Greece and Nigeria play to goalless draw, Bosnia win

Nigeria forward Emmanuel Emenike (left) vies with Greek midfielder Panagiotis Tachtsidis during a World Cup friendly match in Chester, Pennsylvania on Tuesday. The match ended in a goalless draw. [PHOTO: AFP]

Greece and Nigeria battled to a scoreless draw Tuesday in an international friendly match that served as a World Cup warm-up for both teams.

Greece had their fair share of chances, but couldn’t get past Nigeria goalkeeper Vincent Enyeama, who made a superb double save on Georgios Samaras and Dimitris Salpingidis in the 8rd minute.

Greece had the majority of the opportunities in the first half as well, with Lazaros Christodoulopoulos firing a 30-yard rocket that just went high in the 21st minute.

Ioannis Fetfatzidis was turned away in the 28th minute by Enyeama.

Early in the second half, Nigeria picked up their attack on the strength of Chelsea attacker Victor Moses, but his runs from the left wing came to nothing.

In the 90th minute, Moses belted a shot from just outside the box that went wide. Nigeria were coming off a 2-2 draw against Scotland in a friendly in London.

The Africa Cup of Nations champions will play the United States in Jacksonville, Florida, in another tune-up friendly on Saturday and kick off their games in Brazil against Iran on June 16 in Curitiba.

They will also face Argentina and Bosnia in Group F.

Last friendly

Greece will play Boliva in Harrison, New Jersey, on Friday before heading for their base camp in Brazil at Aracaju.

Greece have never qualified for the knockout stages in their previous appearances at the finals but will fancy their chances as they have been drawn in Group C with Colombia, who will be without talismanic striker Radamel Falcao, Japan and the talented but ageing Ivory Coast.

Greece open their campaign against Colombia on June 14 in Belo Horizonte.

Meanwhile, Bosnia boosted their confidence ahead of their first World Cup with a 1-0 friendly victory over Mexico on Tuesday that left ‘El Tri’ looking for answers.

dominate play

Galatasaray midfielder Izet Hajrovic scored the lone goal of the match in the 41st minute after a strong first half from Bosnia. Senad Lulic tracked the ball down in Mexico’s area and slipped it through to Sejad Salihovic, who cut back to set Hajrovic up for the one-time finish.

“It’s a good win for us,” said Bosnia and Manchester City striker Edin Dzeko. “Now I think we’re prepared for the World Cup.”

The match before a sell-out crowd of 60,707 at Soldier Field, home of the NFL’s Chicago Bears, followed Bosnia’s 2-1 friendly win over Ivory Coast in St. Louis, Missouri, and was the country’s last match before they head to Brazil. Bosnia will open their World Cup campaign against Argentina on June 15, and will also play Iran and Nigeria in Group F.

Despite the backing of a partisan crowd, Mexico were punchless in attack as Javier “Chicharito” Hernandez found himself frustrated in front of goal despite some good looks.

The best of those came after his picture-perfect touch on Miguel Layun’s long ball set him free on goal, only for his effort glance off the post.   

     — AFP