All to play for as Croatia travel to Greece
Wednesday, September 7, 2011
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Greece host Croatia in a crucial game at the top of Group F; victory for the visitors would book their place at UEFA EURO 2012 while the hosts need a win to wrestle back control at the summit.
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Greece will look to wrestle back control in the race for a guaranteed UEFA EURO 2012 place as they take on top-ranked Croatia in their final Group F home game.
• Croatia were forced to settle for a goalless draw in their first meeting on 7 September 2010 after a concerted rearguard action allowed Greece to escape Zagreb with a point. Second-half efforts from substitutes Nikica Jelavić and Eduardo were the closest Croatia came to breaking through.
• Greece's record in five matches against Croatia reads W1 D3 L1 (W1 D0 L1 at home). This will be the teams' first meeting in Piraeus.
• Croatia first met their upcoming opponents in Zagreb on 10 November 1996 and needed Davor Šuker's equaliser to cancel out Demis Nikolaidis's opener in a 1-1 draw.
• Šuker also grabbed the only goal in the return fixture in Salonika on 30 April the following year as Croatia finished second in qualifying Group 1 to earn a play-off meeting with Ukraine, which they won 3-1 on aggregate. Greece came third in the section.
• Since then, the nations have crossed paths in a pair of friendlies, with Greece triumphing 3-2 in Athens on 10 March 1999 and the two sides playing out a 2-2 draw in Varazdin on 25 April 2001.