GREECE 2-0 CYPRUS Patras, Greece, 19/05/2008
Ninis 5, Katsouranis 58

A makeshift Greece squad – missing 11 key players – managed to brush aside Cyprus 2-0 in this Euro 2008 build-up match.

18-year-old Panathinaikos starlet Sotiris Ninis scored within five minutes of making his international debut, beating Cyprus goalkeeper Antonis Georgallidis with a low shot from inside the area. Ninis becomes the youngest player to score for Greece. ‘It’s a wonderful feeling,’ said Ninis.

Benfica’s Costas Katsouranis scored a penalty in the 58th minute, to give the dominant Greeks a 2-0 win.

The game was interupted shortly before the end when part of the 23,500-strong sell-out crowd ran onto the pitch in the mistaken belief that they had heard the final whistle.

The match had been preceded by the unusual sight of a float in the shape of Greece’s German coach Otto Rehhagel being driven around the pitch to cheers and shouts of ‘good luck’.

Rehhagel has named his squad for Saturday’s match with Hungary, and the big news is that teenage scorer Sotiris Ninis is dropped – and with so many key players returning to the fold he is unlikely to return to the squad for Euro 2008. Rehhagel will announce his Euro 2008 squad immidatlety after the Hungary match, with the team leaving for a pre-tournament training camp in Germany on Sunday.

Hungary were UFWC champions until September of last year. However, an attempt to take the title from Greece in November ended in a 2-1 defeat.

Match Reports Cyprus, Greece

Greece coach Otto Rehhagel is without an entire 11-man team of key players for Monday’s UFWC clash with Cyprus. Olympiakos stars Antonis Nikopolidis, Vassilios Torosidis, Paraskevas Antzas and Christos Patsatzoglou – who will all play in this weekend’s Greek cup final – plus Georgios Samaras, Angelos Basinas, Georgios Seitaridis, Fanis Gekas, Ioannis Amanatidis, Sotirios Kyrgiakos and Angelos Charisteas are all missing.

Instead, Rehhagel will turn to 18-year-old Panathinaikos prodigy Sotiris Ninis, plus Panionios midfielder Grigorios Makos, PAOK striker Lazaros Christodoulopoulos and OFI goalkeeper Alexandros Tzorvas. Also included is Stelios, this week released by Bolton Wanderers.

THe match will take place at the Panpeloponisiako Stadium in Patras.

Greece squad: Chalkias (Aris Salonika), Tzorvas; Spyropoulos, Vintra, Goumas (all Panathinaikos) Dellas, Papastathopoulos (both AEK Athens), Melissis (PAOK); Karagounis, Alexandros Tziolis, Sotiris Ninis (all Panathinaikos), Stelios (unattached), Katsouranis (Benfica), Makos (Panionios GSS); Salpigidis (Panathinaikos), Liberopoulos, Christodoulopoulos (PAOK)

Match Previews Cyprus, Greece