LONDON: Greece beat England for the first time as striker Vangelis Pavlidis’s double earned the visitors a richly-deserved 2-1 victory to put them in control of Nations League Group B2 at Wembley on Thursday.
While Pavlidis’s winner in the fourth minute of stoppage time sparked wild celebrations amongst the Greek fans, England’s were left stunned as stand-in manager Lee Carsley got a sobering reality check.
Two wins since Gareth Southgate stood down had raised Carsley’s stock as a likely full-time replacement, but after a this ragged loss, his hopes may have dwindled.
Pavlidis had given his side the lead early in the second half with a clinical finish and Greece had three goals ruled out against an England side that started with an experimental-looking attacking formation but misfired badly.
Jude Bellingham looked to have rescued his side when he lashed home an 87th-minute equaliser with England’s second shot on target, but there was another twist as the outstanding Pavlidis punished some woeful defending to shoot past Jordan Pickford from close range.
Greece top the table with a maximum nine points while England’s first defeat under Carsley left them second with six.
Carsley, who was without injured captain Harry Kane, stood by his decision to start without a recognised striker in a five-man attack, although he admitted it had failed.
“I think with the players we have, we have to be courageous with our systems and be creative,” he told reporters. “It was my idea and I take the blame for that. It definitely didn’t come off but we shouldn’t rule out trying something different.”
It was a poignant evening for Greece with a minute’s silence held before kickoff for their former international George Baldock who died, aged 31, this week.
After the often conservative nature of England’s football under Southgate there was a buzz of anticipation around Wembley as Carsley, who has been put in charge for the Nations League games, picked in-form Cole Palmer. The Chelsea playerstarted just behind Bellingham and Phil Foden.
Bellingham stung Greek keeper Vlachodimos Odysseas’s fingers with a ferocious dipping drive and Palmer blazed wastefully over the crossbar when well-placed.
But for all England’s attacking potential, it was Greece who had the better first-half opportunities.
Pavlidis curled one effort wide before home keeper Pickford almost gifted Greece the lead, losing the ball on the edge of his area and having his blushes spared by a brilliant goal-line clearance by Levi Colwill.
England began the second half in lethargic fashion and Greece took the lead in the 49th minute as Pavlidis showed great footwork to dispatch a low shot past Pickford despite being hemmed in by England defenders.
Giorgos Masouras and Pavlidis then had goals ruled out by VAR and many England fans had already headed for home by the time Bellingham’s shot beat Odyyseas Vlachodimos.
Greece were undaunted though and Pavlidis made sure of victory at the 10th attempt against England.
Meanwhile, Italy and Belgium played out a 2-2 draw in the League A: Group 2 match.
Italy looked comfortable and were dominating the encounter until they suffered a double blow inside the final 10 minutes of the first half.
Lorenzo Pellegrini initially picked up a yellow card for his late lunge on Arthur Theate in the 38th minute but, after a VAR review, the Italy playmaker was instead shown a straight red.
Belgium then duly halved the deficit from the resulting free-kick, with Maxim De Cuyper finishing emphatically from 25 yards following a clever set-piece move.
Arsenal forward Leandro Trossard completed the Belgian comeback on 61 minutes.
A deep corner was nodded back across goal and Trossard ghosted past the static defence to prod the ball past Gianluigi Donnarumma from close range.
“There are episodes that can change a game, like their goal immediately after we went down to ten men,” said Italy coach Luciano Spalletti.
“A result doesn’t always depend on the football you play and your tactics. Certainly, we could have played better in the second half after a very good first half.”
Italy remain top of their group with France sitting second after they beat Israel 4-1 in Budapest.
Eduardo Camavinga gave France a seventh-minute lead when the goalkeeper fumbled his tame effort, allowing the ball to bounce over the line.
Omri Gandelman levelled on 24 minutes, before Christopher Nkunku restored France’s advantage four minutes later with a sharp finish.
As the clock wound down, the visitors added two more goals to their tally via Matteo Guendouzi and Bradley Barcola.
Erling Haaland scored a brace as Norway eased past Slovenia 3-0 in Oslo to sit top of Group B3, three points ahead of Austria who beat Kazakhstan 4-0.
Republic of Ireland came from behind in Helsinki to beat Finland 2-1, they sit third in Group B2 behind England.
Published in Dawn, October 12th, 2024
