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At the end of the day like some guys said already France had to rely on a penalty to beat us. We held our own and we showed we won’t be an easy out for any team. This to me even though we lost was a huge confidence booster and we are really starting to show that this team is starting to put it together and hopefully have leave the dreadful years behind us. I haven’t read one negative article or listened to one negative podcast about how Greece played. Everything was very positive even from the French media. In September we play in Holland first and then against Gibraltar at home. Netherlands plays us and then go into Ireland. At the very least if we can get a draw against the Netherlands we should easily get 3 points against Gibraltar which will still keep us ahead of them. Hopefully they also drop points in Ireland. This is the first time in years where I actually feel optimistic about 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

Kind of ugly, but Hearts is not much of an obstacle. If we don't eat them alive in Thessaloniki, the heat will do the job for us. Hot takes: weak-ass penalty given to Hearts Murg > Konstantelias Brandon Thomas has only his workrate and teammate injuries keeping him employed Team was consistently way too goddamn cute with trying to let passes go by them. Bit them on the ass like six times. Tzimas actually held up the ball and attacked....better than I thought? I bet Lucescu was pissed he got all that stoppage time to play in. Soares was fine, but Rahman is a menace; will be great to see him back We definitely need a winger. Taison can't start every game, and Zivkovic eventually needs to be rested. Narey is more concerned with staying uninjured than he is interested in playing for this team.

I tip my hat to you Dutch Eagle for all your intrepid work digging up the latest news on our boys abroad

Lots to be positive about with the NT during this window. We beat Ireland which was essential and kept them behind us. Then the team went to France who I believe are the best country in world football when you look at the lineup they throw out and what players are on the bench. So to go into France where Holland got crushed and only loose on a pen is commendable. The French couldn’t score even after Mavropanos red card where they botched a 2 v1 and 4 v 1 as well. Mavropanos basically threw the game away as I believe we would have held them to a nil nil draw. Regardless I’m proud of the performance and how calm the team was especially in the first half. I believe we will get a draw in Holland and that will set us up well because I could see Ireland holding the Dutch to a draw in the following match day. I believe the Ethniki will lock up 2nd and a Euro ticket when the Dutch come to Athens where they will taste defeat.

You guys may like this podcast from Hellas Football https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/hellas-footy-pod/id1536595945?i=1000614612222

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.

Did not see the game as I was in the middle of all the Oktoberfest craziness. Followed the game on line but after the first 1 liter the score was a disappointing 1:0. Continued drinking and completely forgot about the game only to find out the final score after I got back to the hotel. Good result and hopefully we can get something out of the home game against Eintracht.

Somehow AEK clawed back with 2 extra time goals to advance to the playoff round of Champions League Qualifying. We have 2 teams with a chance to make the group stage in Panathinaikos and AEK. Olympiacos also are a step away from the Europa League Group Stage as are we in the Conference League. Aris almost joined us with a shocking upset of Dynamo Kiev but gave up a late goal to crash out: overall one of the best European starts for Greek teams in a long while. It pains me to root for some of these teams but after the coefficient work we put in 2 years ago, we deserve something in return from them. PAME ELLADA

OH YE OF LITTLE FAITH

100% correct about the city. Sydney is a sh1thole and it's inhabitants are pissweak

I think part of it was the ref giving it back for not calling the prior penalties. A few points: 1 - There were potentially 3 penalties that could have been called. The one that was, was a penalty. The retake was suspect. 2 - The red card was a red card. Even if it wasn't a red card, it would have been a yellow which would have been a red card. 3 - Our defense was good - we did make a few mistakes but overall, France was relying on penalty calls to score. Think about that, a team which pummeled the Netherlands 4-0 had to rely on penalty calls to score on us. That's pretty impressive. And by the way, we played with 10 men.

it doesn't matter who we play , what matters is that Dutch Eagle will be there !

Impressive performance. Greece hungry for the ball, very fit and closing down. Lots of nice passing. I am getting a vibe from this team now something is special is happening. And Bakasetas has turned into an absolute stud. The team has a real leader and star in him who has an impressive shot always dangerous. I don't see any reason why this Greece team can't take on Holland for second spot.

