The Momentum Continues

Make that three wins in a row for Greece under John Van 't Schip as the Ethniki secured a come from behind victory over the already qualified Finland to end an overall disappointing Euro 2020 qualifying campaign on a high.

Much like the last home match against Bosnia, and Friday's game against Armenia, Greece had the bulk of possession and attempts on goal, and while they did not take advantage of as many chances as they probably would have liked, they ultimately still came away with the win.

Throughout the first twenty-one minutes of this match as Greece dominated possession, they didn't exactly carve out any clear cut chances despite doing most of the attacking. Some half chances fell to Vangelis Pavlidis, Kostas Galanopoulos and Petros Mantalos. 

On twenty-two minutes, Vangelis Pavlidis had a curling effort from close range turned behind for a corner off the head of Finnish Defender Sauli Väisänen.

Not long after that chance, Captain Kostas Stafylidis had a pop from long range which was slightly fumbled by Finnish Goalkeeper Jesse Joronen but he was able to gather the ball quickly without any trouble.

Then Greece's captain was guilty of a horrible error, which lead to a sucker-punch of the worst kind from a Greek point of view, a failed attempt to lift the ball over the deadly Teemu Pukki went badly wrong and the Finnish and Norwich City poacher made no mistake with his finish to give the visitors the lead entirely against the run of play. Pantelis Hatzidiakos should take some responsibility as well, as it was his poor header which did put Stafylidis under initial pressure. 

As thirty-eight minutes ticked over Greece's best chance came around, as a Michalis Bakakis cross was met strongly by the head of Anastasios Bakasetas which forced a great save out of Joronen. The goalkeeper at the other end in Odisseas Vlachodimos was then forced into his force save of the night a minute later, as he got down smartly to turn away a shot from Finland's Joni Kauko.

Half time came around with Finland holding a one goal advantage going into the break. Much to the anger of Greece.

The home side could not have started the second half in better style, as they were finally rewarded for their dominance of the match so far. It was some scrappy defending from Finland which Greece punished as Jukka Raitala unsuccessfully tried to sheppard the ball out of play, Anastasios Bakasetas took advantage of that with a low cross which Petros Mantalos finished off to draw the home side level.

Man of the match to that point Bakasetas was in the thick of things in an attacking sense for Greece, and he was at it again creating space and a good pass for Michalis Bakakis to pick out Dimitris Limnios with a good cross, but Limnios saw his shot blocked and then the danger was averted.

Limnios again had a good chance moments later on sixty-one minutes, as he made space with his pace and trickery, and took the ball beyond four Finnish Defenders but unfortunately his shot was straight at Uronen, which was somewhat disappointing as he did quite well to create the chance.

The deadly Teemu Pukki nearly struck again for the second time in this match on sixty-eight minutes, but in very uncharacteristic fashion the striker put his effort wide of the target after being played through very well by Jukka Raitala. There's no doubt Greece dodged a bullet there

Straight after that chance, the comeback was complete, a cross from Dimitris Giannoulis was then cut back by Dimitris Limnios into the path of Subsitute Efthymios Koulouris who had his shot miraculously saved by Joronen, but the talented prospect in Kostas Galanopoulos was in the right place at the right time to tap in the rebound to give Greece the lead for the first time in the game. Four minutes later he was replaced by Andreas Bouchalakis, the performance of Galanopoulos in this game should be commended immensely in my opinion. His work in midfield with his passing and energy was first class.

The Greeks were able to hold on for the remaining twenty-two minutes after the Galanopoulos goal for a third straight win under John Van 't Schip. Joint man of the match awards from me will go to Kostas Galanopoulos and Anastasios Bakasetas for their tireless work in their respective thirds of the pitch on and off the ball, Dimitris Limnios again gave Greek fans excitement for the future with another promising performance. 

The whole team deserve credit for their resilience as well after going a goal down, and John Van 't Schip is worthy of a huge amount of credit as well, numerous players in this current squad have sung his praises for the rules he has put in place. What he is currently doing is working very well and I'm eager to see how well this team does going forward under the guidance of the Dutchman.

By Christian for Hellas Football