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Greece vs Gibraltar, To all my Greeksters enjoy this game on Tuesday. To all those unwavering fans that understand Greek soccer, I stand by you. To all of those negative Greek fans that have been hitting the argile, or drinking "bomba" drinks at a very sketchy skiladiko and aren't making sense.......relax. Everyone must understand we are not the coaches, or the players. We are simply the fans. In the end, do your stavrouli, Make a Fredo cappuccino, wear your brightest fanella, and eat a delicious spanakopita as a tasty snack. Remember SO MANY OTHER TEAMS WOULD KILL TO BE IN OUR POSITION. So we'll take Gibraltar for our final do or die match.

Let's just sit back and enjoy the fact the we now control our own destiny again and that we've put our selfs in a position with a win over Gibraltar to be amongs the best 2nd place teams and at the very least we get to see the Ethniki in two crucial matches.. just for now let's forget the what if , the who the why and let's just enjoy the fact that we will have some really meaningful football coming up in November.. If Greece play like the did against belgium in both games they will NOT be an easy opponent to play against..

This match is a good opportunity to get rid of any rustiness or lack of confidence in front of goal. Scoring goals can become a habit & if players like Mantalos, Donis etc can put away a couple goals, although against Gibraltar it can help mentally.

We should all be very happy we are in this position a win away from a playoff for a spot at the World Cup especially after the disastrous Euro campaign which saw us pick up only 6 points in a far easier group. I understand a lot of people are upset with a few selections Skibbe has made over this campaign, I am one of those people who shakes his head with Tziolis playing instead of say Tachtsidis, but the coach will go with what makes him believe will get this team results. Also it seems as if the unity of the team under Skibbe is by far better off on and off the field than what we saw last campaign. Personally in the playoffs I would rather see Tachtsidis in for Tziolis and I would like to see Lazaros get some time, but if Skibbe goes the same route than I will support him. Go Ellas!

With out Tzavellas goal we are not in the position today... That goal saved our campaign... I think there was less then a minute to play if I'm not mistaken... I remember I was on the plane from LA but we had not taken off yet and I was watching it on my ipad in my seat I screamed so loud "F*** Yes" the entire plane looked at me and I stood up and apologized. LOL

I actually thought Fortounis did pretty well. He took all of our free kicks near the box and corners, and is pretty much our dead ball specialist. If you look at the highlights. 1st half nearly sets up Manolas for a headed goal, misses narrowly. Takes the corner that leads to Tziolis goal. Then makes a good run into the box, but Mantalos can't get it to him. In the 2nd half, takes the corner that sets up Torosides for a free header on goal. Also, I recall one play in 2nd half where he makes a run into box but Mitroglou shoots wide from a narrow angle when a pass was there for him to tap in. Got a knock to his knee late in the game in what was a pretty gutsy challenge, when team mates were getting tired. Cyprus were surprisingly a tough opponent.

Overall - I think we can all argue the campaign was an improvement over the Euro qualifiers. Skibbe reunited the team and put in position to reach the World Cup. Our team is built on defense, by design. We do not have world class midfielders and are very thin in Strikers. We are blessed at CB for the next 10 years (knock on wood), which is on par with the best teams in the world - not an exaggeration. We need to improve our midfield but this game showed us how much we missed Mitro. We do not have anyone else who can do what he does up front. Hopefully Donis keeps improving and him and Lazaro on the wings can open things up. We have a real chance to progress, let's enjoy the moment.

Let me give you my insight on Greece's possible opponent. Italy and Portugal are quite beatable. The recent matches I watch for Italy, they have played mediocre. Not the 2006 team who won the World Cup with the likes of Cannavaro and Pirlo. With all respect to Buffon, but he is old. Portugal is Portugal and Greece still have there number. Other teams like Sweden, Denmark, or Northern Ireland don't scare me one bit. Whoever Greece gets, they will give their 110% on the pitch.

I totally agree. We deserve a playoff spot at least. we played Belgium twice and should of taken all 6 points. we were all over them in Athens. O theos einai megalos!

^ Exactly... Imagine our last game was against Belgium or even Bosnia and we needed a win... We now have to beat the whipping boys of the group to advance into the playoffs to get into the World Cup.. All the pieces have fallen exactly as we needed.

