Not Terrible, But Better Future Performances are a Must.

Not Terrible, But Better Future Performances are a Must.

By Christian Leggas

An experimental-in-places Greek side fought hard to get a positive result against Austria, but unfortunately, the Ethniki went down by two goals to one in the end in what was a hard-fought encounter. 

The early parts of the first half had a very high-tempo feel about it. Both teams were keen to move the ball quickly when in possession. And to hurry their opponents up when they did not have it.

Half an hour into the game, and it was obvious to notice that this contest was bereft of any real clear-cut chances. Austria had a couple of half-opportunities that Ethniki debutant Sokratis Dioudis had not much difficulty in saving. Greece themselves failed to fire a single shot given that they spent most of this time frame defending, which they did reasonably well as a unit.

For the remainder of the half, it was very much the same story of Austria doing most of the attacking, and Greece doing most of the defending, as both teams went into the break at nil-nil.

Seventeen minutes into the second half, Greece had their first effort on goal, and it could not have been a better one. After a sublime switch of play from Taxiarchis Fountas, Kostas Fortounis took the ball beautifully in his stride, then guiding the ball into the bottom left-hand corner of the net in a well-taken and confident fashion to give the visitors the one-goal advantage. There were question marks as to whether or not there was a foul by Fountas in the build-up to that goal, as his forearm appeared to make forceful contact to the face of Austrian defender Stefan Lainer. But the referee thought there was nothing to see there, and in all honesty, it was a fifty-fifty call.

Unfortunately, the lead lasted fourteen minutes for Greece, as Austria moved the ball quickly from a throw-in, which resulted in substitute Michael Gregoritsch whipping in a perfect cross that was met expertly by Adrian Grbić, who was in the right place at the right time to level the scores. Georgios Tzavellas and Giannis Michailidis might each feel a tad disappointed that they allowed the Gregoritsch cross to reach Grbić the way it did, as it did look partially preventable at least.  

Four minutes after Austria equalised, they went ahead. As substitutes, Louis Schaub and Christoph Baumgartner combined superbly. With the move resulting in the latter slotting home a very well-placed shot into the net to swing the advantage in the Austrian direction.

Greece could not find a clear opening to equalise from then until the end of the game, as Austria ran out the game two-one winners.

This game did seem to be very much an opportunity for head coach John van’t Schip to rotate his team with next week’s UEFA Nations League matches against Moldova and Kosovo in mind. It seemed very evident that he had that mindset as we saw centre-back by trade in Vasilis Lampropoulos trialled at right-back for the entire game, which didn’t result in anywhere near an awful outcome as he tried hard and was solid defensively. 

Though having said that, he would not be my first choice to play that particular role in the future.

We also saw Kostas Fortounis line up as our striker for most of the evening, which I suppose you could argue did work to a degree, as he bobbed up in the right place, with the right finish, at the right time to initially give Greece the lead with a well-taken chance. However, much like my above view on Lampropoulos as a right-back, Fortounis would not be my first-choice striker if I was in charge.

Next up for the Ethniki is our first home game of this UEFA Nations League campaign, as we host Moldova. 

They can have a get-out-of-jail-free card for this game. But, more concentration on the pitch and the selection of more players in their preferred positions is what is required to take a positive result against not just Moldova, but in future matches as well.

Hellas Football 

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