PAOK Under-17’s dominant in first final of season [with pictures]
Slightly superior in the first half, and dominant in the second, PAOK Under-17’s beat Olympiacos 2-1 on Saturday (18.11) and sealed the first ticket to the Final Four.
In the first final of the season, held in Agrinio, Dimitris Orfanou’s and Stelios Bikas’ team played good football, created chances, scored two goals – having the ability to score even more – but above all they showed their strength and confidence, claiming a deserved victory.
There was some nerves and mistakes as well, but also widespread dynamism in the first 20 minutes of the match. PAOK, however, came out onto the pitch the better side, played well down the flanks, and were clearly more threatening for most of the half. They even came close to scoring twice, with Tsitsilas in the second and 18th minutes.
At the start of the second half, PAOK finally took the lead. In the 47th minute, Stylos provided the assist and Dunga finished comfortably for 1-0. The Double-headed Eagle were clearly on top, posing a permanent threat to the opposing goal. In one of a series of promising attacks, PAOK won a penalty when Mythos was upended. Kosidis converted the spot-kick in the 69th minute, making it 2-1.
Olympiacos was called upon to react and press, and they managed to reduce the deficit in the 82nd minute via a penalty, but PAOK did not give them room to get another chance on goal. On the contrary, the black and whites missed further opportunities to extend their winning margin.
Team lineups:
PAOK: Beleris, Tsiotas, Vyrsokinos, Kosidis, Bataoulas, Eleftheriadis, Tsitsilas (79′ Berdos), Papanikopoulos (87′ Gioka), Stylos (74′ Theofilos), Mythos, Dunga.
Olympiacos: Georgakopoulos, Skouropoulos, Fragos, Karkatsalis, Soulianakou, Philis, Zouridakis (56′ Michaelidis), Plis (62′ Lana), Bibikas (46′ Tzamalis), Darviras (74′ Karakostas), Vasilakopoulos (62′ Ktenas).
