Greece vs Romania preview

September 6, 2014
By: Nemanja Lazarevic

Greece vs RomaniaFollowing a solid showing at the 2014 World Cup, Greece start the Euro 2016 qualifying campaign against Romania, a team they pipped to a place at the tournament finals in Brazil.

The Eastern European country has struggled of late, but this is a group where they cannot afford to miss out on Euro 2016 qualification.

Having recorded a 4-2 aggregate win over Romania to qualify for the 2014 World Cup, Greece struggled in the opening exchanges, suffering a 3-0 loss to Colombia before sharing spoils with Japan.

However, the 2-1 triumph over Ivory Coast ensured they progressed to the knockout stages, but they were eventually beaten by Costa Rica after penalties.

Fernando Santos has since stepped down from the post, and the national team chiefs found him a great replacement in Claudio Ranieri.

The new boss didn’t make too many changes to the squad that reached the Last 16 stage in Brazil, although Dimitris Diamantakos and Nikos Karabelas have been added to the side.

Veterans Kostas Katsouranis and Giorgos Karagounis are no longer in the squad, but Kyriakos Papadopoulos returns.

Having defeated Romania 3-1 last time out, Greece have been made 2.10 (11/10) favourites to start the new campaign with a win.

Probable starting line-up (4-2-3-1): Karnezis – Torosidis, Sokratis, Manolas, Holebas – Maniatis, Samaris – Salpingidis, Kone, Samaras – Mitroglou.

The national team of Romania have been on a major downtrend over the last ten years or so, and things are not looking good at the moment.

After showing some promise in the 2014 World Cup qualifiers, Tricolorii came close to making it to the tournament finals, only to be eliminated in the play-offs by Greece.

This will be a perfect opportunity for Romania to get some revenge, but I see little value in odds of 4.40 (17/5) offered on away win.

Coach Vitor Piturca, who is widely expected to leave the post after this game, has left out seasoned footballers Bogdan Lobont, Cristian Tanase, Banel Nicolita, Marius Niculae and Costin Lazar, while handing call ups to five uncapped players.

However, there is a clear lack of quality in the squad, and another disappointing result definitely looks on the cards.

Romania were beaten by Algeria 2-1 in June in their last friendly game, but there are quite a few players missing from that squad.

Probable starting line-up (4-2-3-1): Pantilimon – Chiriches, Grigore, Tamas, Rat – Pintilii, Prepelita – Maxim, Chipciu, Torje – Marica.

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