Stalemate in Crete ends perfect start

By: Peter Katsiris | September 29th, 2008

Olympiacos’ bid to extend their perfect start to the Greek SUper League season ending in an unspectacular fashion on Saturday, as the defending Greek Champions were held by OFI in Crete. A 0-0 draw in the southern-most Greek island still sees Olympiacos as undefeated leaders of the Greek top flight, but the bid to continue the unblemished start was halted by a club usually found in the basement of the Greek Super League.

The game was transformed from a friendly — all be it, few matches at this level are — to a downright ugly encounter shortly after kickoff. Short tempers were the main cause of the heated episode to take over Pangkritio on this night, as several bookings slowed the tempo of the match in the opening half. Despite the heated altercations between the two sides, there were in fact opportunities — not many — to break the deadlock. The first came for Olympiacos after just thriteen minutes. Usual attacker, Diogo, played provider for a streaking Fernando Belluschi who controlled Diogo’s pass perfectly. A well rounded effort completed the play, but a fine save from OFI goalkeeper Arakdiusz Malarz deprived the Argentine of his second goal this season.

Not to be outdone, OFI created a chance of their own. On loan midfielder Dame N’Doye slipped past defender Raul Bravo, but the former Panathinaikos player had his effort well blocked by Antonis Nikopolidis, who sent the ball out for a corner. N’Doye had another chance to break the deadlock, this time on forty-two minutes. Once again resorting to shoot from some distance, N’Doye had another shot blocked by Nikopolidis, while a late coming Vassilis Torosidis played cover in the back.

Olympiacos tried to steal OFI’s thunder just before the break, as a trademark effort from Raul Bravo was met by Malarz who sent the whizzing ball out for a corner. A heated half ended on that note, as two sides equal in both attack and defense headed to the locker rooms level pegging.

After an embarrassing display in the first half, Olympiacos looked to erase the scars left from the first forty-five minutes with an attack only seconds after the restart. Sebastian leto attempted to place the ball past Malarz, but the well driven effort was blocked by the Polish keeper.

With the second half off to a speedy start, one would expect a lively tempo to talepver the second interval. This was not the case, however, Ioannis Taralidis’ effort on sixty-one minutes was the next notable attempt to break the stalemate. A former member of Olympiacos, Taralidis’ try at goal did not test Nikopolidis who watched the ball sail wide. Agitated by the fact t hey couldn’t solve OFI’s defense after over an hour, Olympiacos began to assert more accurate efforts in the coming moments. An attempt from Diogo opened the series of tries, but the header off a Belluschi corner was cleared just off the line by a defensive N’Doye. Olympiacos came even closer onlyt seconds later, as Torosidis found himself all alone in front of goal. Unfortunately, the Greece International could only muster to hit the post.

Closer to the end of the match, several efforts should’ve ended the goaless encounter. N’Doye wasted his third effort of the match by sending his curling attempt over the Olympiacos goal. For the visitors, second half substitute Darko Kovacevic nearly played the role of the hero but after beating Malarz on a one-on-one play, the tall Serb couldn’t finish the dynamic play.

A breakthrough finally came — at least Olympiacos and its supporters thought so — when Diogo shrugged off the defender to beat Malarz. Despite the crisp finish by the Brazilian, the officials of the match agreed that Diogo had fouled his marker. Leaving the travelling crowd in dismay, the goal was cancelled and moments later the final whistle sealed the match’s fate.

OFI Crete FC 0-0 Olympiacos

Yellow Cards:
OFI Crete FC — Kounenakis 12′, Dimoutsos 20′, Barcauan 32′, N’ Doye 45′, Roubakis 54′, Moniakis 88′.
Olympiacos — Leto 32′, Diogo 71′.

OFI Crete FC (Frantisek Straka): Malarz, Bar cauan, Taralidis, Stavrakakis (29′ Simic), Isa, Roubakis, Sfakianakis, Dimoutsos (73′ Popovic), Moniakis, Kounenakis, N’ Doye (84′ Kostovski).

Olympiacos (Ernesto Valverde): Nikopolidis, Antzas, Avraam Papadopoulos, Raul Bravo, Torosidis, Dudu (48′ Mendrinos), Patsatzoglou, Leto (60′ Kovacevic), Galletti (72′ Oscar), Belluschi, Diogo.

Referee: Ilias Mazarakos

Venue: Pankritio Stadium, Heraklion, Crete, Greece