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And let's give Poyet his due! None of us were too crazy about his hire, and he is 4-0 in this competition, and 5-1 overall. This is the best we've been since we got back from Brazil.

The atmosphere has changed they are starting to learn how to close out games and get the 3 points this was a non factor with this team and previous coaches. The players look like they are plying for each other, they look like they have the passion that’s been missing for years and you can see that when the national anthem was playing with Tsimikas reaction. Even the players on the bench are not stop interacting.. The tide is turning for this team and Poyet is looking like a true coach we’ve been missing. Poyets in game decision making in his short time he’s been here so far is looking spot on he can read the game and the players that don’t have it on a particular night. When was the last time we’ve scored 7 goals and allowed 0 in 4 games played? Man the is the first time in years I’ve been so excited for this team..

Poyet addressed it a few days ago and essentially said, he wasn't called up for these matches because in order to fit him in, the formation needs to be changed from a 4-3-3 to a 4-2-3-1. It seems Poyet, as other managers before him at both club and country level don't like Fortounis' lack of work rate and discipline without the ball. He did make a point to say just because he wasn't called this time around doesn't mean he isn't in future plans. In a 4-3-3, Poyet wants his midfield 3 to press without the ball and track the opposition not just play with the ball. Bakasetas, Siopis, Kourbelis offer these things. Clearly he thinks Bakasetas offers enough attacking drive (with the wingers and striker) to create enough opportunities to score. Poyet also described Bakasetas as 'untouchable' atm in his current Ethniki form and it is hard to argue given his performances over the last year. Fortounis has long been discussed here and in the Greek media, he's a media darling and they are just as shocked he hasn't been included. Me personally, I see the reasons why but don't necessarily agree with his exclusion all together. Here's a link to Poyet's explanation in full for anyone interested. https://www.sport24.gr/football/apokalypseis-poget-ayta-eipa-sto-tilefono-me-ton-fortoyni-o-mpakasetas-einai-untouchable.10061489.html

Solid win first up, seems we never really got out of 2nd gear and still managed to score three and hit the woodwork another 3 times. On another day we score 5-6. Not too much more to take out of it but the 3 points. France beating the Netherlands is good news, it means assuming we beat Ireland in Greece in June (we also play France in June but we assume that's a loss and anything we get out of it is a bonus) we would be leading the Dutch heading into our match-up in September. The Dutch don't play in June due to the Nations League finals. It will be important going to the Netherlands and being 3 points clear of them in September, meaning a draw will keep ourselves clear of them heading into the last 4 matches. Schedule has helped us, and France sweeping the group will also help. We can keep our noses in-front of the Netherlands until they come to Greece in our 2nd last match. A lot of water to go under the bridge until then, but if we take care of business v Ireland (not easy) and Gibraltar we are in with a fighting chance to pinch 2nd spot.

G'day mate!!! Throw another schnitzel on the barbie

we have one of those in here. would you mind taking him off our hands?

That was my niece who scored both goals today!!!! She just recently joined the club from the States. Super proud of her!

If we can maintain a winning form, stay injury free, then I believe we can reach 20-25 in the FIFA classification within 12-18 months, about where Sweden, Serbia, Poland and Ukraine are at the monent. Teams that I think we can compete with. We will need a good Euro qualifying campaign, get to Euro 2024 and pick up some good results, and then consolidate our position in League B. Hopefully some of our younger players can come through, and shine.

And no poison players. All these players have heart.

G'day m8, throw another koala on the barbie!

Alright boys I thought we’d get a recap of events and our situation going here. The Gibraltar game was very exciting in my opinion and is a manifestation of the progress the team has made under Poyet. Time and time again we have lost or drawn against these minnows and hurt our qualifying chances. We have always fought the higher level teams much harder compared to the lesser teams in our groups and it’s been these lesser teams that have been what truely have held us back from qualifying the last 10 years. Look at our last campaign we start with a shock draw against Spain only to then draw with Kosovo and Georgia. We even beat Sweden our first match against them but these two draws were too much to overcome. Under Poyet we are treating the minnows like minnows. We attack attack attack and not let a team like Kosovo boss us all over the field. The nations league last year was a great example of how far we have come. I know these teams all suck but that’s not the point. The point is we are finally starting to beat the teams we are supposed to beat, and when it comes to qualifying for an expanded Euro competition ( excluding our difficult group this year since we are pot c) we have no excuse not to qualify if we beat the teams we are supposed to beat. The Lithuania game was a mix bag. It’s a friendly but I still would have like to have us win bcuz it’s LITHUANIA. However, the way we played was positive. We were attacking non stop and yes we did get unlucky at times. Overall I think even that game was a step in the right direction. If we fail to qualify from the group and the NL playoff for a 24 team euro will be a massive embarrassment, but we’ve been nothing short of embarrassing for the last 9 years. We have to beat Ireland both times and it is as simply as that. The Dutch are historically an extremely inconsistent team. We can 100% catch them on an off day on one of our games with them. The optimist in me and our history against big teams leads me to quietly believe that we will shock France and tie one of our games. They just lost a World Cup final. That has to be emotionally draining and while they got up for their game against the Netherlands, I could definitely see them on cruise control during their second game against us. BUT AND I STRESS BUT none of this matters if we don’t beat Ireland. Plain and simple. They will play more open against us than they did against the Dutch in their 0-1 loss. We have to capitalize on that. I will cry tears of joy if I can watch my beloved Ethniki play a World Cup game here in the states in 2026, and qualifying for this euro and boosting our ranking and confidence is the first step in this goal getting realized. I am starving for us to be in major tournaments again. I remember screaming on the couch crying with my dad when Samaras scored that penalty against Ivory Coast. I desperately wish to feel that again and I cautiously believe that we have a chance at that with the direction we are going. PAME HELLAS

