PAO-13

Olisadebe Last Minute Strike Saves PAO

Today's game with Proodeftiki was anything but the easy match that was expected. Proodeftiki was very well organized in defense and struck on the counter attack very well. The game had goals, posts, cards, fights, and many scoring chances. Itzhak Shum started the game with an offensive 4-4-2 lineup. The defense consisted of Munch, Goumas, Morris, and Seitaridis. In the midfield were Sapanis, Gonzalez, Basinas, and Michaelsen. The striking duo for today's game was Papadopoulos and Konstantinou.

PAO started the game in search of an early goal. The first big scoring chance was turned into a goal in the 13th minute when Gonzalez placed his shot perfectly after a cross by Seitaridis. The goal gave the early lead and confidence to the Greens. One minute later, a Basinas free kick troubled the keeper enough for him to mishandle the ball, only for him to recover it just in time. In the 31st minute Gonzalez almost doubled the lead but his shot was saved by Karanastasis. Basinas tried a long shot in the 36th minute but Karanastasis did well to save it once again. One minute later a Frantzeskos cross was headed by Karanikolas but Chalkias made the save. Chalkias injured himself on that same play and was substituted by Stefanos Kotsolis. Frantzeskos, who was the player of the game for Proodeftiki, tried his luck on a shot from outside the box only for it to go inches wide of the post. The goal came for Proo three minutes later when a header/pass from Kazantsi found a surging Spertos who knocked it past Kotsolis and tied the game. Proo was not done yet. Franzteskos shot from outside the box hit the post and nearly gave Proodeftiki the lead. The half ended 1-1 with the hopes of both teams high.

The second half of the game was more suspenseful then that of the first. The suspense began with a shot from Spertos in the 52nd minute that forced Kotsolis into a diving save. The next 20 minutes provided a number of yellow cards to both teams. In the 72', Seitaridis swung in a cross and Goumas got his head to it. The ball beat the keeper and in a last second effort a Proodeftiki defender saved the header from crossing the goal line with his head! After that unbelievable piece of defending, the Greens and the fans were left wondering what it would take to win the game. Minutes later, Sanmartean was unsuccessful when his hard shot was blocked by Karanastasis. Another chance by Panathinaikos was wasted, when Olisadebe had a one on one with the keeper but his shot was blocked. With one minute left until stoppage time, a Konstantinou header found Olisadebe inside the box whose perfect right footed shot hit the corner of the back of the net giving Panathinaikos the lead 1-2. The traveling PAO fans in Korydallo exploded with joy after Olisadebe's goal. Nonetheless, the game was not done. In the 98th minute of the game, Frantzeskos won a free kick in a very good position in the last play. The hopes of Proodeftiki's battle to stay in the top flight of Greece were dependant on this free kick. Franzteskos took the free kick beautifully, curling the ball from one end of the goal to the other and with Kotsolis helpless the ball hit the bar and was cleared by the defense. The referee blew the whistle right after the clearance and Proo's effort of grabbing any points ended in defeat.

After the match Itzhak was not happy with his team's performance and said, "We won but with difficulty but it was hard to play football on this pitch. It was a match that saw very little football being played. I would like to tip my hat off to my players for all their efforts today, as now we have only one game that matters to us and we must win. Unfortunately, we don't pick our opponents and it is unlucky we have to play with teams that are fighting for there stay in the top league. The players were tired from the Greek Cup match but we must forget this game and focus on the last game."

Winning goal scorer Emmanuel Olisadebe also commented on the match and said, "We did not expect such difficulty today, but we got the result. After they tied the game at 1-1 all of Proodeftiki's players sat back and played defense and it was difficult to score. I didn't know I was going to score today. Unfortunately I missed the Greek Cup match, but I am happy as is the team for today's result. The season has been good for Panathinaikos, we saw some players, like Papadopoulos, score many times this year as well as other players who have contributed to the team."

Yellow cards: 32� Konstantinou, 62� Gonzalez, 83� Goumas.

Panathinaikos: Chalkias (40' Kotsolis), Seitaridis, Morris, Goumas, Munch, Basinas, Sapanis (46' Sanmartean), Michaelsen (82' Olisadebe), Gonzalez, Papadopoulos, Konstantinou.

May 16, 2004