Olympiacos held up in Holland

By: Peter Katsiris | July 19th, 2008

Olympiacos kicked off the second stage of its training session in Netherlands earlier this week but their first test came today in Eerste Divisie club, FC Emmen. Olympiacos was held off the scoreboard once again, as the Greek Champions drew 0-0 with the Dutch club. Last year’s blockbuster signing, Fernando Belluschi, made his summer debut, while Leonardo made a surprise appearance as a left winger.
Although I was unable to catch this match — as I was enduring a Toronto FC match with my friend Colman — I took a look at some highlights I saw on the web. The score line speaks for itself, in saying this was not a good game, or a good representation of the club’s potential. What it does indicate is something Olympiacos fans have been pointing out for months now: we need another striker! But the search for a premium goal-getter is another story.

The match, according to highlights, kicked off with an Olympiacos surge that resulted in Luciano Galletti brought down in the box. Unfortunately it was not considered by the referee as ‘enough’ to earn a penalty, and the play continued. The next chance came five minutes later, when a cross from Pedrag Djordjevic was met by Didier Domi, whose header was pushed off the post by the Emmen keeper. Off the goal kick, Mikel Alonso — currently on trial with Olympiacos — had a glorious chance to open the scoring, but his shot sailed way wide. Another opportunity fell for Mikel Alonso — brother of Liverpool’s Xabi Alonso — nine minutes later, but the result was the same. A series of crosses and quick passing plays saw Olympiacos close out the half in style; but sadly the final ball was lacking every time. First a Pedrag Djordjevic cross was easily claimed by the keeper; then a cross from Tasos Pantos never reached Darko Kovacevic, who was in a clear goal scoring position. Moments later, Luciano Galletti’s free kick was scooped up by the keeper just before Kovacevic and Ieroklis Stoltidis arrived on the scene.

The second half was more of the same from the Greek Champions, as a quick start by Galletti saw a blocked shot drop for Stoltidis; by the player nicknamed ‘Hercules’ barely tested the keeper. The next attack featured Luciano Galletti once again, a shot from the Argentinean struck the post and sailed out of bounds. The game began to slow down in pace, and started to grow in congestion near the center of the pitch. Few attacks were carried out by Olympiacos, as Leonardo took a crack but his luck was not much better than the previous attackers. Mirnes Sisic had a shot sailed just wide, followed by a similar attempt by Leonardo.

Olympiacos’ next friendly is set for Wednesday against Eredivisie club FC Groningen. The competition will be much stiffer, seeing as the Dutch opponents are of higher quality.

***For the complete Olympiacos friendly list, click here

Olympiacos: Kovac (46′ Nikopolidis), Pantos (75′ Mendrinos), Galitsios, Avraam Papadopoulos, Domi (64′ Leonardo), Stoltidis, Mikel Alonso (87′ Katsikogiannis), Galletti, Djordjevic (64′ Raul Bravo), Óscar, Kovacevic (72′ Belluschi).