greece fight back to win in budapest published: wednesday 21 november 2007, 23.56cet hungary 1-2 greece greece ended their successful uefa euro 2008™ qualifying campaign on a winning note with a fine comeback in budapest.
greece ended their successful uefa euro 2008™ qualifying campaign on a winning note after coming from a goal down to grind out a victory against hungary in budapest.
basinas winner otto rehhagel's men were fortunate to go in at half-time on level terms having fallen behind to ákos buzsáky's early deflected opener. home defender vilmos vanczák threw the visitors a lifeline midway through the first half when he headed past his own goalkeeper before captain angelos basinas scored a penalty a minute before the hour to complete a determined comeback from the european champions.
early opener hungary were certainly quicker out of the blocks: tamás priskin breaking clear after a mistake by greece full-back christos patsatzoglou, only to be denied by goalkeeper konstantinos chalkias's fine block. six minutes later, the home pressure yielded the lead as buzsáky went on a mazy run before firing in a shot which deflected off konstantinos katsouranis and over chalkias.
hungary chances greece levelled on 22 minutes with their first real attack of the match. katsouranis's right-wing cross was flicked across goal by alexandros tziolis and headed into his own net by vanczák. the title-holders, so convincing in their 5-0 weekend demolition of malta, were reduced to long-range efforts from basinas while peter várhidi's team continued to carve out decent opportunities. péter halmosi should have converted buzsáky's 31st-minute centre, before dániel tozsér was denied from 20 metres by chalkias.
paying the penalty relief for rehhagel came when greece won a penalty following hungary keeper márton fülöp's foul on theofanis gekas – basinas stepping up confidently to put his side ahead. vanczák should have equalised on 71 minutes when he sent a free header straight at substitute keeper antonios nikopolidis. it was to prove the last chance for hungary who finished the campaign second-bottom of group c.
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