Greece v Romania: First Leg Tip

Greece are strong favourites (21/20 StanJames) to establish a first leg lead in Piraeus on Friday night but the value must come in backing them to win to nil at best odds of 11/5 with Coral.

The 2004 European champions accumulated 25 points in Group G, the same number as group winners Bosnia who scored 18 goals more over the 10 matches. Greece’s strength is undoubtably their defence having won their final five fixtures with five clean sheets. With away goals counting in the play-offs, coach Fernando Santos will be imploring that run to continue.

Romania only took 19 points from Group D, twice getting thrashed by the Dutch. They also suffered a 2-0 home reverse to Turkey in September that could have proven costly. Having made it this far, a first World Cup finals appearance since 1998 is now the target. The Tricolours will attempt to do that without Vlad Chiriches, their influential Spurs centre-back and captain who broke his nose against Newcastle.

Greece have been regulars at major tournaments in the past decade and reached the quarter finals at Euro 2012. Friday’s hosts are the better team (ranked 15th while Romania are 29th) and should establish an advantage with a clean sheet here.