Bravo J1078, For you I break out the Metaxa 5 star, and your positivity deserves a Loux portokalada

It's probably going to be Karnezis Toro - Sokratis - Kyriakos - Tzavellas Zeca Siopis Lazaros - Fortounis - Mantalos Mitroglou I expect Skibbe to reward Siopis with some playtime after calling him all these times and not fielding him. I also assumed Lazaros would be played in Cyprus only if we had taken a strong lead and controlled the match 0-2 0-3. The fact that such a result didn't come meant we needed different styles of players like Donis who can keep the ball and run up and down and a fresh up defender sub alongside Samaris who can also keep ball and press high. Thank god he did not shiet himself after his stomach flu. Since that didnt happen. The Gibraltar match is honestly a friendly. Lazaros has to prove why his call up was justified and that the common public asking for him to be part of the NT was reasonable. He has nothing to lose I suppose so he ll bring his best game. Tzavellas over Stafylidis because in both National breaks he seems unable to play for more than 65 minutes. The fact that Augsburg aint fielding him after his supposed transfer might really cost this player a great career. I wonder what happened to Roma Inter and Hamburg and they quit hunting him

Read that Sweden is confirmed unseeded. So Denmark will probably be in the play offs as seeded if France dont end up 2nd. Knowing our luck from the playoffs we re gonna get Denmark. Friendly reminder that in 2014 we could be facing Sweden and France but we got Romania instead.

OK, so it's not like UEFA system where head to head counts. Just checking. :-)

I completely agree.

Seeded: Switzerland/Portugal Italy Croatia Denmark/Sweden Unseeded Sweden/Denmark Republic of Ireland Northern Ireland Greece Croatia Denmark/Sweden really look appealing considering the other 2.

I want Wales to win as they would be a seeded team and I would love if Ukraine beat Croatia.. but honestly Italy does not look good right now, they dropped points against Macedonia and are struggling against Alabama..

As I stated previousy im hoping Skibbe rewards some players who have been called up and not fielded against Gibraltar. First half we should play our best and make a lead that can't be lost then Skibbe can honestly experiment as much as he wants.

tziolis actually had a very good game. a goal and closed spaced up in a way that Samaris didn't vs. belgium. fyi sokratis is an 86 is in fifa LOL this squad would be so much better with holebas and fetfa. but at least we have donis and an in form laz now.

I was thinking the same thing yesterday. That amazing half volley goal Tzavellas scored gained us a vital point on the last kick of the match and Bosnia dropped 2 points. That goal played a huge part in putting us in this position. It’s been an interesting campaign that’s for sure. I think we would match up well with the Swedes if they are a pot 1 team.

My prediction: POT 1: Portugal or Switzerland, Wales, Italy, Croatia POT 2: Sweden, Denmark, Northern Ireland, Greece If Croatia fails, Sweden may go into POT 1 and Ukraine into POT 2. Whatever the outcome, we will be heavy underdogs, but if we are at our best we won't be easy. We conceded just 5 goals in our 8 games against the top 4 teams in our Group. I think back to Tzavellas goal in the last kick of the match, in the 95' min vs Bosnia in Greece. Got us a point. How valuable did that turn out to be.

17th October

Torontoblue, you are just the kind of Psefto-Greekster I would NOT want to be watching a game with. Yes "the guy" who knows very little about soccer, and does not understand the complexity of qualification for the world cup. Look back to the dark era of Ranieri, and the divide amongst the national team. See a transformation of a team that has begun a process of being a family again, which is was first importance to Papastathopoulos. Whine all you want, but we are in second...and we control our destiny. Don't point fingers, don't ask questions, just accept that the boys got to a game that through victory will enter them in the playoffs. I remind you Torontoblue and others who don't know what they are talking about....that there are going to be some very good sides that are also looking to punch their ticket via a playoff victory. So forget about soccer, go follow the NHL and oooh and ahh over the Toronto Maple Leafs. But knowing what kind of Geladia you and the negative uninformed, self appointed critics of Skibbe and the National team players you are.... After Greece beats Gibraltar...then gets their match up for the playoffs. Know that the team and the players will give their all on the pitch. If Greece play any opponent like the two games they played Belgium, then I like that. I like that, and if the Gibraltar final game and a chance for the playoffs as a second seed would have been offered from the onset of this qualification I would take it gladly. These teams are not going to Russia: Albania, Andorra, Armenia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Faroe Islands, Finland, FYR Macedonia, Georgia, Gibraltar, Hungary, Israel, Kazakhstan, Kosovo, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Montenegro, Moldova, Norway, Romania, San Marino, Scotland, Slovenia, Turkey

The same area.

