Greece fails to qualify for World Cup

Athens:

Greece's slim World Cup qualification hopes were snuffed out on Wednesday despite a 1-0 win over Georgia. Turkey's 1-0 victory in Albania left the European champions to finish fourth in Group Two. Greece went into the game needing to win but also needed the Turks and Denmark to slip. With the hosts attacking in waves in search of a goal, Georgia found space and could have scored but Levan Kobiashvili's 13th minute lob hit the crossbar.

New-look attack With a new-look attack featuring Vangelis Mantzios and Dimitris Salpingidis, Greece got the lead after 17 minutes when Yourkas Seitaridis crossed deep from the right for Dimitris Papadopoulos to head past keeper Nukri Revishvili. In the second half, Pantelis Kafes had a long range shot well saved by the 'keeper and Zissis Vryzas curled a header against the woodwork. The victory proved hollow though as the results from elsewhere confirmed that 15 months after being crowned champions of Europe Greece would finish fourth behind the Danes, 2-1 winners in Kazakhstan, Turkey and group winners Ukraine.