Greece, Ukraine all square after play-off first leg

Greece and Ukraine were deadlocked at 0-0 after Saturday’s first leg of their World Cup 2010 playoff at the Athens Olympic Stadium watched by 50,000 spectators.

Wednesday’s second leg in Ukraine will decide which team advances to the finals in South Africa next year.

Neither team had the spark to create dangerous scoring opportunities as the ball was mostly played at midfield and rather carelessly by both squads.

Each team had a half serious chance of scoring in the second half.

Greek striker Giorgos Samaras let fly a hard-bouncing shot in the 47th minute which was saved by Ukraine goalkeeper Andriy Pvatov.

Then in the 67th minute a blistering shot by Taras Mikhalik nearly put the visitors ahead but Greek keeper Alexandros Tzorvas punched the ball away.

Greece coach Otto Rehhagel made a questionable change in the lineup in the 65th minute when he took off striker Fanis Gekas, leading scorer in the qualifiers with nine goals, and introduced the much taller Angelos Charisteas.

Six minutes later Rehhagel took out Dimitris Salpingidis and brought in the leading scorer for the Greek Under-21 squad Kostas Mitroglou in an effort to spark the attack.

Both changes failed to push the Greeks to a goal and enabled Ukraine to record their fifth straight shutout.

It was an uneventful first half as well with neither team wanting to give up space to attackers.

Just before French referee Laurent Duhamel blew the whistle to end the first period, Greece came close to scoring when a long range free kick by veteran midfielder Giorgos Karagounis found Gekas, but his dangerous shot was snuffed superbly by Pvatov.

The best opportunity in the first half for the visitors came in the 35th minute when Oleg Gusev’s shot from up close was blocked by Tzorvas.