Ellada2004

Should be more teams from Europe there...now we get to watch Saudis, iran,Tunisia, Morroco and Panama a horrible side. This is no where near the quality of watching the Euros when it was a 16 team format.

Samaris should not be starting maybe coming in off the bench. Holebas brings a lot to the team we could have used him vs Croatia, to bad Skibbe didn't play him and he chose to retire from the Ethniki.

Ya it sucks having watched it and not being there hurts. There are some really open groups, how could Greece not have beaten Croatia,thinking to myself that we could have landed in Group A and done damage. What a waste.. England again get another layup drawing Panama (worst team tournament) and Tunisia. What a joke.

Peru could possibly be banned by FIFA for the World Cup due to political interference. Italy could get there spot or even Holland?? why would those teams get the spot especially Holland they didn’t even reach the playoffs. New Zealand lost to Peru would it not make more sense for them to get the spot? Then again this is FIFA, hopefully they would put Greece in for screwing us with the Manolas suspension.

A disgusting performance by OLY this Sporting Lisbon not Barcelona. They failed to gain a point from this side. A disastrous CL showing.

We remain at 47th. Surprised we did not drop. Miss the days of Greece being ranked near the top ten.

We're going to be stuck watching Tziolis,Tzavellas and Samaris and will be scratching our heads with call ups to Vellios and Diamantakos.

I thought we would have punched our ticket to the World Cup once we were confirmed as one of the playoff teams. Especially after getting Belgium to beat Bosnia in a meaningless match for them and then we got help from Slovenia drawing Scotland to get us in. It just seemed like we would overcome anyone in the playoff (my only concern was drawing Italy). It all went wrong with the Manolas suspension and Skibbes ridiculous lineup in Zagreb. What was he thinking I still watch the matches and I can't believe his tactics and some of the players he went with. To lose to Croatia is bad enough, but 4-1 and with three goals conceded in the 1st half in the first game is a disgrace and it shows how unprepared Skibbe was for the task at hand. We better hope we get a great draw and not have to go to playoffs for a Euro 2020 spot.

Skibbe has been given a contract extension by EPO with a 30% pay haircut. I guess this means we will unfortunately have to continue too see Tziolis and Maniatis get the call for the Ethniki. He better get us in too the next Euro and I hope he demands the EPO set up some friendly matches. I hope for the best, will all be watching a 2nd tournament in a row without Greece.

I watched the 1st leg again the commentators were shocked at how unorganized and stretched we were at the back. They questioned our formation and kept saying that Maniatis looked totally lost he did not know whether to cover Perisic more in the middle or track Strinic down the wings. Complete disorganization in a playoff match to go to the World Cup its unacceptable, I know Manolas would have settled things down but what was Skibbe doing? The Tzavellas pass back was absurd,why not boot it up the pitch and Karnezis trying to control it like he's a centre mid? Our world cup hopes went down the drain in those first 30 minutes just appauling....

Pots for Wcup are confirmed, Poland is a pot 1 team while Spain is in pot 2? FIFA rankings are ridiculous.

Ouzounidis would be a great choice he would get rid of the players who can't cut it, but I don't see the EPO cutting Skibbe lose.

It's just sad to see us miss the World Cup and will sting once the draw is held and in the coming months before the tournament kicks of in Russia. Croatia is a talented team but not a powerhouse like Germany, Spain or even Belgium whom we battled very hard. So to go out 4-1 and look totally unprepared in Zagreb with our solid defense looking in shambles is hard to swallow. Skibbe and I like him personally and during the campaign had done a fairly well in some matches, but what was he thinking during the first leg starting Maniatis who could not keep up and going with 3 at the back and the team looked so confused. Throw in Tziolis and Samaris and a rusty Karnezis who had not played much recently up until the week before in Watford were he made another horrible mistake coming out of his net for a ball not getting there and getting beat for a goal. Then he sets us up to play for a draw in Greece when we need goals or we are OUT of the World cup? Most of his call ups and selections were wrong a long with his tactics. The only thing out of his control was the ridiculous suspension of Manolas, but there is no way we should allow Croatia 4 goals in one match they had scored less goals in qualifying than us.

We are missing those kind of players in the midfield who can command the game, play with heart and lead a team on the field unlike our current crop of Tziolis, Samaris, Tactsidis, etc. As for Santos like him or not (and he's not perfect) he had an incredible record during his tenure along with making the Euro last 8 and round of 16 at the World Cup. Just qualifying for a tournament now would be considered a huge achievement were as not to long ago it was pretty much a given.

All good points I watched the match again that should have been a penalty but we are Greece and we will not get those calls.Kuipers was never going to do us any favors, he did not give us a few free kicks and an obvious deliberate hand ball on Strinic should have been a yellow. Toro was ready to go at him. Our crosses were pathetic too from Toro just blasting the ball out of play and Lazaros on an early Free kick in a dangerous area he hits it low at the first defender. Corner kicks were not good either but then again you have Skibbe leaving Fortounis off? What a debactle.

Don't have anything against Iceland but they are not a traditional footballing nation. They were sub par for years but I give them credit for getting there. Countries like Panama, morroco, Tunisia, Saudi Arabia are in? How painful it will be watching one of them play. Hopefully we get our s%$#! together an start qualifying for tournaments as we use to do on a regular basis. Ever since our excellent performance at 2014 World Cup and losing on pks to Costa Rica its all gone sideways for us. Plus throw in the departure of Santos and Karagounis and Katsouranis and now we can't make 2 successive tournaments. So tough to swallow.

I agree with you J1078, in the two biggest games he will ever coach for the NT he got the lineup and his tactics wrong. The first game in Croatia he should have set us up as he did in Belgium very tight at the back. Belgium were in clear frustration the whole match until they finally scored late.That game he made better subs calling on Zeca in his debut and he came in and ran with the Belgians. The 2nd leg in Athens we need to score 3 goals and the lineup that he went with was as if we were up 3 goals and we showed no urgency to attack a Croatian side that was sitting back and inviting us to attack. Playing Tziolis and Samaris who can't make simple passes and screw up our attack when they have the ball in the last third is mind boggling. As for Skibbe if he doesn't stay on it opens the door for Holebas to possibly return to the fold, which is a huge upgrade.

I agree Iceland players have a high work rate similar to our team 2014 edition, we are similar in that way.

I wanted Denmark so badly, did not want Italy because of there history of making almost every WorldCup and I was worried about FIFA screwing us. Then again FIFA still ended up screwing us.

Maybe it would have been better if we had drawn Italy instead? after watching them play the playoff games were they did not score and even before that in qualifying were they struggled vs some of the weak sides in there group.

Just awful managing from Skibbe, he set us up as if we were up 4-1 in the tie. He's to blame to large degree as are the players who made outrageous errors in the 1st leg, and FIFA played a hand in our elimination. Those scum bags.

Italy out of the World Cup!

How the heck does Iceland qualify for World Cup a country of 340000 people,besting Croatia in there group? They have no big name players they play hard but when you look at our roster compared to there's we are far more talented. Also Morroco, Sengal, Panama World Cup bound and we are not just pathetic!

It’s going to be really hard when it’s on next summer. Even the drawing of the groups on December 1 will be tough to watch.

Manolas is world class as we saw today, him missing the first game by the corrupt FIFA cost us a few goals no way Croatia would get 4. I love Toro but today he could not deliver a cross, no one could really. Mitroglou was shaky his touch was heavy and a few times he had an open player making a run and he could not layoff a simple pass. Very surprising to see him struggle like that.