EPO officially announces that the Stadio Agia Sophia aka OPAP Arena will be the new home of the national team! Should be much better than OAKA.

Konstantelias should definitely get a call up and a cap. Has been killing it in the league and is getting a lot of publicity from teams in England, Spain and France. He has what a lot of Greek players lack, the balls to take on defenders one on one

Fantastic of Biseswar to get Schenkeveld sent off. He'll miss Asteras, so hopefully that has an effect. A win, draw, or loss by 1 in a few days and we have an easy semi-final before reaching the cup final. At the moment we're in 3rd place, points shown below. If Olympiakos draws (it's 0-0 at halftime now), we'll stay in third place. PAO 45 AEK 44 PAOK 39 OLY 39 (assuming current result stands) Have some faith in Lucescu. We have a month that looks to be shaky for Panathinaikos, followed by play offs. We can still win the double 😉

JVS? Someone might wanna tell Poyet that he's been replaced by the guy who he replaced. In all seriousness though would be extremely dumb to change coaches now, Poyet did a great job in getting the team to top the Nations League group. We are in a tough qualifying group for Euro 2024 but changing manager doesn't magically make France or the Netherlands more beatable. Poyet has earned the right to see qualification through, including the playoffs.

Turkey loses to Faroe Islands 2-1.

#49 after yesterday's new release.

When greeksoccer.com shut down, the alt-right members (which were broadly Olympiakos supporters) started their own cesspit forum, where as far as I know they still circle jerk today

4 out 4 wins in 10 days. No goals conceded. Poyet couldnt have asked for a better start. Players can now have a good break. I like Poyet. He's old school, a little bit crazy. The real tests are coming in the next Euro qualifiers, but the way team is playing, gives me the belief that we can compete and beat stronger nations. I would love to see this Greece team in Germany in 2024.

Looks like we are going to gain 20.1 pts and jump up 7 positions from 55 to 48. Live rankings https://football-ranking.com/fifa_rankings

JVS started well but then he regressed. His game management & subs at times were baffling and cost us a few games. Siopis had another great match. His work rate is incredible.

what A goal!!!!’ And that’s why you start Giakoumakis over Pavlidis!!!!

9 Points after 3 games. I cant remember the last time that has happened for us. The finals comes down to Sunday a win and we dominate this group. It may be way too early to say this but this team has a different feel under Poyet, they look more confident, they are better defensively and as we can see they are still creating chances. This is the most optimistic i have been about this team in a long time. I fully understand the quality of teams we are playing but for the last 5 years we haven't been able to walk away with wins and look good doing it. I really hope this is the turning point for the Ethniki and we continue to improve while getting results. for the amount of times i have spoken bad about Bakasetas i have to now give him credit for his play at late and he's acting like a leader out there and is on fire for the NT right now. Lets keep it going and end this on Sunday with a win at home against Kosovo

Agreed. Must win vs Ireland at home. They have a very young and determined team. No easy slouch but if we win , and get at least one point the following two games vs France and Netherlands, we are sitting pretty

I agree, he may not do everything technically sound and he at times is very frustrating to watch but he's starting to turn out to be a leader and and produce regularly for this team. So for the time being he deserves to be a starter. I more then anyone here has trashed him but he is starting to prove me wrong and i need to give him credit for how he's turned it around for the NT. I see the passion in him he has for the NT. In saying this i still don't think we are starting our absolute best line up. I think our midfield needs to change although Siopis is really working his ass off, and i think we have better options then Pelkas and Mantolas. I'm also hoping Fortounis starts to see regular playing time and think in tomorrows friendly would be a perfect opportunity to give him a chance. No need to have Pelkas and Mantalos play tomorrow we need to slowly move away from them and keep them as a bench option.

Father Greek, mother Dutch so I must root for The Netherlands. Sucks that both countries are drawn together. @Omonoia9 has the same with Greece and Cyprus.

Amazing. Tremendous performances by both players! Now bring that production to the Ethniki

I think it starts with the Super League in general. They tend to favor starting foreign/older players. The youth development of the league is the main reason why the national team does not excel. The national team is not the place for development - they should already be developed by the time they get there. Portugal has access to Brazilian players. Belgium and Croatia are better examples of countries we should try to emulate in terms of youth development. A few years back, Belgium did a study and found in order to be exceptional at something, in this case football, you need to devote x number of hours a week to your craft. They installed that model throughout their youth development programs and what you got is their "golden" generation. They might not have won any tourneys, but they have produced some exceptional players.

