Good, But Still Must Be Better

Good, But Still Must Be Better

By Christian Leggas,

Match number three of the Ethniki's pursuit of UEFA Nations League promotion resulted in a two-nil success at home to Moldova, thanks to goals from the captain of the night, Anastasios Bakasetas, and attacker Petros Mantalos.

Ten minutes into the game, and it was evident as to which team was likely to dominate possession and chances throughout the night. The ball was almost a permanent resident of Moldova's defensive half of the pitch.

The first chance of the game fell to arguably Greece's man-of-the-match, Anastasios Bakasetas, as eleven minutes ticked over, who's tame shot may just have been creeping into the corner, Moldovan goalkeeper Stanislav Namașco was able to turn the ball out for a corner.

That Bakasetas chance was Greece's only real chance in the first half an hour of the game. They had plenty of possession but failed to find many clear-cut openings to score.

Shortly after thirty minutes ticked over, Greece finally found a gap in the Moldovan defence, as Petros Mantalos found Vangelis Pavlidis. But unfortunately, Pavlidis' shot was well smothered by Stanislav Namașco.

Just as it looked like it was going to be a goalless first half, Greece's persistence paid off. The ball found its way to Dimitris Kourbelis, who's clever-lofted ball into the penalty area caused havoc for Moldova. 

So much so that the only way of stopping Vangelis Pavlidis from getting to it was to pull him back, and that's what Moldovan defender Veaceslav Posmac did. That challenge proved to be so detrimental too as he received his marching orders for the challenge, and Greece had a penalty as a result of it.

As minimal as the contact was, I would have thought that if it happened anywhere else on the pitch, it is a foul. So the right call was made both to give the penalty and to send off Posmac for helping deny a clear goalscoring chance.

Up stepped Anastasios Bakasetas. Who blasted the ball home to give Greece the lead. It was a well deserved first international goal for him too, as he worked so hard not only in this game but in the last two years as well to revitalise his career. That was the last action of the first half, which meant that Greece went into the break a goal to-the-good.

The home side could not have started the second half more ideally if they tried, as they doubled their advantage four minutes into the second period. Anastasios Bakasetas managed to pick out Petros Mantalos with an inch-perfect aerial through-ball. The latter then controlled it superbly with his chest, then fired home a bouncing volley into the far corner to give Greece some breathing space.

Greece didn't seem to stop there in an attacking sense, shortly after the Mantalos goal. He and Bakasetas had a chance each to double their goal tallies. But Stanislav Namașco had minimal difficulty in saving both efforts on-goal.

Before the hour-mark, Vangelis Pavlidis had another chance to score. But, his deflected effort caused no trouble to Stanislav Namașco, who was undoubtedly Moldova's busiest and best player throughout the game.

As seventy minutes ticked over, Anastasios Bakasetas again had a shot from distance that Stanislav Namașco had not-much difficulty in saving. Shortly after that chance, Dimitris Limnios seemed to have a chance of his own served up on a silver platter from Dimitris Giannoulis' cross from the left flank. But he just got under the ball as it bounced off his back and went out for a goal-kick.

Bakasetas was a man on a goalscoring mission in this game. He had yet another opportunity to score, but again, Stanislav Namașco thwarted him. He subsequently had another attacking chance, this time to put in a dangerous cross, but he couldn't find a team-mate with it.

Greece did find the net a third time. Only to be correctly denied by the assistant referee, as substitute Taxiarchis Fountas made his run a little too soon to latch-onto a near-perfect through ball from fellow substitute Lazaros Rota. 

Fountas then misplaced a pass that could and should have led to a clear-cut chance for another fellow substitute in Kostas Fortounis. The latter did have a subsequent left-footed strike on goal following the errant Fountas pass, which could only force Stanislav Namașco into yet another save.

As ninety minutes approached, disaster nearly struck for Greece. With a silly foul from Lazaros Rota that resulted in a penalty for Moldova, as he pulled back Moldovan defender Oleg Reabciuk. Thankfully for the home side, goalkeeper Odysseas Vlachodimos spared the blushes of both Lazaros Rota and the home side as he dove down nicely to his left-hand-side to keep out the penalty, and in the process, preserve Greece's precious two-goal lead.

Greece had several openings to score following that saved penalty, including two efforts from Kostas Fortounis that hit the woodwork. But they could not capitalise. However, they ultimately did enough to get the all-important three points.While I can praise the Ethniki for being persistent, and eventually doing enough to break down the Moldovan defence in a satisfactory fashion, they can't afford to pass up such promising openings to goal when they present themselves in the future.

Next up for Greece is another home UEFA Nations League game, this time against Kosovo. In that game, Greece must take more chances, should they come their way. It's that simple. But, I must give credit to them for persisting with John van't Schip's gameplan and for ultimately taking enough chances to score.

Hellas Football 

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