Samaras gets Greece going

The European champions Greece were among four teams to claim victories on the opening day of the Cyprus Football Association tournament. uefa.com rounds up the action from the Mediterranean island and from other friendly matches involving European nations as countries begin assessing their strengths and weaknesses ahead of the start of the qualifying competition for UEFA EURO 2008™ later this year.

Greece 1-0 Belarus
Greece edged out Belarus in Limassol with a goal from international debutant Georgios Samaras. Theodoros Zagorakis fed the Manchester City FC striker on the edge of penalty area on 15 minutes and the 21-year-old scored with a powerful shot. Greece were busy in the first half as Dimitrios Salpingidis sent a header just wide eight minutes after the goal and Panagiotis Fyssas raced through to shoot wide seconds later.

Zagorakis and Panagiotis Lagos had both gone close to scoring before Belarus revealed their own attacking intent. Antonios Nikopolidis saved from Sergei Omelyanchuk and Tsimafei Kalachou's follow-up header was cleared off the line by Georgios Anatolakis. Belarus forward Viacheslav Hleb saw red for a second yellow in the closing stages, leaving Greece to advance to a match against Kazakhstan tomorrow when Belarus play Finland.

Cyprus 0-1 Slovenia
A late header by Zlatan Ljubijankič secured victory for Slovenia in Larnaca. Tournament hosts Cyprus had started promisingly, with the clever runs of Efstathios Aloneftis creating panic in the Slovenia defence. Ioannis Okkas missed a glorious chance on 39 minutes from an Aloneftis pass, shooting straight at advancing goalkeeper Borut Mavrič. The islanders were on top again after the break as Michalis Konstantinou drew another save from Mavrič, but Slovenia punished the hosts' profligacy on 84 minutes when Aleš Kokot's cross was met with a powerful header by midfielder Ljubijankič to set up a meeting with Romania on Wednesday.

Romania 2-0 Armenia
Romania eventually won comfortably in Nicosia against a spirited Armenia team as two players registered their first goals for their country. Central defender Vasily Maftei put Victor Piturca's side ahead on 70 minutes with a header, and following a superb passing move Razvan Cocis struck the second on 86 minutes. Romania missed several other chances and might have won the game by three or four goals such was their dominance in the second half.

Finland 0-0 Kazakhstan (Kazakhstan win 3-1 on penalties)
The match was light on chances but not on dismissals as Kazakhstan's Andriy Karpovich was sent off on 69 minutes for two bookable offences. He was soon followed down the tunnel by Jonatan Johansson, marring the forward's first match as Finland captain. With neither side able to break the deadlock in normal time, the match went to spot-kicks. Paulus Roiha and Juha Pasoja had both missed for Finland before Toni Kallio saw his effort saved and the match conclude.

Japan 2-2 Bosnia-Herzegovina
In a friendly in Dortmund, Naohiro Takahara headed Japan in front from Shunsuke Nakamura's corner on the stroke of half-time. The Bosnians were back in it in the 56th minute as Yuji Nakazawa brought down Sergej Barbarez to concede a penalty which Zvjezdan Misimovic dispatched. After Emir Spahić's strike in the 70th minute Bosnia-Herzegovina appeared on course for a notable scalp, although Hidetoshi Nakata had other ideas as he restored parity with a header in the final minute.

Iceland 0-2 Trinidad & Tobago