How things can change in 12 months of football. This time last year, the Ethniki were flying after coming off a great UEFA Nations League campaign in League B and beat Scotland in a promotion to League A, a promotion that I have mixed feelings for. Nevertheless, the wins were there and the goals were flying in.
It was International friendly time after that and flowing football saw Greece score eight goals in two games in Crete against Slovakia and Bulgaria. With FIFA World Cup qualification on the horizon, we were all buzzing by now.
A 5-1 win over Belarus and we were on a trajectory… Or so we thought…
What has followed in the nine games since then has been all but satisfactory in what turned into yet another disaster Greek World Cup qualifying (WCQ) campaign.
Disappointing losses to Denmark (twice) and Scotland all but killed our buzz and that soon became a worry that even till now won’t go away, and under the eye of Ivan Jovanovic, many are now not sure, or want him out.
We faulted out of World Cup contention when much lesser teams fought on to qualify. Worse yet, the team’s mental resolve looks very weak at the first sight of a challenge. This is not something long-time fans of the team have seen often.
Where we have lacked in skill and tactics, we have generally tried hard, but the current generation, although highly skilled with many plying their trade abroad, seem to put their heads down rather softly once we concede. In the pressure games with Denmark for WCQ, we failed miserably despite promising starts once the Danes applied pressure.
Silly mistakes in defence have gone under heavy punishment as we saw in Scotland. After complete domination and finally going 0-1 up, we were humbled 3-1.
Unfortunately our recent friendly games have not given too much promise.
In our last five games, we have scored two goals, all in the Sweden game.
The last two friendlies, first against World Cup-bound Sweden and then against Italy, saw two different games. But we ended on a massive low with the loss to a young Italian team on the rebuild. However, Jovanvic’s approach to the game is the more worrying aspect. But let’s go game-by-game.
Sweden 2-2 Greece
The game in Solna at the Strawberry Arena does give us some glimmer of hope for the future. Now we do have to bear in mind, Greece were without their arguably two best players for the two games, in Giannis Konstantelias and Konstantinos Karetsas.
Jovanovic trialled the formation of 3-5-2 or 3-4-1-2, and we started very strong in this game. We went pound-for-pound with the Swedes and took the lead via Kostas Tsimikas after wonderful work from out wide courtesy of by far the brightest player in this and the Italian game, one Christos Tzolis, who, with Konstantelias and Karestas, is our best.
The Ethniki continued to dominate and had big chances to score more with Tzolis, Andreas Tetteh and Vangelis Pavlids as a three combining very well and this is promising for the future.
The worry that I talk about though, came in the 53rd minute…
After dominating the game and missing our chances, Sweden scored a lucky freekick that deflected off Pavlidis past Konstantinos Tzolakis in goal and it was 1-1. But as we have seen over the last 12 months, heads went down and Sweden took complete control of the game.
After much pressure, it went 2-1 Sweden in the 69th minute and we were lucky it didn’t get to 3-1, very similarly to the Scotland and Denmark games.
At the end, great vision from substitute Babis Kostoulas found Georgios Masouras who fumbled in a 2-2 equaliser.
It finished on a high in a roller coaster match for us. We were great with our better team, but lost our way as soon as we conceded. Some small resolve we showed got us a 2-2 draw, but we need more of this resolve in the future.
Greece 0-1 Italy
The Italians brought a young team to Crete and it is ironic that EPO wanted a stronger Italian team to come to Heraklion really. Ivan should have told them he would play our B team, some would say our C team.
For me, I knew a young Italian team was not going to be easy. In fact this young Azzurri team showed much more resolve than the regular first team that, like us, failed to get to the 2026 World Cup, so maybe EPO knew something also (jokes).
When the Ethiniki XI was published, I knew this game got even harder for us Greeks; a slow defensive team against an opposition filled with young brutes and determination, did Ivan not see this?
Pantelis Hatzidiakos in the centre-back spot with Nectarios Triantis ahead of him was my first worry, not for their skills and technique, but their lack of speed.
Three centre-backs and only three attacking players, that include Masouras, in a game you should be winning… Ivan come on.
From the opening whistle you could see the horrible display for yourself. A young Italian team brimming with enthusiasm trapped the slow Ethiniki in their half, constant pressing and our guys couldn’t do anything with the ball, bar the exception of Tzolis who tried, but he was on a different page to Masouras and Tasos Douvikas.
To make matters worse our wing-backs were of no effect in Georgios Vagiannidis and Georgios Kyriakopoulos. The latter was exceptionally bad in this game, passing to the opposition on many occasions.
It was a game to forget. Italy, 1-0 up from the 18th minute, dominated the first half. The second half started just as bad with the Ethniki sleeping and lucky to not be 0-2 down early on.
To rub salt into the wound, Italy had Luca Reggiani sent off in the 68th minute and it wasn’t until Tetteh and Christos Zafeiris came on in the 76th minute that Greece found some dominance, but still not enough for any decent shot on goal. Only Zaferis went close with a strike that rattled the post.
We walk away troubled but have to keep in mind Jovanovic’s comments.
- There was a game plan that wasn’t executed, lacking ideas and intensity – I would argue he didn’t set up a team able to do this against a vibrant Italian team
- He stressed the friendlies were about extensive rotation and evaluating the entire squad for the upcoming UEFA Nations League campaign – fair enough
- Whilst disappointed in the result, he said that every player deserves their place in the team – I dunno about that
So there are really mixed feelings. Given what happened in our World Cup qualifying campaign, the Nations League will be Ivan’s test and it’s a very hard test against Serbia, Germany and the Netherlands.
Prior to the two games discussed above, defensive mistakes and mental resolve has been my biggest worry along with missing good chances that so often cost us at the end.
If Jovanovic and some of these players want to get us to Euro 2028 in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland, we simply have to improve on these matters.
We need Konstantelias to be reliable and we need our best players on the pitch. A combination of Tetteh, Tzolis, Kostantelias and Karetsas is formidable. A fit Fotis Ioannidis can be a big help also.
Defense and midfield need to toughen up more than anything. Silly mistakes will be under the microscope. Kostas Mavropanos and Kostas Koulierakis need to stand tall. We can’t give goals away like we have.
It’s a big test coming up. Late September it starts, which feels a long way away, but it will be here before we know it – Ivan’s biggest test to date. If we see more heads down after conceding, then it’s time to walk Mr Jovanovic and those that are not up for the task.
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