Reports saying Poyet has decided on 8-9 of the starting XI, no massive surprises. -----------Vlachodimos----- Baldock--Mavropanos--Chatzidiakos--Tsimikas ------Mantalos------Siopis-----Bakasetas Masouras-----Giakoumakis----Pelkas Kourbelis is being considered in place of either Siopis or Mantalos as is Pavlidis to lead the line. I read Konstantelias is also being considered to take one of the wingers spots but I doubt he would get a start. 14,000 tickets have been sold for the game, it means there will be a solid crowd there to cheer the boys on. Hopefully it ends up being 20,000+ and the atmosphere is electric!

First MD of this series. Nice to start against minnow Gibraltar in Portugal. Konstantelias is the new diamond and Gus said allready he will be included in the squad. Every MD one country will play a friendly or Nation League match. The other match this MD is France vs the Netherlands. MD 2 will be Greece's "day off".

Next cycle's games : Greece - Ireland France - Greece Ireland - Gibraltar (Netherlands is not playing in June)

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

The matches between Ireland and Netherlands will determine our fate that's why its crucial we get 3 points at home against Ireland in June.

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.

This line up would be so much better if Fortounis replaced Mantalos and Konstantelias replaced Pelkas..

Kourbelis is out injured and will miss these games. Reports saying that 8-9 players are locked in to start, they are: Vlachodimos, Baldock, Mavropanos, Chatzidiakos, Tsimikas, Siopis, Bakasetas, Mantalos, Fortounis. Question marks are over whether Pavlidis/Giakoumakis starts and Konstantelias/Masouras on the wing. Bakasetas, Mantalos and Fortounis could be played in a few different positions, just depends on how Poyet wants to go about it. Either way I think that team is probably the best we can put out, and it should have enough attacking talent to score a few goals and record a routine victory. https://www.sport24.gr/football/ethniki-elladas-ta-dyo-senaria-sto-myalo-toy-poget-gia-tin-endekada-me-to-givraltar.9982928.html

Even though this group is the group of death and chances of us qualifying are slim I really hope we can show progress and hold our own with the Netherlands and France. even the other teams will pose a challenge. It's unfortunate we got this group but until we start climbing the FIFA rankings these are the types of groups we can expect. We know the Netherlands and France will most likely only drop points to each other and i fully expect them to sweep through the other teams and at worst maybe getting a draw against us or Ireland. As we've said before our best and probably only realistic chance to qualify is through the Nations League that's why we would also want Turkey to qualify directly to avoid them as they would be our toughest challenge. But for now lets start of strong and bury Gibraltar.

You all have been asking for it and it seems it will be happening, Konstantelias will be called up to the senior squad for the Euro Qualifier v Gibraltar. Κωνσταντέλιας: Ο Γκουστάβο Πογέτ έχει τρελαθεί με το "παιδί-θαύμα" του ΠΑΟΚ και τον καλεί για πρώτη φορά στην Ανδρών

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.

EPO have correctly come out and backed Poyet

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

And that’s why he lost his job at PAOK

You came into the game thread to say how much you don't care? Seems like a waste of time to me.

I do

I mean not really. He was a stud. Dominating teams in Europe. However, when he went to England he was expected to preform right away. He didn't play well for a few games and then he barely got time after that. They didn't give him a real shot so they messed up his own development.

Mavropanos scored a 98th min winner for Stuttgart against Hertha Berlin in a 2-1 win. He also made a crucial clearance off the line with the scores locked at 1-1. You can see the clearance at 1.02 and the goal at 1.34 below.

I want NOTHING to do with ANYTHING that involves Saudi Arabia. The fact that Greece is considering this is an utter disgrace, in my opinion.

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.

First Greek athlete to qualify for the 2024 Olympics is Anna Korakaki in shooting, following her silver medal in the World Championships.

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

Congratulations AEK fans on your beautiful new home!

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

To quote what I said to him:

The winners of League C have been decided, along with Greece the other group winners are: Turkey, Georgia and Kazakhstan. These 3 along with Greece will be promoted to League B for the next edition of the Nations League. Furthermore, they are potential opponents in the event Greece doesn't directly qualify for Euro 2024, in the playoffs. Of course if any of those group winners qualify directly they would also be replaced with lower ranked nations in the playoffs, so we may end up avoiding them all together. As things stand assuming none of the 4 qualify directly, we would have to beat 2 of Turkey, Georgia and Kazakhstan to qualify for Euro 2024. The format is a one-off playoff game, 2 semis and a final with the winner gaining qualification.