Greece denied as Nemeth stars

Slovakia 2-2 Greece
Greece were denied victory against Slovakia when Angelos Basinas hit the post with a late penalty as their friendly was drawn 2-2 in Zilina.

Nemeth scores twice
Szilárd Nemeth had only equalised for the home team on 86 minutes with his second goal of the night. And his side clung on after Panathinaikos FC midfield player Basinas missed his spot-kick in a game where, ironically, Greece had opened the scoring with a penalty.

Injured players
Slovakia coach Ladislav Jurkemik was without injured VfL Borussia Mönchengladbach midfield player Igor Demo and Blackburn Rovers FC defender Vratislav Gresko. Meanwhile, Greece's German coach, Otto Rehhagel, was denied the services of forwards Themistoklis Nikolaidis and Ioannis Amanatidis, as well as defensive pair Sotirios Kyrgiakos and Christos Patsatzoglou.

Quick equaliser
Vassilios Tsartas, winning his 50th Greek cap, was the man on target from the spot in the 13th minute to give the visitors the advantage after Zisis Vryzas was fouled. However, within a minute Middlesbrough FC striker Nemeth latched on to Miroslav Karhan's fine pass and brought Slovakia level - having previously scored the first goal in his nation's 2-0 win in Greece in 2000, the sides' only other meeting to date.

Fine saves
The visitors had the better of the rest of the first half, Traianos Dellas hitting the crossbar and Slovakian goalkeeper Miroslav König twice denying Vryzas with fine saves. Slovakia made it to the break level, and continued to remain on terms for the first half-hour of the second period.

Golden opportunity
Substitute striker Lambros Choutos finally restored Greece's lead by heading in a 76th-minute corner - only for Nemeth to again level the scores. Basinas seemed to have a golden opportunity to allow Greece to make up for that previous defeat after Slovakia's substitute goalkeeper Branislav Rzeszoto brought down Vassilios Lakis. But when the ball hit the woodwork to Rzeszoto's left, Greece had to settle for a draw.

Qualifying tests
Slovakia return to UEFA EURO 2004™ qualifying action on 7 June at home to Turkey before travelling to meet England four days later. They are currently in third place in Group 7, four points behind leaders England. Greece are in a similar position, lying third in Group 6 trailing leaders Spain - who they play on 7 June in Saragossa - by four points.