As Greece were promoted into the top division of the UEFA Nations League, sharing a group with the big boys in League A, many of us were sceptical when it happened, but also hopeful.
We then had the FIFA World Cup qualifying campaign from hell as we failed to qualify for the 2026 Mundial in North America and Mexico.
Since then, many of our star players have found their way to quality status with good clubs in big leagues, as has been picked up on not only by us and other Greek accounts, but also by many random or non-Greek accounts who are on the Greek gravy train of talent, highlighting Kostas Tzolakis, Kostas Karetsas, Giannis Konstantelias, Christos Mouzakitis, Babis Kostoulas and Christos Tzolis to name a few. These have been the go to that I have seen mostly and even then, that list is missing some other very good and key players.
The Ethniki got drawn for their Nations League group with Germany, the Netherlands and Serbia. Like all League A groups, it wasn’t easy.
Many in the mainstream who had followed the Ethniki until this point wanted one main target: let’s avoid last and get the better of Serbia, whilst any type of result with the Germans and Dutch would be a bonus.
The other big question was our coach! Ivan Jovanovic, Greece’s Serbian coach had copped his fair share of criticism following a very disappointing World Cup qualifying campaign where we finished a distant third to Scotland and Denmark, of which only the former made it to America and they only came away with a 1-0 win over Haiti… and 2 losses. Once again, when it comes to Greece and World Cups, it’s a case of what could have been.
Ivan had his work cut out though. We needed to see promise, strength and some results. Time is ticking and with the talent Greece has, we can’t miss out on major tournaments for much longer as the FIFA World Cup of 2014 (our last major tournament) grows further and further away
Now thankfully for the Ethniki, Ivan and us the fans, we are 67% into the Nations League group stage and it’s been a welcome campaign of results and belief.
Yes, I believe that we are onto something good here with a good squad. We have spoken about the players, but now we’ve shown tactics and solidarity that makes us believe we may just be able to qualify for Euro 2028 over the coming 12 or so months.
In saying that, I’m not losing sight of recent history, which is this: we do really well in the Nations League. We have the third-most wins in this competition since it began in 2018 – Greece have 19 wins, while two-time winners Portugal have 21 and World Cup champions Spain have 20, an amazing statistic.
Whilst we have done well there, we have still failed at the main stage – qualifying for a major tournament – and as stated before, the last one was perhaps the most disappointing. It was a year ago that we went into World Cup 2026 qualifying so confident, only to have our hearts broken at the key games and stages of those games.
Being in League A for the Nations League should do us a world of good. We face the elite teams the players condition themselves for elite competition and preparation. This should greatly benefit us, best of all, with what Greece has done. Let’s have a look at it.
Late drama in Belgrade
We beat Serbia 2-1 in Belgrade and from a goal down after just four minutes. Now compared to Holland and Germany, Serbia are more on our pecking ground and we saw that, once we got over the first four minutes where we let them do what they wanted, we took control of the game and were good enough to come back and win it.
That’s encouraging as this is the level we will face in Euro qualifying.
History made in Augsburg
We then traveled to Augsburg for the big test against Germany. Once again, a slow start saw Germany dominate possession early on before we slowly started to get back in the game and reduced the home team to long range shots.
A key takeaway, and one I have spoken about a lot on the Hellas Football Podcast, is how important it is for the team to have attacking players that can hold the ball up so we can get our attacking talent like Tzolis and Karetsas into the game more.
Sadly Andreas Tetteh hasn’t had a good tournament so far. In this game, he was dispossessed easily and numerous times by the Germans. We also saw Vangelis Pavlidis play a new role behind the main striker in what I saw as a 4-4-1-1, as opposed to a 4-4-2 that gets published.
It works but it needs a forward that can hold the ball up. So when the striker that I was shouting for, Fotis Ioannidis, came on in the 59th minute and could do that with interest, the game changed… Dimitris Kourbelis also came on for Christos Zafeiris and our midfield held the ball better too. All of a sudden we were controlling the ball and getting forward with precision.
Come the 74th minute and we score the winner, Tzolis with the assist, Kourbelis with the goal. We hold on, we get our first win over Germany in our history.