Yes. No home/away legs. If the tournament started tomorrow it would be: Greece hosting Turkey Georgia hosting Kazakhstan Winners facing each other to qualify for Euros If Turkey qualifies directly, Luxembourg will take their spot. Realistically we will have trouble with Turkey but should mop the other teams quite easily.

Greece will get 2nd place. Possibly first. You heard it here

I do

No thanks. I wouldn’t even trust the saudis to scrape the gum off my shoes. They always have their motive. It’s to kiss ass to the western world.

It is a good schedule for us of the start. France host Holland first match day. I like that we have Holland at home the second last match day that could decide second. France in Greece the final match day let's hope France have already clinched first and field their backups.

Our schedule lines up nicely actually : Gibraltar v Greece: 24/03 Greece v Ireland: 16/06 France v Greece: 19/06 Netherlands v Greece: 07/09 Greece v Gibraltar: 10/09 Ireland v Greece: 13/10 Greece v Netherlands: 16/10 Greece v France: 21/11 If we can have at minimum 7 points after our first 4 matches I would take that. Ending at home with Netherlands and France is huge

The championship will be decided by bombs in bakeries and white volkswagen polos.

Sakkari loser number 2! Lost to the Chinese. Both Tsitsipas and Sakkari need some psychological help in order to help them with their loser mentality.

AEK supposedly signed quality players last season also and didn't make Europe so I'll wait to see on that one. Aris too early to call. In fact, everything is too early to call. The only thing we can say with certainty is once again we were not prepared properly for our UEFA qualifiers. One day (and it could even be this year) all of the Greek teams will fail to qualify for the group stages and then EPO might wake up to themselves. As for our transfers, none of them excite me but it is what it is. I don't think anyone on this forum is impressed by them. You keep flogging a dead horse. But your solution ... for Savvidis to leave is just plain bizarre. That's what I would want if I wanted to ruin PAOK. Give me a list of billionaires ready to part with their money that are willing to buy and fund PAOK and I am happy to contact them.

You also give me xwrio vibes, with calls to sack the manager 20 mins into the first game of the new season😉

You make me look like the biggest optimist.

Taxi scored a hat trick in 3-5 win against Orlando city yesterday. Also scored DC only goal in 1-3 loss last week June 25. Now has 9 goals in 10 games so far in MLS.

The owner of the site accomplished his goal, which was a creation of an Olympiakos Academy here in Chicago with backing from PAE Olympiakos. Once that was accomplished he has lost interest in running Greeksoccer.com. He tried to sell the domain, but apparently nobody showed any interest. Of interest is the fact that Greeksoccer.com in the beginning was hosted here at Phantis.com

Now let's really finish this group on a high. Six wins and zero goals conceded is a must, if even just to set our culture.

Good result today. Seven scored and nada/zilch/tipota conceeded in four games. Promotion to the B-countries. Bravo!

Officially promoted to group B!!!!!!

I think head to head is the tiebreaker, I think we've literally locked up the group already!

Head to head results are the first tie-breaker in UEFA competitions, the Nations League included. So if we beat Kosovo here we will have secured top spot, promotion to league B and a play-off spot for Euro 2024. A draw would also have us in a decent spot, it would mean we could afford to lose one of our last 2 and we would still top Kosovo on our H2H record. The only way goal difference would become a factor is if Kosovo beats us 1-0. This is the full list of tie-breaking criteria If two or more teams in the same group are equal on points on completion of the league phase, the following tie-breaking criteria are applied: Higher number of points obtained in the matches played among the teams in question; Superior goal difference in matches played among the teams in question; Higher number of goals scored in the matches played among the teams in question; If, after having applied criteria 1 to 3, teams still have an equal ranking, criteria 1 to 3 are reapplied exclusively to the matches between the teams in question to determine their final rankings.[a] If this procedure does not lead to a decision, criteria 5 to 11 apply; Superior goal difference in all group matches; Higher number of goals scored in all group matches; Higher number of away goals scored in all group matches; Higher number of wins in all group matches; Higher number of away wins in all group matches; Lower disciplinary points total in all group matches (1 point for a single yellow card, 3 points for a red card as a consequence of two yellow cards, 3 points for a direct red card, 4 points for a yellow card followed by a direct red card).

🇬🇷 played great one touch football and were really composed with the ball at there feet. 3 goals on the board & another clean sheet. Bakasetas another great goal & 2 assists. Poyet please keep it going.

btw - for a team not interested in possession, we had 63%.

I completely agree and its kind of refreshing to hear.. Its more of a style the NT has always been accustomed to playing. There's no point to just keep possession if all the team is doing is back passing majority of the game which we seen a lot in the later days of JVS and lots of times the team just looked uncomfortable and confused at times. I don't wont to get my hopes up as we've seen what's happened in the past but I'm feeling optimistic so far..