek capital.

PREDICTION

Had Greece not given such a convincing performance against Latvia on Saturday, the chances of an upset would have been substantially higher; however, the Greeks’ recent success solidifies an expected win for the home side. Luxembourg might have intentions of winning, but their main task will be to contain a potent Greek attack.

Greece 3-0 Luxembourg

Peter Katsiris, Goal.com

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