I agree; adding a young Karagounis to this team would make for a very good team. He is the one player missing. The rest of the payers are good. We have 2 offensive players (Mitro & Donis) that we never had recently; not even in 2004 (compare Mitroglou & Donis to Vrisas & Xaristes; to me it is not even close). Of course their is no backup for Mitro but this is a different story. We have 2 of the best CB we ever had; Karnezis has experience and finally plays well for NT (even the backup, Kapino has huge potential and played great at Belgium). Stafilidis is, imo, better than Fissas and Tsavellas is as good, with better fouls and cross. Torosidies out RB, while not at good at a young Seitaridis, has quality and hits great headers. Taxstidis has similar style to Basina and Zeka plays a similar role to Zagorakis but he is more flexible (can play 6-8, RM & RB). Even Lazaros, that played well in the last WR, is more mature and effective now. This shows the quality of Karagounis; apart from his ability to hold and move the ball, he would bust his balls and give everything for the team. Compare this to the blaze way Fortounis plays; I don't want to bash fortounis; any comparison to Karagounis is unfair. Actually Fortounis is the only one that can come close to match Karagounis play.

Exactly good points. How many teams would love to be in the playoffs for a chance to go to the World Cup? Many countries have not made it to a World Cup in decades. I read a lot of people thought Bosnia were the favourite for 2nd when this campaign started but they were not better than us. Greece went toe to toe with Belgium and came within a few minutes of beating them in Brussels where they have not lost a competitive match in 6 years since losing to Germany. Meanwhile Bosnia got lit up by them for 8 goals in 2 games and the last one they were missing Lukaku, Witzel, Naingohlan and others. Let's win and get there and Lord willing the boys will fight and ultimately prevail and we will be in Russia. Pa Me ELLAS!

Rockafellar Skank, you tell it like it is. unless Zues is hiding some amazing prospects under his beard.....the reality is that this is what we got. I go back to my fifa PS4 example. All the complaining, questioning, insulting, negative chatter about coach Skibbe and his selections comes to this model example. A 1000 greek fans, have varying tweaks or insights on the Greek squad. formation, personnel, strategy etc. But if you give the power to each of these negative nancy's and they add there fetfatzidis, nines, and other players not chosen etc.....You then have them look at the current lineups used in each match vs each opponent, taking into account injuries, suspensions, etc. So then give these negative nancy's the PS4 fifa 18, and let them choose their Greek dream team. They swap this guy for that guy, this player for another player, and you see the surge in change when the 71 EA rated player is swapped for the 73 rated player. But then the 74 rated player is switched with the 73 rated player (because the negative nancy is olympiakos, or panthinaikos, or AEK, or PAOK, or Egaleo) My point with this model, is WE DON'T HAVE THE 85, 90, 88, 92, 93, 86 RATED PLAYERS. So when a coach comes in and looks at things pragmatically, and systematically as Skibbe has you have to understand the complexity and the challenges he faces in creating a squad. As well of most importance, the first thing that Papastathopoulos said yesterday that the National team has become a family again. The Ranieri experiment was a failed experiment. The coach was to blame, the players were to blame. But again, that is in the past. Moving forward, I have said it before and I viewed others in the forum mentioned it as well...but Greece has always performed in the clutch. Although we are not 86, 88, 90, 94 rated individuals.....What I believe Greece learned from Otto in 2004 that a series of 69-70-71 working together, playing for each other, and becoming a team...success can be had. Rockafellar Skank, concur with what you have been saying......I just would like to add that MANY other teams would love to be in the spot Greece have worked very hard for...albiet in some very interesting, bizarre circumstances. I can't wait for Gibraltar.

