European Qualifiers: Greece sink to new low after defeat by Faroe Islands
Saturday 15 November 2014 13:45, UK
Greece suffered a humiliating 1-0 home defeat to the Faroe Islands as they continued their disastrous start to the European qualifying campaign.
Joan Edmundsson scored the only goal of the game in the 61st minute and the shock defeat could spell the end of coach Claudio Ranieri’s reign, with his team languishing at the bottom of the group after failing to pick up a win since he took charge.
Greece, the European champions in 2004, showed little attacking ambition against the mostly amateur islanders and could have conceded before Edmundsson fired a loose ball past Orestis Karnezis in Piraeus.
Lars Olsen's men, ranked 187, pulled off arguably the biggest result in the association's short history - having joined FIFA officially in July 1988.
Elsewhere in Group F, Hungary moved into third place, two points behind Northern Ireland, after a 1-0 win over Finland.
Former West Brom midfielder Zoltan Gera scored the only goal in the 84th minute in Budapest.
In Group I, Cristiano Ronaldo became the record goalscorer in European Championship football as Portugal beat Armenia 1-0.
The Real Madrid forward took his tally in qualifying and tournament matches to 23, passing Dane Dahl Tomasson's total with a close-range finish in the 71st minute.
Fernando Santos's side put their qualification campaign back on track to move a point behind Denmark, who came from behind to win 3-1 in Serbia, but have played one match more.
Serbia opened the scoring through Zoran Tosic after only four minutes, but Nicklas Bendtner (61) equalised in the second half, with Simon Kjaer (63) quickly adding a second.
Wolfsburg forward Bendtner, who left Arsenal in the summer, added a third with five minutes left.
Temuri Ketsbaia confirmed his departure as Georgia coach after Group D leaders Poland cruised to a 4-0 victory in Tbilisi.
Ketsbaia, the former Newcastle player, declared he would resign no matter what the final outcome against the Poles, who continued their fine qualification form with goals from Kamil Glik (51), Grzegorz Krychowiak (71), Sebastian Mila (73) and Arkadiusz Milik (90).
Germany moved into second place after a comfortable 4-0 over Gibraltar in Nuremberg.
Bayern Munich's Thomas Muller scored twice (11, 29) and Mario Gotze (38) adding a third before the break, while Gibraltar substitute Yogen Santos (67) scored an own goal.
