Greece 1 - Romania 1

Photo by Daniel Mihailescu

Greece took their 3-1 lead with them on the road as they were in Bucharest to face Romania for the second time in five days.  Romania had all the possession for the opening quarter hour, but they could not score a goal.  Then, the Greeks found their foothold.  Jose Holebas cut left on the ball but had his shot saved by Romania goalkeeper Ciprian Tatarusanu.  A beautiful chip pass from Greece captain Georgios Karagounis put Kostas Mitroglou (pictured, blue) yards behind the offside trap a the top of the half circle.  Under no pressure at all, Mitroglou calmly slotted the ball around the goalkeeper to put Greece ahead 1-0 and eliminate the road-goals tiebreaker from being used against them.  Romania then had to substitute Razvan Rat off the pitch with an injury two minutes after having conceded.  Greece led 1-0 with forty-five minutes gone.

Romania were the inferior over both legs, but an odd play gave them a result on this night.  Vaseleios Torosidis was in defense for Greece and ran onto a pass from a Romanian player before turning and firing into the upper ninety of his own net.  It was perhaps the best finish of his entire career, but he equalized for Romania.  Luckily for Torosidis, he will not be burned in effigy because Greece managed to see out the rest of the match without further incident.  The match ends in a 1-1 draw.  Greece win the series 4-2 and advance to Brasil 2014 whereas Romania are eliminated.

Goals
Greece
Kostas Mitroglou 23

Romania
Vaseleios Torosidis 55 OG

Match Reports:
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2013/soccer/wires/11/20/2050.ap.soc.romania.greece.2nd.ld.writethru.0670/
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/24907600
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/worldcup2014/article-2510199/Romania-1-Greece-1-agg-2-4--match-report-Greeks-qualify-Brazil-2014.html
http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/preliminaries/news/newsid=2225264/index.html
http://www.goal.com/en-gb/match/124952/romania-vs-greece/report?

Highlights:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cmrp5RCfSv8