England 1-2 Greece – Nations League
Greece pulled off a remarkable heist at Wembley, as their
spirited performance left England reeling in disbelief.
KICK OFF
After an emotional minute’s silence in memory of Greek
international George Baldock who sadly passed away on Wednesday afternoon, the
international break kicked off at Wembley.
In the opening few minutes, England showed promise after a
well-hit shot from Jude Bellingham let fly from 25 yards out and forced
Odisseas Vlachodimos to get a strong hand to a powerful shot which was destined
for the top right corner and the following corner was defended well by Greece.
Just 6 minutes into the game, Konstantinos Koulierakis was
issued a yellow card for a reckless tackle by Jude Bellingham which left the
referee little choice but to caution him.
After 10 minutes on the clock, Jordan Pickford was caught
out by Greek striker Vangelis Pavlidis way outside the 18-yard box after he ran
out of his goal to clear some danger and lost it in a dangerous position and
Pavlidis had a free chip at the goal which was remarkably cleared by Levi
Colwill on the line.
Less than a minute later, Greece thought they took the lead
after Konstantinos Mavropanos headed home after another Pickford error and
totally missed the punch away leading the Greek defender a free header, but the
assistant had his flag up for offside, saving England’s poor defensive error.
After a cagey ping-pong affair throughout the first half,
the final highlight of the first half was after Bukayo Saka entered the ref’s
book and received a yellow card for a clear cynical pull on Giorgos Masouras
who tried to catch England on a quick counter attack before the break, the
clearest of yellow cards for the Arsenal winger.
HALF TIME: ENGLAND 0-0 GREECE
Despite England’s high tempo at the start of the second
half, Greece took a deserved lead at Wembley through Pavlidis just 4 minutes
in. Koulierakis broke free from his defensive position and managed to pick out
Pavidis, who has caused trouble all night for the England defence, and he
excellently managed to wiggle through a tight gap of 3 Englishmen and was able
to find the bottom right corner afterwards, leaving Pickford with no chance at
any save.
Saka was forced off with a niggle picked up during the Greek
goal and could not continue after just 51 minutes played and was replaced by
Chelsea forward Noni Madueke, which will be a worry for Arsenal fans.
59 minutes in and Greece had the ball in the net for the third
time tonight after Pavlidis squared in for Masouras however the linesman’s flag
was up once again to save England from a major shock at Wembley after another
collection of defensive errors.
Lee Carsley chose to call on Ollie Watkins to try and
salvage England’s poor performance and he made an instant impact on the hour mark,
and he was put through by Cole Palmer. His effort was powerful but fired well
over the bar.
Phil Foden had a night to forget in London tonight, his
performance was disappointing and was replaced by Tottenham striker Dom
Solanke, who made his first Three Lions appearance since 2017.
Greece had the ball in the net for the fourth time but once
again the goal was chalked off for offside. An awful clearance from Pickford
was picked up by the former Norwich fullback Dimitrios Giannoulis who played in
Christos Tzolis on the left hand side who centred the ball for Pavlidis who
only had to sweep it home past Pickford. After a VAR intervention, Pavlidis was
offside by a few centimetres and the goal was correctly disallowed and the
score remained 0-1 to Greece with just 6 minutes left. Massive let off for
England again, who simply haven’t been at the races tonight.
England found a leveller from Bellingham in the 87th minute after substitute Dom Solanke played a ball across the penalty area from the right, which was cleverly left by Palmer which kindly came to Bellingham to shoot from just outside the area with power and Vlachodimos could only parry it into his own net from the powerful shot. Greece deserve to be ahead, but England punished Greece at Wembley with minutes left.
The officials indicated a minimum of five minutes of
stoppage time in the Nations League clash between England and Greece for one
of the countries to find a winner. This led to Greece finding a deserved
winner in the 94th minute of the game after the hosts could not
clear their lines after several attempts in
their own penalty area and it was pounced on once again by Greek hero
Vangelis Pavlidis who guided Greece to their first goals ever at Wembley after
a horrific defensive display this evening across the England back line.
England tried to fight back deep into stoppage time, and Dom
Solanke was demanding a penalty to be given to force a late leveller, but there
was no foul and the referee correctly waved play on.
FULL TIME: ENGLAND 1-2 GREECE.
England looked completely off the pace today at Wembley and
Greece have beaten them for the first time ever after a historic brace by man
of the match Pavlidis. England got what they deserved after a terrible display,
but full credit to a professional performance from Greece, who deserved their
win. A fitting tribute to George Baldock.