Group 6: All to play for in Athens

By Simon Hart

Don't dare rest on your laurels. That was the warning from Greece coach Otto Rehhagel to his players as they follow up Saturday's win in Spain with another six-pointer, this time against Ukraine.

Renewed optimism
Victory in Zaragoza lifted Greece to within a point of Spain at the top of Group 6, and level on points with Ukraine, their opponents in Athens. The fact Ukraine have still to travel to Spain only enhances the sense of renewed optimism - the 'Sold out' signs went up at the Apostolos Nikolaidis on Monday - but Rehhagel stressed nothing had been achieved yet.

Victory 'imperative'
"A win over Ukraine is imperative," he said. "As I told my players, we were all delighted by our win over Spain, but we must put it behind us. Only if we win on Wednesday will our victory in Zaragoza be of any substance. We must be confident and overcome our tendency to let it slip when things get tough."

Attack-minded approach
Rehhagel promised a "more attack-minded" approach than the 3-6-1 system applied against Spain. Greece should line up in a 3-5-2, with Angelos Haristeas and Zisis Vryzas leading the attack and Traianos Dellas operating as sweeper behind two central defenders assigned man-marking duties on opposition forwards Andriy Shevchenko and Andriy Voronin.

Game plan
"The plan is to get control of the ball, impose our attacking game and prevent their counterattacks," said the German. "We also must be very solid in defence, as Ukraine have two top-class forwards, Shevchenko and Voronin."

Luzhny suspended
Rehhagel is without suspended left-back Stelios Venetidis, sent off in the closing stages in Zaragoza, whose place should go to Panagiotis Fyssas. Ukraine, for their part, are missing captain Oleh Luzhny through suspension but Andriy Husin and Anatoliy Tymoschuk are back, while FC Dynamo Kyiv defender Yuriy Dmitrulin should also figure.

Criticism in press
Dmitrulin has not played since undergoing an appendix operation several weeks ago but was called into the squad after Saturday's 4-3 victory over Armenia. There was criticism in the Ukrainian press of that performance and defender Serhiy Fedorov, who scored the injury-time winner, admitted Armenia "scored from our mistakes".

Rallying cry
With the September visit to Spain in mind, Andriy Shevchenko stressed there could be no slip-ups on Wednesday: "Only a win will keep our destiny in our own hands." Spain coach Iñaki Sáez offered a similar rallying cry ahead of his side's visit to the group's bottom team, Northern Ireland.

'We have to win'
"The only thing that can make up for a defeat like the one against Greece is a victory," he said. It's still up to us whether we qualify or not but we have to beat Northern Ireland. I want everybody focused on this game." Spain are still without Xabi Alonso and Guti but Sáez does welcome Rubén Baraja back from suspension, as well as bringing back into the starting side Juanfran in place of Raúl Bravo.

Baraja returns
Sáez will employ just one striker, Raúl González, ahead of a five-man midfield with Baraja replacing Fernando Morientes and Carlos Valerón operating in the hole. For Northern Ireland, there could be a second start for striker Andy Smith following a promising debut in the 2-0 friendly defeat by Italy last week.

Additional reporting by Dimitra Papa, Igor Linnyk and Maria Bretones Merino