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Greece 3-2 Scotland: The Review

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What on earth was Saturday night?!

All week, the build-up to Athens was “this is a must not lose game for Scotland”…Scotland lost. But what we did not expect to happen was Belarus, a side who previously caused Scotland issues in October and ranked 97th in the world, to get a draw in Copenhagen against Denmark.

It means that the dream for automatic qualification to the World Cup is still very much on.

First-half issues

Scotland wanted to start fast unlike our previous game in October and put pressure onto a strong Greek side. Instead, after only seven minutes on the clock, a mistake in the Scotland defence saw returning goalkeeping Craig Gordon save Vangelis Pavlidis’ effort and Tasos Bakasetas put in the rebound to open the scoring. Forget Greece v Scotland, the first 30 minutes was practically Greece v Craig Gordon. The Hearts goalkeeper making vital saves and denying chance after chance for Greece. Tzolis, Karetsas, Restos all were denied, and we were lucky that Greece’s lead wasn’t extended.

Scotland eventually woke up after half an hour and worked our way into the game. However, it wouldn’t be until first half stoppage time that had our first shot on target. Scott McTominay’s excellent effort from outside the box hit the crossbar, as well as Adams missing a header from close range and Ben Gannon-Doak having his one-on-one effort denied by Vlachodimos just before half-time.

The sucker punch

Scotland came out for the second half and showed the same intensity that had ended the half with, creating excellent chances. Christie latched onto a loose pass in the Greek defence and went through on goal and cut it back to Adams in a better position, but 29-year-old failed to capitalise after dwelling on the ball for too long, something that would become a frustratingly reoccurring theme throughout the game.

Then, heartbreak. Substitute Andreas Tetteh, making his first appearance for his country, found Konstantinos Karetsas who doubled Greece’s lead. Then six minutes later, to compile our misery, Christos Tzolis’ strike from distance flew into the back of the net. Perhaps Craig Gordon could have done better, but an excellent strike saw the hosts go 3-0 up.

Not one for giving up

Ben Gannon Doak.jpg

But then credit to Scotland, in similar fashion to the reverse fixture, we scored just two minutes later to get one back. John McGinn put in a good cross which found Ben Gannon-Doak coming in at the back post, and the Bournemouth winger got his first senior Scotland goal after a VAR check.

Then something came through the crowd, perhaps no-one could believe the news, but it was true. Belarus had come from 1-0 behind in Copenhagen and quickly went in front against Denmark. Any dropped points from the Danes was Scotland’s fallback to stay in touch of automatic qualification.

Perhaps Scotland wasn’t going to need a win after all, but the players didn’t know that. The desire from the team was clear to see, as just five minutes after the first, a brilliant cross from Andy Robertson found Ryan Christie and he added Scotland’s second.

Scotland had the chances to level it, another Adams chance gone, another Christie effort with a wonderful save from Vlachodimos, and an even better save from Vlachodimos to deny Scott McTominay right at the death.

Then more news came through, and it wasn’t one that the Tartan Army wanted to hear…Denmark had equalised. Another Denmark goal meant if Scotland couldn’t get the equaliser, then it was the playoffs for Scotland.

Credit to Steve Clarke who threw the dice, his three strikers that were on the bench all came on. One of them, George Hirst got on the end of a low John McGinn cross but a crucial save from Vlachodimos denied Scotland, and the chance was to claim a point had come and gone.

The waiting game

Scotland had missed their chance to level, in a game where chances had probably warranted much more than just two goals. Then it was a waiting game. The final whistle had already gone in Greece, but news filtered through that Denmark and Belarus still had a seven-minutes of stoppage time.

All hope now was placed on Denmark not scoring. After seven minutes and another three had gone, it was finally over. Scotland had survived and our automatic World Cup qualification dreams are still alive.

Belarus earn a point against Denmark 🤝#WCQ pic.twitter.com/qhM6VuszIq
— UEFA EURO (@UEFAEURO) November 15, 2025

Time to make some history

Steve Clarke will need to make some changes; a tighter defensive performance is a must. One big job remains now; a win gives Scotland a place in the World Cup finals for the first time since 1998. A generation have missed out on trips to South Korea and Japan, Germany, South Africa, Brazil, Russia and Qatar, but it all can be rectified on Tuesday. The Tartan Army will be dreaming of “that moment” when we qualify at Hampden for the first time since 1990, the last time we clinched qualification from our own result at Hampden.

Tuesday will be Scotland’s biggest match of the 21st Century, a chance to make some history, and an opportunity for the current squad to etch their names into Scottish legend.

One more game to go, one home game left. The opportunity and dream is our hands; Scotland just need to go and grab it.