Rehhagel: We Will Win In Turkey

As I’ve told in the past, the group stage is like a 400 meter run. Now we are leading in the final stretch of our race but do not think we are through yet," the German-born coach said to reporters, before adding:

"We are not over the finishing line yet but we are very close. As a goal is a goal only when the whole ball passes the line. Mathematically, we are not through yet."



Rehhagel congratulated his players for the effort they put in but didn’t forget to criticize them for allowing the visitors to reduce the gap with a goal in the stoppage time.

"The players worked very had and we deserved the lead but I was unhappy with elements of our game after that," said Rehhagel.

"We let Bosnia to reduce the deficit. If there were five more minutes of game we would suffer. "

Greece now travel to Istanbul on Wednesday for the big derby of Group C. Last March, Rehhagel’s boys faced a humiliating 4-1 home defeat to Turkey, their only one in the qualifying stages so far. As he admitted his and his players’ mind are still on that result

"We have not forgotten our defeat to Turkey in the first game so we want to get something good in Istanbul."

The defending champions are virtually through to the finals of Austria and Switzerland as they now need only three points in the last three games against Turkey, Malta and Hungary to qualify. Turkey and Norway face each other in the penultimate round of the qualifying stage, which means that only one of them can advance to the finals.