Greece grasp finals berth in Ukraine

A Dimitris Salpingidis goal was all it took for Greece to overcome Ukraine in the FIFA World Cup play-offs and book themselves a ticket to South Africa next summer.

The goalless first leg in Athens had left the visitors with a slight advantage, but they were unable to make it count in Donetsk despite a healthy number of chances. Otto Rehhagel's men had fewer openings, but they registered the only strike of the tie with 31 minutes gone when Salpingidis fired low into the net to secure only their second ever World Cup finals appearance, their first since 1994.

Ukraine took the early initiative and almost forged ahead on eight minutes after Greece goalkeeper Alexandros Tzorvas could only parry a long-range Olexandr Aliyev effort. Andriy Shevchenko was first to the rebound but somehow missed the empty net from close range. UEFA EURO 2004™ winners Greece promptly created a chance of their own, however, an unmarked Georgios Samaras heading Giorgos Karagounis's free-kick wide.

Slowly but surely, the visitors settled, even if the next opportunity fell to Ukraine as Aliyev forced Tzorvas to save his ferocious free-kick. At the other end, the home side were starting to look vulnerable on the break, and so it proved when Salpingidis added the finishing touch following a delightful Samaras through-ball. Shevchenko spurned two good chances to level before the break, with his side now needing two goals to prevail.

They came out in determined mood after half-time, though Andriy Yarmolenko fired straight at Tzorvas in the 50th minute. The Greece No1 was next called into action to deny Yaroslav Rakitskiy, before keeping out Shevchenko, while substitute Yevgen Seleznov drove wide on the hour.

Rehhagel tried to slow the tempo by bringing on extra midfielder Alexandros Tziolis, yet his team still had to ride out chances for Anatoliy Tymoshchuk, Yevgen Khacheridi and Oleh Gusev before the celebrations could start.