It was a statement game for sure, and to note as I will get to this later, Athanasios Androutsos started this game in midfield.
One of the other, I would say, milestone moments of this game was our defence and how strong we were, all four defenders.
I have been very critical of our defence. In the qualifying campaign for the 2026 World Cup, it let us down like the Titanic hitting the iceberg. It was horrid.
But we made no mistakes. We won all our battles and the Germans just couldn’t get around us. This is key and critical if we want to get to a major tournament.
Kudos to Kostas Mavropanos, who I have been very critical of in the past for mistakes he has made. He has been a superstar in this campaign and leading like a true leader.
We come back to Greece with six points. The buzz is happening all over the globe by now. But I am weary; I’ve seen this before. We grab nice away wins and come back to Athens or Thessaloniki and we lose.
The Dutch fight back
Against the Netherlands at Toumba, the formation remained the same. In midfield, Kourbelis started with Androutsos, while Tetteh was rightfully dropped for Ioannidis.
We dominated the Dutch like never before. Tzolis had a goal disallowed but five minutes later, everyone’s worst nightmare – the Arsenal winger got injured and was forced to come off. Masouras on.
But it didn’t matter. We continued to dominate and goals by Ioannidis and Masouras saw us go 2-0 up at half-time.
Everyone was hyped. My casual (Ethniki fans) friends and family who had told me before the game we would win 2, 3 to 0 started telling me, ‘See, what I told you…’ I was happy but I was not sold. We don’t beat Holland this easy.
The second half comes. The Dutch made three changes. Our approach was different. All of a sudden the Dutch were more in control. In the 59th minute, 2-1 from Virgil van Dijk. The little control we had on the game was completely corroded when Ioannidis and Pavlids came off for Tetteh and Zafeiris.
Finally the Dutch got their equaliser in the 89th minute and we were lucky not to lose the game even from there. It was a good result but brought some humility from the clouds of the first half.
Mentality is also important. We saw in those bad qualifiers how in control we were of some games (Scotland mainly) and where we finished. This needs to stay strong in our approach.
Holding off Germany in Toumba
Finally we played Germany and we held them off to secure a 0-0 draw in Toumba.
It was a good result but the learnings still come flowing in. It was a match where we had just 30% possession. By this time, of course, we had lost Tzolis to injury and Karetsas only played the second half.
We saw very little to no midfield in this game. As such, the Germans just came at us all game. Once again, the defence as well as the front two of Ioannidis and Pavlidis did the bulk of the heavy lifting, but when you have a midfield incapable of holding the ball and passing to our players, it can paralyze you.
Zafeiris started with Kourbelis in the midfield, along with Masouras on the right and Alexandros Kyziridis on the left. Of the four, only the latter held the ball and looked dangerous the very few times he got it. It showcased how much we missed Tzolis and I will throw Androutsos in there too.
Zafeiris was very frantic on the ball and Kourbelis couldn’t get to it. A good learning from this was that when Androutsos and Mouzakitis came on, they helped calm things down, getting passes away and holding the ball when needed. I’m hoping Ivan took note of this and I am sure he will, as he has done so after every game so far.
Where does this leave Greece?
We came away with two wins and two draws, eight points and top of the group, narrowly behind the Dutch, our next opponents in Amsterdam, and this could be a play-off for top spot potentially. We’ve got a month and a bit till then.
The big positives are that we have taken so much out of these four games, from big positives in attack and defence, to what our stars can do, but also where we need to be better, such as our midfield. There are options, perhaps more options than before.
Babis Kostoulas is another that impressed me. He showed great combinations in the Serbia game, held the ball up, ran with it, opened spaces. I want to see him utilised. Even in the small game time he was given against Germany in Thessaloniki, he held the ball up well and this is critical for this team. When we go forward, we genuinely look very dangerous with the starting quartet. Imagine what will happen when/if Konstantelias is healthy again.
The defence needs to keep their focus. I didn’t mention Kostas Tsimikas; he was outstanding in every game, and did a great job against world class opposition. Bravo Kosta.
From all this, we have secured pot one seeding in the European Championship qualification draw, so that should give us a decent group via the best preparation we could ask for, so keep watching and lets see what happens in November against the Netherlands and Serbia as we continue on.
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