Greek celebrations cut short
Wednesday, March 30, 2005
Article summary
Austria 1-2 Greece Despite coming from behind to win, Greece miss out due to Israel's dramatic draw.
Article body
Greece came from behind to defeat UEFA European Under-17 Championship Elite round Group 5 hosts Austria - but then learnt they had been denied a place in the finals by a last-gasp Israeli penalty against Romania.
Victory not enough
Having beaten Romania and lost to Israel in their opening games, Greece needed to overcome point-less Austria by any scoreline other than 1-0 - and hope that Romania gained a win against Israel with a single-goal. And in Bruck/Mur, Romania did indeed open the scoring with 13 minutes to go, but Maor Bar Buzaglo struck from the spot in added time to ensure that Israel, not Greece, will be in May's finals in Italy.
Twist of fate
Austria, missing the finals for the first time in three seasons, actually had hopes of their first points in the group today when Julian Baumgartlinger struck in the first minute. But Dimitrios Ginantzis equalised eight minutes later and just before half-time Ioannis Papastathopoulos converted a penalty to give Greece an advantage it later seemed would earn qualification, only for another spot-kick elsewhere to provide a final twist of fate for a nation who also missed out at this stage a year ago in a three-way tie-breaker.
