Ellada2004

Greece played a great match. In the second half we had the better chances and got our goal. Mertens was so rattled this game he got into it with Tzavellas last time we played in Belgium. Amazing that Greece get another result in Belgium!

FT Belgium 1 Greece 1

Mertens that dirty player no card!

Galanopoulos great match

Great free kick!!

Tzavellas!!

Goal!!!

Masouras shot saved

Pelkas in for Pavlidis Koutris in for Tzimikas

Bakasetas opts not to shoot the ball??

Take Bakasetas off!!

Yes we have looked sharp.. Bakasetas was played in with a nice ball right at the end of the half and missed the target. Let’s hope we get a goal.

We have a great opportunity on the break only for Pavlidis to mess it up

Dam it! Pavlidis missed a great chance earlier

Let’s Go ELLAS!!

I wanted to see JVS call up Alexandropoulos and give him some playing time vs a tough Belgium side. From 2004 -2014 Greece was a football powerhouse under the guidance of Rehhagel & Santos we won the European championship and during that time we defeated the likes of Portugal, Spain, France, Czechs Croatia etc.. Greece only missed the 2006 WCUP due to a fluky loss to Albania. It would have been great to see us in Germany with that side we had I think a quarter finals place would have been attainable. Anyways now we are missing out on the Euros again where we should have qualified behind Italy in such a gift of a group that was handed to us. Just going to be hard to watch us not there again!

For sure lots there are lots of good managers currently available.

No Fortounis, it will be a tough go in Belgium I hope we can keep it close.

Your right on Dean, JVS messed it up in NL, in the first match at Slovenia we sat back and rarely looked to go forward and Greece only managed a draw. This vs a team that Cyprus beat in WCUP qualifying recently. Also JVS was to blame for the debacle at home vs Kosovo where we only managed a draw and played miserably in the 2nd half. As most of us have said here JVS came in to the NT and at the start of his tenure he had the Ethniki playing attractive attacking football where we saw many shot attempts and many high quality scoring chances created. Even in the Euro qualifier in Italy vs a very tough side he set us up well and Greece went toe to toe with Italy and we were unlucky to not get a result. JVS must know Bakasetas cant cut it at the NT level? A guy who played and won the Euro as a player for Holland who was around great talented and smart footballers and he keeps selecting Bakasetas and not only starts him but has him captaining the NT? What gives? Enough already! I hope he gets the call ups and tactics right we have a friendly with Belgium and then vs Norway lets see what he does in these matches and then in the qualifiers. Greece as you said have the talent to make the Euros and the World Cup but we are being held back by these managers and the EPO!

Yes JVS totally screwed us up in that Georgia game a wasted opportunity. Greece looked like they were on the road just trying to get a draw? It was really disappointing. JVS has a must win game vs Kosovo and then Greece vs Sweden. I can see us giving Sweden a real good battle if he gets the lineup and tactics right. 2 wins here and Greece will be in 2nd place going into the October matches.

Great stuff! We need him to start scoring regularly for the Ethniki and get us into the World Cup!

Good points, out of those players I wouldn’t bring Koulouris for myself I have seen enough of him and I don’t think he can be successful for the NT. JVS should put Bakasetas on the bench if he gets called up and be used as a sub. He should never start nor should he ever be captain! Siovas eluded to this in his interview as well. JVS has a habit of putting together pretty good lineups and tactics in place in friendlies as we saw vs Honduras and even against Austria but then for some reason he starts the wrong players & plays players out of position as we saw vs Georgia. Why did he play so scared vs Georgia at home? Georgia are a decent side on the upside but Greece should have opened up the game instead of sitting back. I liked how he approached the matches in the Euro qualifiers when he first took over. Lots of quick passing and nice ball movement and heavy pressing up the pitch. Where was that vs Georgia it was a pitiful performance and although we could have won with a gift OG we are lucky we didn’t lose that game.

Yes he seems very easy going not at all arrogant. At one point he said when Skibbe was there he wanted to call him up but he said he was recovering from an injury and said for the good of the team to take someone else. Looks like he will only come back to the Ethniki if JVS is no longer the coach. That is a shame..

Thanks for this J1078. Its very telling what Siovas says about JVS and the coaching staff getting rid of him for no real reason just saying Manolas and Sokratis could have helped the NT and players like himself, Svarnas, Hatzidiakos, Staf, etc. Also he touched on how you cant have our best CBs out of the NT as we are first a defensive oriented team going back many years. It looks like it will come down to Septembers match with Kosovo for JVS its an absolute must win to save his job and then he needs to get a result vs Sweden or else he has to go. I heard on one of the podcasts that he gets a paper from the EPO with the players that are to be called up? The source was a a journalist from one of the Greek sports channels. Just crazy we have guys like Manolas, Sokratis, and Siovas sitting at home and Mavrias is IN the team when he cant even get playing time in his club team in Cyprus and we saw what happened when he came in vs Georgia!

Good we get to go up against Haaland.