PAOK on the road to Russia
The last international break for 2016 is over and paokfc.gr offers you the roundup of 2018 World Cup qualifying games featuring players of PAOK.
Greeks v Cimirot
Greece remain in qualification orbit after matchday 4 of the 2018 World Cup qualifiers. With three victories and one draw, they are in second place of their group , two points behind Belgium who haven’t dropped a point yet. Our national team won their first three matches against the group’s minnows (Gibralter – Greece 1-4, Greece – Cyprus 2-0, Estonia – Greece 0-2) and on their last match they snatched a valuable point in Karaiskakis Stadium in stoppage time, when Giorgos Tzavellas’s unleashed a thunderous strike to equalize (1-1) Bosnia and Herzegovina.
PAOK’s international defender played in three of Greece’s four matches. He was absent from the Estonia game due to the injury sustained during the encounter against Cyprus, that ended up sidelining him for almost a month. Αlexandros Tziolis has featured in two games, both as substitute (19 minutes against Gibraltar and 4 minutes against Estonia). Panagiotis Glykos has been an unused sub in all Greece’s matches.
Greece have a tough road ahead, as their next two games, both away, will most likely their hopes of making it to Russia. They will travel to Belgium on 25 March and to Bosnia and Herzegovina on 9 June. Two back-to-back clashes for the Greek side, who will try for the best.
The Bosnians had a much tougher schedule to handle up to now, as they have already played in Belgium (and were defeated 4-0) and in Greece (1-1). Gojko Cimirot played for 9 minutes against Greece. They prevailed 5-0 over Estonia and 2-0 over Cyprus at home and currently sit 3rd in the standings with 7 points. Their next match is against Gibraltar at home on 25 March.
Group standings:
| Rank | Team | Matches | Points | Wins | Draws | Losses | Goals for | Goals against |
| 1 | Belgium | 4 | 12 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 21 | 1 |
| 2 | Greece | 4 | 10 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 9 | 2 |
| 3 | Bosnia and Herzegovina | 4 | 7 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 8 | 5 |
| 4 | Cyprus | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 8 |
| 5 | Estonia | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 5 | 15 |
| 6 | Gibraltar | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 2 | 17 |
Leovac v Shakhov
Group 9 of the qualifiers is of PAOK interest as well, due to the presence of Marin Leovac’s Croatia and Yevhen Shakhov’s Ukraine. Leovac returned to his national side this November, but hasn’t yet featured in their games. Croatia lead the group with 10 points.
They were held by Turkey at home on their opening match, but then recorded three victories (6-0 at Kosovo, 1-0 at Finland and 2-0 over Iceland, without conceding any goals. Next up, a clash at home against Ukraine on 24 March. Skakhov’s side are second in the group with 8 points.
Andriy Shevchenko’s Ukraine remain undefeated. They started with two draws (1-1 with Iceland at home and 2-2 in Turkey), but then turned on the winning mode prevailing 3-0 over Kosovo and 1-0 over Finland, leaving Iceland one point behind them in the standings. Shakhov earned his first two caps with the Ukrainian side, coming off the bench for the final minutes of the encounters against Iceland and Finland.
Group standings:
| Rank | Team | Matches | Points | Wins | Draws | Losses | Goals for | Goals against |
| 1 | Croatia | 4 | 10 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 10 | 1 |
| 2 | Ukraine | 4 | 8 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 7 | 3 |
| 3 | Iceland | 4 | 7 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 6 | 5 |
| 4 | Turkey | 4 | 5 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 6 |
| 5 | Finland | 4 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 6 |
| 6 | Kosovo | 4 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 12 |
0/2 for Cape Verde
Cape Verde started their 2018 World Cup qualifying campaign in October and found themselves in a very tough group. On matchday 1, they lost 2-0 in Senegal and then were defeated at home by Burkina Faso with the same scoreline.
Fernando Varela featured in both encounters without missing a minute, while Garry Rodrigues came off the bench in Senegal and played the whole match against Burkina Faso. Next up for Cape Verde are two back-to-back encounters against South Africa on 28 August at home and on 2 September away.
Group standings:
| Rank | Team | Matches | Points | Wins | Draws | Losses | Goals for | Goals against |
| 1 | Burkina Faso | 2 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 1 |
| 2 | South Africa | 2 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 2 |
| 3 | Senegal | 2 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 2 |
| 4 | Cape Verde | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 4 |
