Greece ensured their progression into their 2nd consecutive World Cup and 3rd in all of their history after claiming a 4-2 aggregate triumph over Romania on Tuesday night. The veteran midfielder of Fulham, Giorgos Karagounis who is 36 years of age will be his last chance to progress far with Greece taking into consideration is significant elevated age compared to the rest of the squad.
Greece travelled to the Arena Nationala in Bucuresti to play the 2nd leg of the 2014 World Cup qualifications against Romania and the home team was going to need a shower of goals if they wanted to overcome the initial deficit suffered in the 1st leg when Greece claimed a 3-1 victory.
Unfortunately for Romania they got hit with another blow when the captain Giorgos Karagounis delivered a pass over to Mitroglou who found the back of the net and extended the lead of Greece even further.
During the 2nd half Vasilis Torosidis scored an own goal that gave a glimmer of hope for the Romanians but the well placed defence of Greece did not concede any further goals as they edged out a 1-1 draw and ultimately the victory which secured them their space into the upcoming 2014 World Cup in Brazil.
This will be the fifth major tournament Greece has qualified to in the last 10 years, after playing at Euro 2004, Euro 2008, the 2010 World Cup and Euro 2012.
Now the real question remains on how much further can they reach and with Giorgos Karagounis appearing to be playing in his last World Cup it might be the last chance for them to play being under the guidance of their captain Giorgos Karagounis.