Greece tops Canada in friendly

Greece tops Canada in friendly

Published Feb. 9, 2011 6:23 p.m. ET

Yiannis Fetfatzidis scored the lone goal in the second half Wednesday to help Greece beat Canada 1-0 in an international friendly.

The 21-year-old Fetfatzidis shot past Canada goalkeeper Milan Borjan in the 63rd minute, pouncing on a fumbled clearance by Adam Straith.

Canada missed most of the early chances, and the 2004 European champions gained composure late in the first half and followed up after the break with successive attacks.

Dwayne De Rosario nearly leveled in the 74th minute but his free kick was blocked by Greece goalkeeper Costas Chalkias.

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"We're a young team and it will take us some time to gel," Greece defender Giorgos Tzavelas said. "But we showed some cohesion tonight and we're getting better with each game."

Defender Dejan Jakovic was the standout for Canada, along with PSV Eindhoven's Atiba Hutchinson, who kept his young teammates pushing forward.

Canada coach Stephen Hart said he was pleased with the team overall, but urged his players not to rush their final pass.

"We were in control in the first half and they didn't give us much trouble," Hart said. "But in the second half we were under pressure, the Greeks moved the ball around well ... We came back in the last 15 minutes be we couldn't get the goal we needed."

Ranked 80th in the world, Canada is preparing for the June 5-25 CONCACAF Gold Cup in the United States, while 10th-ranked Greece is nearly midway through qualification for the 2012 European Championship.

Lineups:

Greece: Michalis Sifakis (Costas Chalkias, 46), Vangelis Moras, Sokratis Papastathopoulos, Vassilis Torosidis (Loukas Vyntra,46), Giorgos Tzavelas, Giorgos Karagounis (Pantelis Kaffes, 46), Costas Katsouranis, Sotiris Ninis, Yiannis Fetfatzidis, Dimitris Salpigidis (Costas Mitroglou, 46, Giorgos Georgiadis, 69), Nikos Lymberopoulos (Panayiotis Kone, 61).

Canada: Milan Borjan, Adrian Cann, Dejan Jakovic, Jaime Peters, Adam Straith, Atiba Hutchinson, Dwayne De Rosario, Will Johnson (Pedro Pacheco, 82), Josh Simpson (Tosaint Ricketts, 77), Simeon Jackson (David Edgar, 66), Olivier Occean (Rob Friend, 46).

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