We’re alive.

We’re alive.

By Christian Leggas

Greece's hopes of reaching the 2022 FIFA World Cup have revived once again. Courtesy of a two-one win against Sweden in Athens. Now, pressure on manager John van't Schip has, for now, eased.

 

Greece nearly got off to the worst possible start three minutes into the game. A cleared Georgios Tzavellas header fell kindly for Swedish midfielder Mattias Svanberg, whose volley was inches away from finding its way into the corner of the net, only to be denied by the woodwork.

 

The home side grew into the game after those first few minutes. And almost had a penalty awarded. When Greek striker Vangelis Pavlidis was fouled by Sweden's Filip Helander. But before that, he came into that play from an offside position, which turned out to be the correct decision. Pavlidis' strike-partner on the night in Anastasios Douvikas then had penalty claims of his own waved away, as while Helander had a handful of his shirt, Douvikas was guilty of the same thing.

 

Greece's first attempt came just before the half-hour mark when an adventurous run from left-back Kostas Tsimikas eventually resulted in a tame right-footed effort that didn't trouble Swedish goalkeeper Robin Olsen at all.

 

Shortly after that Tsimikas effort, a glorious chance ended up wasted. Vangelis Pavlidis had done all the hard work using his pace and strength to get rid of Swedish centre-half Victor Lindelöf. And after having left him on the floor, beaten, he scuffed his shot horribly, failing to score when he undoubtedly should have, even though Robin Olsen miraculously saved it.

 

The final action of the first half saw Greek goalkeeper Odysseas Vlachodimos called into action numerous times in a matter of minutes to deny Mattias Svanberg from a reasonable distance. And from the resulting corner, Alexander Isak from close-range. A deflected Emil Forsberg free-kick shortly followed, but then the referee blew the half-time whistle, with the teams still locked together at nil-nil.

 

The second half began with only half-chances for the visitors, from Dejan Kulusevski and Emil Forsberg, with the Ethniki hardly looking like scoring until they all of a sudden clicked into gear. A neat one-two between Anastasios Bakasetas and Anastasios Douvikas resulted in the ball finding its way in the path of the Ethniki captain via a slight deflection, who didn't disappoint anybody, except for Sweden, with the finish for a precious one-nil lead. A true captains goal when his team desperately needed it. It was nearly two-nil shortly after when an Andreas Bouchalakis header went agonisingly wide of the target from close range, another golden chance spurned.

 

From there, it was like a game of ping-pong, with both teams trading counter-attacks with the most noticeable opportunity from said counter-attacks fell to Sweden's Viktor Claesson, whose effort was trickling towards the corner, only to be denied by the post. Konstantinos Mavropanos can consider himself very lucky, as the ball off the post then ricocheted off his leg out for a corner rather than an own-goal.

 

Sheer joy was to come once again for the home side, as a one-goal lead became two. Substitute Christos Tzolis managed to beat the offside trap to eventually square the ball to Vangelis Pavlidis, who this time could not miss millimetres from the goal-line. Despite what appeared to be very conclusive camera angles to suggest that Tzolis was offside, VAR intervened. From the point of view of the technology and those operating it, it was Filip Helander's arm that played Tzolis onside. It took them a good few minutes to make their decision, but better late than never from a Greece perspective.

 

Sheer joy then became nerves shortly after, as Sweden pulled a goal back. Greece failed to close down Emil Forsberg, which resulted in a dangerous-looking shot that took some saving from Odysseas Vlachodimos. That save only trickled towards the feet of Sweden's Robin Quaison, like Pavlidis at the other end, could not miss from millimetres out.

 

Greek hearts were in mouths for the remaining ten minutes of the game plus stoppage time. But the home side did enough to this time, hang onto their lead and the three points.

 

Say what you like about John van't Schip. The man is somebody who this group of players look up to and admire. Whoever succeeds Theodoros Zagorakis as EPO President must think carefully before replacing him because if you were to do that, at this point, you would be ripping apart spirit between coach and players.

 

Next up for the Ethniki Omada is a road trip to Georgia. Hopefully, the confidence gained from this victory, combined with the inclusions of perhaps more well-known Ethniki representatives, will propel Greece into even further contention for a shot at qualification for the 2022 FIFA World Cup.

Hellas Football 

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