Halftime report Russia vs. Greece
Faro-Loule, Portugal (Sports Network) - Greece and Russia are playing their last match in group play at EURO 2004, and have entered the half at Algarve Stadium with Russia holding a 2-1 lead over Greece.
The Russian side is playing for pure pride, having lost their two previous matches and having been already eliminated from the European Championship.
Greece, meanwhile is searching to advance out of group phase for the first time in its history. Either a win or a draw in the match would send the Greek side through.
The first touch in the tournament for Russian forward Dmitri Kirichenko was a shot that hit the back of the net. Kirichenko was added to the lineup after a number of Russian players received their second yellow card during a loss to Portugal earlier in the week. The striker capitalized on the mistake of Greece central defender Kostas Katsouranis to put Russia up 1-0 with the fastest-ever goal in the European Championship.
Just 15 minutes later, Russia struck again when Rolan Gusev hit a corner that found the unmarked Dmitri Bulykin, whose diving header hit the open corner and put the Russian side ahead by two.
The remainder of the first half Greece struggled to clear the ball out of its defensive end. On several occasions they failed to get the first ball out of danger to give the Russians second and third opportunities on goal.
The Greek side finally got their feet under them in the last five minutes of the half when they put constant pressure on the Russian defense. The pressure allowed them to get on goal back.
The Russian side failed to clear the ball and played the ball back into their own box. Greek striker Dimitris Papadopoulos then headed the ball over to Zissis Vryzas, who turned and chipped the ball by Russian goalie Viatcheslav Malafeev, giving the Greek side a chance to salvage a positive result and make history.
06/20 15:48:47 ET
