Greece played as long as it took to beat Ireland 2-0 on Sunday and achieve its fourth consecutive victory in the UEFA Nations League.
Tasos Bakasetas in the 48th minute and Petros Mandalos in stoppage time (90’+2) scored the goals for the Greek team, which now needs a draw against England to secure first place in Group B in the second division of the Nations League.
The national team was excellent in the first half, although they almost found themselves behind in the score. In the 5th minute, due to a mistake by the defence, the ball reached Ferguson’s feet in the area, but Rota managed to block him, lose his balance and miss.
From then until the half-hour mark, Greece were on fire, denied a goal thanks to Kelleher’s excellent condition. The Liverpool goalkeeper made a very great intervention on an opportunity by Pavlidis in the 11′, as well as a double save on the shots of Bakasetas and Pavlidis in the 19′ and then Giannoulis in the 30′. It was only natural that the momentum of the internationals should be temporarily halted by half-time.
But as the second half of the match began and before the Irish could think they could leave with a positive result, Greece opened the scoring. Bakasetas found himself in a shooting position at the height of the area and scored 1-0 with a powerful right shot in the 48th minute. He then removed the black armband from his left arm and raised it to the sky, dedicating the goal to his late teammate, George Baldock.
From that point on, the visitors took control, forcing the national team to retreat. In the 69th minute, Vlahodemos declared himself “present” on Taylor’s header with the Irish becoming more and more threatening and Jovanovic trying to give the team “breathers” with successive changes.
The Greek team was under intense pressure, but this was not accompanied by great opportunities. Our internationals absorbed the pressure, “played” with time and did not let their opponents take advantage of the reasonable fatigue that existed after last Thursday’s overexertion and victory at Wembley. In fact, in stoppage time, Kelleher gave… an assist to Mandalo and from the Irishman’s most serious mistake, the AEK midfielder “sealed” the victory at 90+2′.
Thus, Greece have taken the penultimate step and are one more away from qualifying for the Final 4 of the division and promotion to League A. They need a point against England in Faliro on November 14 to achieve their goal.
Source: zougla.gr
