Greece had it's chances slightly reduced for qualifying for the World Cup finals, after losing 1-0 to the Ukraine.

Although the Greek side had the majority of the possession, and the better of the chances to score, including two goals which were caught off-side, they failed to score a goal. Ukraine typically left it till the last minutes to secure the first European place in the FIFA 2006 World Cup Finals in Germany.

The Ukrainian side's passing was stifled by the Greek side, but they kept their defence. Ukraine bided their time, and waited for the best opportunity to score and took full advantage of it, after Andriy Husin was left clear inside the area against goalkeeper Antonis Nikopolidis, and opened the score 9 minutes before full time.

Agellos Basinas from the Greek side would be player of the match, should he had managed to tackle Husin before he was left alone against the Greek goalkeeper.

Ukraine's win places them 7 points ahead from Turkey, leaving Greece a point behind in the third place of Group 2. Coach Oleg Blokhin congratulated his team's players and announced to journalists that even if he has secured the first place of the group, his team will try to win Turkey in the final qualifier game in Kiev and consequently help Greece reach the world cup finals.

Oleg Blokhin has served as club coach in the past and is well known in Greece. The TV reporter who was next to the Ukrainian team's dug-out during the game, quoted Blahin screaming to one of his defenders in Greek!

The game kicked off with a nervous opening from both sides, with Greece gradually gaining control of the game and possession. Characteristically, the possession in the first half was 70/30.

20 minutes into the game, a long throw from Giorgos Seitaridis was touched by Zissis Vryzas and landed at Ajax striker Angelos Charisteas whose shot was saved by Ukraine's goalkeeper Olexandr Shovkovskyi.

A foul kicked by captain Thodoris Zagorakis found defender Michalis Kapsis who managed to send the ball wide with a header, after an unsuccessful exit by Ukraine's goalkeeper Olexandr Shovkovskyi.

Two minutes later Inter midfielder Giorgos Karagounis went past three defenders but his shot went slightly over the top bar.

On the 26th minute, Bolton's Stelios Giannakopoulos free kick fed Michalis Kapsis header which went wide from the goalpost.

5 minutes before half time, the Ukrainian defence was caught unprepared when the ball was passed from Charisteas to Giannakopoulos who managed to score from a close range. The goal however was ruled out by the linesman because Giannakopoulos was inches off side.

Karagounis seemed to have injured his right leg from 10 minutes earlier on, but coach Otto Rehaghel insisted that he kept trying. On the 35th minute he had to be substituted by Vassilis Tsiartas. This development was a major drawback for the Greek team, as one of the key players in the midfield had to be substituted.

The lack of quality players in the Greek team made Karagkounis injury felt on the game, with the midfielder's having difficulty to pass the ball to Ukraine's goalkeeper area.

30 minutes into the first half an Andrej Voronin cross sent the ball to Andriy Shevchenko whose header sent the ball across Antonis Nikopolidis line, in a chance which shocked the home fans. Andriy Husin narrowly missed the ball while diving towards it. However the flag raised by the linesman caught Husin off-side.

On the 35th minute, Greece coach Otto Rehaghel

Ukraine did not threat the Greek goalkeeper, who rarely got the ball in his hands in the first half. The Greeks were mostly in possession of the ball, but were playing with long crosses from the midfieldiers to the strikers. Most of these crosses were easily intercepted by the Ukrainian defence.

The second half started with the ball played around the midfield. The Greek team's problems worsened when Michalis Kapsis had to be substituted by Loukas Vyntra on the 57th minute, after suffering an injury. Coach Otto Rehaghel, together with his assistant Giannis Topalidis was deeply worried.

After several unsuccessful attempts from both sides to reach closer to the goalkeepers, a long cross from Tsiartas found Fyssas close to Shovkovskyi's right goalpost, crossing the ball to Giannakopoulos whose shot went wide under pressure from the defence.

Two minutes later Anatoli Tymoschuk almost scored an own goal trying to defend a free kick from Tsiartas, forcing Shovkovskyi to send the ball out.

The minutes went on, with Rehaghel trying to find solutions and giving directions to his players. On the 81st minute, Basinas miscalculated a cross, leaving Husin against Nikopolidis.

The Greek team had not lost a home match since 7th September 2002, when it lost 0-2 to Spain.

Greece
A. Nikopolidis, P. Fyssas, G. Goumas, M. Kapsis, G. Seitaridis, A. Basinas, S. Giannakopoulos, T. Zagorakis, A. Charisteas, Z. Vryzas (Bench: K. Chalkias, S. Kyrgiakos, S. Tavlaridis, V. Tsiartas, T. Gekas, D. Papadopoulos)

Ukraine
O. Shovkovskyi, S. Federov, A. Nesmachnyi, A. Rusoi, V. Yezerskyi, O. Husev, A. Husin, A. Tymoschuk, A. Shevchenko, A. Vorobey, A. Voronin (Bench: V. Kernozenko, O. Radchenko, S. Nazarenko, R. Rotan, O. Rykun, O. Shelayev, O. Belyk)

Substitutes
35 min - Giorgos Karagounis (OUT), Vassilis Tsiartas (IN)
55 min - Andrei Vorobey (OUT), Ruslan Rotan (IN)
58 min - Michalis Kapsis (OUT), Loukas Vyntra (IN)
86 min - Giannis Goumas (OUT), Dimitrios Papadopoulos (IN)
90 min - Andriy Shevchenko (OUT), Oleksiy Belyk (IN)
90 min - Andrej Voronin (OUT), Oleh Shelayev (IN)

Yellow Cards:
3 min - Sergiy Federov
25 min - Andriy Nesmachnyi
27 min - Andriy Husin