Report: Scotland 3-1 Greece

By Alec McQuarrie

Over an hour before kick-off and the recriminations have already begun.

Essentially, supporters are getting their bets in early to claim their winnings at the final whistle with a smug: “I told you so! X should never have started. Why the fuck was Y on the bench? Z has no idea what he’s doing.”

For some, the post-match dissection is the main course, and it is served ever so delicious if you predicted the loss before it happened. Even better if you can foresee the culpable parties. It is Greek pessimism at its finest. I even think certain fans are pleased when defeat is dished up, pleased to be proved right.

For others, it is protection, plain and simple. When the hurt stretches back 11 years, hope is a hard sell. Hope has been ground down to a fine dust by repeated failures and disappointments, disasters and frustrations, each one more retrospectively predictable than the last. Some fans don’t want the hope. The hope hurts. It always does.

Whereas pessimism is comfortable. It’s vindicating. It’s the ultimate win-win – you’re right when Greece lose and no one remembers your complaints when Greece win.

But Greece have to win. The cataclysmic result and the atrocious performance against the Danes in Piraeus demands it. There is no room for error at Hampden Park, certainly not when the opposition is sitting a point clear in second. 

Scotland have holes in their squad, sure, but they also boast a handful of very talented players. John McGinn, Andy Robertson, Lewis Ferguson and Scott McTominay are all well-acquainted with the Champions League. Aaron Hickey, Ryan Christie, Ben Gannon-Doak and Che Adams can all point to their Premier League experience. 

But Grant Hanley and John Souttar are vulnerable, Angus Gunn is Nottingham Forest’s third-choice keeper and Che Adams is the antithesis of clinical. You wouldn’t take any of those four over what Greece has to offer. No chance.

Saying that, you would back Adams’ 2-year-old daughter to finish the opportunity that falls the way of Vangelis Pavlidis in the eighth minute. It is a complete and utter sitter. The build-up from Christos Tzolis and Tasos Bakasetas is pin-point precise, which means the Benfica striker does not have to be – any touch, any touch at all, and Greece are ahead.

But the visitors are exceedingly comfortable in the early stages. The Scottish crowd are deathly silent as the Ethniki control possession with the kind of composure that was sorely missing in the Denmark defeat. In fact, it takes 17 minutes for Hampden to find something to cheer: their first corner. Perhaps Greece are not the only pessimistic nation in Group C.

The match lulls into a coma and the crowd’s frustration eventually brims over. Greece are the team under pressure to find a victory, but it does not feel that way. Ultimately, a draw might suit the Scots, but the thousands in the stands refuse to believe it. The fraught atmosphere seeps onto the pitch and the half stutters to a close via a series of questionable free-kicks and stoppages. 

Greece were most likely the happier side during the interval, but not necessarily with the scoreline. The hosts did not have a shot after Adams tried his luck from the halfway line in the third minute. Kostas Tzolakis was the definition of untroubled.

But clean sheets do not win football matches, goals do. Pavlidis heads over shortly after half-time and Giorgos Masouras flashes his finish high and wide. 

Kostas Tsimikas does not make the same mistake. The 29-year-old picks what seems to be the perfect time to score his first goal for Greece and his first for anyone since 2018. Masouras, Bakasetas and Pavlidis all play crucial roles in the build-up and the former Liverpool full-back’s composure is pristine.

Suddenly Scotland come alive and Greece shoot themselves in the foot. The equaliser arrives immediately and from absolutely nowhere. The hosts had not shown any threat all evening and all it takes is one set piece, one weak header and one failed clearance for Christie to slam Scotland level.

Ivan Jovanovic knows what he must do. The cavalry are thrust onto the pitch in the form of Giannis Konstantelias, Fotis Ioannidis and Kostas Karetsas. But they arrive on a battlefield that has unexpectedly become a churn of Scottish momentum.

The dagger falls with 10 minutes remaining. Again a set piece, again an inability to hoist clear. Lewis Ferguson pokes home at the backpost – just as Pavlidis failed to do early on - and all of Greece’s dominance, composure, possession and incision amounts to nil.

What might get lost in the collapse that follows – and Tzolakis’ error for Lyndon Dykes’ sealer is nothing short of mortifying, by the way – is that from 72 minutes onwards Greece hardly threaten. Yes, the crowd is up. Yes, the momentum is with the hosts. But if there is one team that should be pushing for a winner, it is the one clad in brilliant white. They barely leave a scratch on Scotland in the closing stages and that might be the most baffling feature of a thoroughly baffling night in Glasgow.

It is a different sort of frustration to watch the Greeks actually play well and come away with nothing. At least against Denmark the result made sense. Greece were terrible in Piraeus and that was wholly reflected in the scoreline. What on earth is the lesson here?

So let’s have your recriminations. Let’s hear ‘I told you so’. Because Greece’s starting XI were superb for 63 minutes. X, Y and Z all came on and somehow Greece got worse.

@A_McQuarrie

Hellas Football