Our national team did not manage to complete the “miracle”. 36 days after their triumph at Wembley, Ivan Jovanovic’s team suffered a heavy defeat with a score of 3-0 in the OAKA against England of the many and important absences, with the result that Watkins (7′), Vlachodimos (78′- own goal), Jones .
After tonight’s defeat, the “blue and white”, which even with a draw sealed the first place in the packed Olympic Stadium, saw the “three lions” catch it at the top of the group (12b.), with the English even now superior in parity.
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Thus, our opponent gained a clear lead for occupying the first place, in view of the last matchday (17/11) where they welcome Ireland, while our team will be tested at home in Finland.
How did the two teams line up?
Ivan Jovanovic chose Zafeiris instead of the suspended Kourbelis, while at the top of the attack he started Pavlidis, leaving Ioannidis on the bench.
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More specifically, in a 4-2-3-1 system, Vlachodimos was in goal, Koulierakis and Mavropanos were the duo of stoppers, with Rota and Tsimika taking positions at the two ends of the blue and white rear guard.
Siopis and Zafeiris started in the midfield, Masouras and Tzolis were on the “wings”, while Bakasetas moved behind Pavlidis.
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On the other hand, England, with a total of eight absentees, lined up with a 4-2-3-1 arrangement, with Harry Kane not in the initial formation of the “three lions”.
Pickford was under the goalposts, while the back four consisted of (from right to left) Walker, Gwehi, Konsa and Lewis.
Gallagher and Jones took up positions in midfield, with Watkins at the top of the attack (Kane on the bench) supported by Bellingham, in a free role behind him, and Madueke and Gordon on the wings.
The fight
The game started in the worst way for our national team, as they entered the field fearfully and saw the English, on their first visit to the Vlachodimos stadium, open the scoring.
In the 7th minute Madueke cut in from the right and, after overcoming Zafiris’s obstacle, he turned to Watkins, who from the “heart” of the area of our representative group had no difficulty sending the ball into the net.
The quick goal of the English clearly affected the “blue and white”, who have since been finding their feet on the pitch.
In general, in the first 25 minutes of the match, Jovanovic’s team was completely harmless offensively.
It couldn’t hold the ball at all, it didn’t manage to develop, even facing several problems in its defense, with the visitors’ wingers, Madueke and Gordon constantly going up and down our representative group.
In the 26th minute, the first final of the “blue and white” was recorded in the match with a shot by Rota that went wide.
Four minutes later our team came within a breath of 1-1 when, from a nice move from Joli from the left, Tsimikas became the owner of the ball, shooting hard, but Pickford was on hand, clearing for a corner.
The good period of our national team in the first part was from the 25th to the 35th minute, as then the visitors took control of the match again, as a result of which the 1-0 advantage remained in their favor until half-time.
In the mood to press high, our national team entered the second half against the English, who returned to the field with one change (Hall took Konsa’s place).
However, the “three lions”, as happened in the first half, managed to take the “reins” in the game and within a minute they “touched” twice with 0-2.
In the 53′, Lewis shot from an advantageous position, but Vlachodimos made an excellent intervention, while in the 54′, Bellingham got a header from Madueke’s cross, with the ball hitting the post.
Seeing our team limping on the field and the English having the “upper hand” in the game, Ivan Jovanovic decided to shuffle the… deck.
Specifically, in the 56th minute, he made a triple change, with Ioannidis, Pelkas and Giannoulis replacing Pavlidis, Bakaseta and Tsimikas, respectively.
The Panathinaikos international, in fact, a few minutes after entering the game (63′), almost scored, when he made a nice control and shot from the semi-circle of the area, but Pickford made a save, driving the ball into a corner.
England’s caretaker manager responded on the… chessboard, throwing Kane, Bowen and Rodgers into the match instead of Watkins, Madueke and Gordon, with Constantelia on the other hand being recruited by Jovanovic in the 70′, coming on for Masura.
The corrective actions of the Serbian coach brought freshness to our team, which pushed for a 1-1 draw, without however achieving the goal.
To get to the 78th minute when the modest ceremony was effectively over. England came out on the counter and managed to score a second goal, when Bellingham made the shot from the semi-circle of the area, with the ball initially finding the post and ending up in the net from the feet of Vlachodimos.
Five minutes later he even made it three… bad for Jovanovic’s side as, after some good ball movement from the Englishmen, Gibbs-White headed in, with Jones scoring with a stunning backheel to make it 3-0 to the hosts. guests.
Greece-England 0-3
Goal: 7′ Watkins (England), 78′ aut. Vlahodemos (England), 83′ Jones (England)
Yellow: Gallagher (England), Gallagher (England), Zafiris (Greece)
Beams: 54′ Bellingham (England), 78′ Bellingham (England)
Greece: Vlachodimos, Rota, Mavropanos, Koulierakis, Tsimikas (56′ Giannoulis), Siopis (83′ Mandalos), Zafeiris, Bakasetas (56′ Pelkas), Masouras (70′ Constantelias), Tzolis, Pavlidis (56′ Ioannidis).
England: Pickford, Walker, Lewis, Gallagher (78′ Gibbs-White), Konsa (46′ Hall), Gwehi, Bellingham, Gordon (67′ Rogers), Jones, Watkins (67′ Kane), Madueke (67′ Bowen)
THE RESULTS OF THE 5TH COMPETITION
Ireland-Finland 1-0
Greece-England 0-3
THE GRADING
England 11-3 12
Greece 9-4 12
Ireland 3-7 6
Finland 2-11 0
THE LAST COMPETITION (17/11)
England-Ireland
Finland-Greece
The Olympic Stadium is packed
Legends 2004 and Rehagel were awarded amid rapture at the packed OAKA
The 2004 European champions and the man behind Portugal’s triumph, Otto Rehagel, were awarded before the start of Greece v England and were adored by 60,000 fans who flooded the OAKA.
Ivan Jovanovich
Harry Kane
Vlachodimos and Tzolakis the moment they went out on the field for warm-up
On the side of our national team is Marios Iliopoulos
Otto Rehagel is at OAKA
Video and photos outside OAKA
Source: www.zougla.gr
