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Such a great win! It could’ve been more. I’ve been saying this for years… trust our youth! We looked so much better this game. The best players should always be in the starting 11 and it just so happens that our best players are our youngsters. This team that started should start again next game. Some of our experienced players are not good enough and don’t have the quality to make this team go to tournaments. Some should be on the bench and some not even included in the team.

Scorers Konstantelias, Karetsas and Tziolis. When you consider the fact the we also got Pavlidis and Ioanidis, this team has goals. There was a play where the Greek player passed the ball with the back heel, and the Scottish comentator says "well they're now even passing it with their back heel". Yep, that's right. I was looking at Tziolis, and thinking he's one of the more experienced players in the side. He's 23. Karetsas, looks so young. Probably just started shaving. What a great exciting talent. And to think, there are 3, 4 others waiting in the wings. Amazing. Konstantelias my man of the match. A goal, 2 assists. I love those dink passes that roll past defenders, nice technique. We could have scored 4, 5. Zafeiris, and Mouzakitis in the midfield. Vagianidis shutting out one of the best RBs in the world. Would you bench them for Bakasetas, Manatalos, and Rota in 4 months? I think that win was our 6th away win in our last 7 away matches. Nice record to take to the WC qualifiers.

Yes, all 12 qualifying group runners-up qualify for the playoffs together with the four highest-ranked UNL group winners which don't finish in the top two of their qualifying group.

With the WC group 1st obviously qualifies but does 2nd get a playoff spot? If its just first or nothing its still incredibly difficult as we have no magin for error. Down here in the Asian confederation Australia has only won 2 of 7 matches and is still going to qualify lol

Our World Cup qualifying group is easier than the others. It will be a dream for Greece to play in the city where I used to live (Houston). I got friends and family back home and I am planning to visit there.

Great win by Portugal we get Denmark a great draw for Greece. Denmark ranked 21st in the FIFA rankings, Scotland and Belarus. It is a dream draw compared with our last Euro draw which saw us get France and Holland! For the 2022 World Cup qualifying we had Spain so this is fantastic and it wont be easy but Greece have to get the direct ticket!

The order of the games suit us well : H - Belarus H - Denmark A - Scotland A - Denmark H - Scotland A - Belarus First 3 games must be wins. If we do that, just a tie in Denmark should be enough to see us as group winners

I think that was Delias that it did that. I believe that he played better bc of the link up play of Karestas. I think our draw is difficult, we don't have a traditional powerhouse but Denmark/Greece/Scotland are all on the same level. I can see us toping the group or being third. I will say that after seeing our team play on Sunday - we can play with anyone on our day.

Can I stay over at your family's place if they play there? I'd like to save some money. I dunno bud, that Olympiakos midfielder looks like his testes haven't descended yet. My god I felt a thousand years old. I wonder if his skull has had a chance to knit together.

This edition of the Nations League had its draw on 8 February 2024, and I believe the games began in early September of 2024. The earliest games for '25-26 will be played on 21 September, so I'd guess some time in late February of next year. For now, the only thing we have to look forward to is the admittedly much more interesting WC2026 qualification. From wiki: Round Matchday Dates Groups A–F Groups G–L First round (group stage) — Matchday 1 21–22 March 2025 Matchday 2 24–25 March 2025 Matchday 3 6–7 June 2025 Matchday 4 9–10 June 2025 Matchday 5 4–6 September 2025 Matchday 6 7–9 September 2025 Matchday 7 9–11 October 2025 Matchday 8 12–14 October 2025 Matchday 9 13–15 November 2025 Matchday 10 16–18 November 2025 Second round (play-offs) Semi-finals 26 March 2026 Finals 31 March 2026

If this result holds up and Portugal wins, this will be the most favorable draw we've had in years for a qualifier.

Goals: BBC News - https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/live/c62zd1vpn3qt Scotland relegated from Nations League A after dismal loss to Greece - BBC Sport

Okay my children, fear not, I am here to provide more of my wisdom. Kudos to Jovanovic for making such a rotation. I am very much over the "old guard." Use them as super subs, but cut this nonsense of playing guys who are well past their prime. The average age of the starting 11 was under 23, and we still absolutely bossed around Scotland on their home turf. Complete no brainer where we should go from here. Konstantelias obviously the man of the match. What a player. I can't wait until PAOK sells him and then spends all that money on a dozen 35-year-old Ghanaian left-backs. Karetsas fit in immediately. It very much helps that he stylistically works so well with our other young players. The Tzolis-Konstantelias-Kartetsas line is such a blindingly obvious play going forward. Imagine how good they'll look if they can cut down those errant passes by another 10%. That's another goal a game right there! Giannoulis is a friggin stud and deserves game time. He's better offensively than Tsimikas so I can definitely see why Jovanovic would have started him here, where we're chasing two goals. This move paid dividends. Pavlidis and Ioannidis are both fine, but not as productive as we need our strikers. I'd still give the nod to Pavlidis going forward as he is playing at a higher level and scoring more goals. Simple math there. Tzimas will take his job soon anyway. I will disagree that this was a hugely meaningful game (sorry @J1078). I think this was considered a sort of... "what else do we have to lose?" kind of thing. We get to see how the youngsters look vs Scotland, who we will be competing against in just a few months...and of course he gets the chance to get our youngest, newest additions more minutes with each other. That last bit is probably hugely valuable to the team. Also, if we ended up staying in league B, we'd just have more matches to drive up our coefficient with - I'm not sure if that's better or worse than having our guys get tested against this higher quality of competition, in the lead-up to the next Euro (it's also such a shame that we won't get these games before next summer's world cup). The new midfield was maybe the best move by Jovanovic. I very much disliked the last lineup - Mantalos and Siopis are so obviously cooked. Especially considering how Scotland's main strength is that midfield; they were chewed right up. What do we have to lose by playing an ascendent Zafeiris and Mouzakitis? Clearly, it worked out even better. I can definitely see those two holding on to that spot going forward. Hopefully Bakasetas' manager doesn't have so much sway that our diving professor forces his way back into the starting lineup going forward. His weirdly piercing eyes belong on the bench. Ps you're welcome from a paoktsis -edit- edited for spelling

Amazing performance. What a coaching call. 6 new starters a bunch of youngsters given opportunities. We have something to be excited about for the first time in 11 years

Great game - could have had a few more...We were the better team by far, didn't care for the Scottish players pushing our guys around. The slaps to Zafeiris head or their other player pretty much kicking Koulierakis on the floor. He reminder him that they were up by 3...lol Overall, we played great - Tzolis - Delias - Karetsas should start all the time. Striker - try Tzimas or Kostalas. Midfield - Zafeiris and Moutzakis played well, not sure if we need someone bigger there but they were fine. Our back four were not bad, if you want to put in Retsos for Mavropanos, wouldn't argue. Tzolakis should start going forward. They deserved the tie, even the announcers were saying that and actually praising our guys. When was the last time English announcers were praising our guys???

Thanks babe, this is the most useful I've ever found you to be!