Holebas stated that he is retiring from NT and noone can say anything to him. He decided, made it public. Skibbe can do nothing else if Holebas aint interested in throwing his ego away and play for a coach that wanted him as a LB. Happened with Georgatos too under Otto and yet noone blamed otto about it then because we won the Euros I suppose. I honestly am of the opinion that apart from Lazaros Christodoulopoulos and possibly Dimitrios Pelkas instead of Bakasetas and Diamantakos every other single call up was justified. Noone disagrees that our Goallie, Defenders , Striker , Fortounis should be in the line up. What peopla dont like are some of hte wingers Skibbe uses (Mantalos-Bakasetas to be fair) and the midfield. When it comes to wingers. Skibbe uses defensively minded players in there. Stafylidis and Mantalos usually. a LB who is very good offensively and a attacking mid who proved why he plays when he pressured high and assisted mitroglou (and hit the woodwork). Yesterday the only one who cant be blamed for the low scoring is Skibbe. Mitroglou lost a few chances. Mantalos hit the wood and his assist to Fortounis was a bit behind than it should and thus cleared. We had 5-6 clear chances to score in myhumble opinion and people are still disappointed. We won them way harder at Athens despite the score. This team apart from the Estonia match , after the 6th is playing very solidly. We are in the play offs coz we deserve it). When it comes to the central midfielders I ll say something that noone wants to hear. We have noone. Samaris is not offensively orientated, yet a class above everyone else in that part so he looks like the best box to box we have. Truth is He is not even a box to box. He is just too good and of an experienced age to know what he has to do and do it. Zeca is defensively decent at worst. Tziolis. Eveyrone hates Tziolis. I see the reason. Tziolis really deserves to be called but not to be a starter. Let's ask ourselves why. Our Greece sux so much that Skibbe needs a tall line up for the set pieces. There it is. Yesterday we had 2 corners where we had a clear header. One went in. Do I praise Tziolis for scoring? No. Did he get the job done in front of 2 Cypriots? Yes. So overall. Skibbe is playing our best defenders, our best goalies , our best centerforward and our best attacking mid. Donis when not injured usually starts and the only problems I see are a)when Zeca/Samaris are injured so usually Tziolis will play b)Mantalos being on the wings. Scrap Mantalos for Lazaros and you got a far more decent attacking mid trio. But what happens with his defensive duties? Skibbe made a solid defence that conceded as many goals as Belgium. Yet we are still complaining.

I completely disagree with everyone. In the next 2 years if Greece qualifies for the WC they ll make a team much stronger. Stafylidis is becomming a more solid Holebas. Sokratis- Manolas are the best defenders we ve ever produced with back ups of a solid Papadopoulos and a prospect Retsos. Mitroglou enters the age where strikers and CBs reach their peak. He has learned from his experience. He is a statik player and his pace was never anything to care about. Donis a second striker who has everything we ve never seen on a player in the NT. The pace and the dribble to challenge man to man defenders and be able to shoot. Still too young but obviously above promising. He looks like a complete player with only his decision making needing upgrade. Midfield Samaris I suppose will find a new team to be match fit more than he currently is, being in and out of Benfica's bench despite the team clearly not doing well. I suppose he ll start getting more game time since teams who go through bad periods need a change. Benfica defense seems to be the issue so I suppose Samaris will get some chances to prove himself. Our other midfielders are all below average but Zeca has proven that he is solid defensively and probably brings up his game with the NT. Bilbao coach praised him after PAO matches. He has to know more. He called him elite. Offensively he is nothing. Defensively he is another wall in front of our CB wall. This team brought their best game in 3 out of 4 matches with the big boys of the Group. This team if they qualify they will prove us all wrong. Either they go further than Groupstage or not is not the point. If we look every opponent we face as well as we did vs Bosnia and Belgium (mind you half the teams that make it will be equal and maybe worse than Bosnia), we ll look like we deserved that spot out of the 32. As for the whole Dark era. You all f*ckers now understand why Santos was using Karagounis/Katsouranis till they reached elderly age. We had a 6 and 8 who controlled whole games. That's literally what's missing right now. A 8 like Kara who can be a transition god. To dethrone Samaris from his starting spot and create a link from offence to defense. 3-5-2 is on paper our strongest formation. Im only talking about names. Individuals. If it works for this NT or not is totally not the question but 3-5-2 is on paper a formation we could have an extra back pass and a bit more focus over Mitroglou and how to service him.

Crazy. Officials waved off the 2nd Norwegian goal at the final whistle. Imagine if that had been the difference in Greece advancing

"October 2017 FIFA World Rankings will be used to decide which of the teams would be seeded. Each tie will see a seeded team drawn against an unseeded team, with the order that the two legs are played decided as part of the draw."

After how we handled Belgium, teams like Italy and Portugal should be careful what they wish for. Greece plays up to their rivals.

If we tie and Bosnia win they will take 2nd place back