Greece out to foil Germany hopes

Greece will attempt to reach their first UEFA European Under-19 Championship final in Steyr on Tuesday when they take on a Germany side seeking to surpass the efforts of the team of 2002.

New ground
Nikolaos Nioplias has already guided Group A runners-up Greece further than they have ever gone before in only their second finals appearance while Frank Engel's Germany, who finished top of Group B, will be aiming to go one step further than the team of five years ago - beaten in the final by a Spain side featuring the likes of Fernando Torres, José Antonio Reyes and Andrés Iniesta. Both sides emerged from the group phase with unbeaten, yet contrasting, records, Greece scoring twice compared to Germany's seven goals. "Both teams play with very different styles and I can't say yet what kind of tactics we will adopt," said Engel, who has reason to be optimistic if history is any guide. The sides are meeting for the third successive U19 campaign, most recently in the 2005/06 qualifying round, and Germany have won both previous games, scoring six goals.

Boateng wary
"We have to focus on Greece now and not think about the final," said defender Jerome Boateng, the only German survivor of that win in October 2005. "It will be a tough match. I saw them against Austria and they are a compact team with two or three very good players." Boateng's older brother, Kevin-Prince was a member of Germany's last U19 semi-finalists, the team who lost to France in Northern Ireland two years ago.

Germany confident
Engel is confident his team can improve on 2005 crop despite an injury doubt to midfielder Anis Ben-Hatira, who completed only half of Germany's last training session on Monday because of a muscle problem. "The players always believed they could make the final," the coach explained. "There are two options before a tournament like this - you can just come to a European Championship and enjoy it or you can go there and make an impact. I tried to tell that to the team and I think they were listening."

Objective achieved
Greece coach Nioplias admits he was not so bold about his side's chances before the finals but he has now redefined their target. "Our objective was to get into the final four and we've done that. We've set our targets step by step, from the qualifying round, through to the Elite round, and now we are aiming for the final," he told uefa.com. "Of course it's a big achievement for our national team to be in the last four in the European U19 Championship for the first time."

Duo return
Nioplias has no fresh injury worries for the match at the Vorwärts Stadion and is boosted by the return of midfielders Elini Dimoutsos and Georgios Ioannidis after the pair sat out Saturday's goalless draw through suspension. Although both have completed their bans, both sides have six players apiece who would miss the final were they to pick up another yellow card.