Greece v Scotland: The Preview

The overview

Scotland head to Athens for the second time in the space of eight months and would do anything for a repeat of their 1-0 win in the first leg of the UEFA Nations League playoff back in March.

Simply put, this is the very definition of a ‘must not lose game’. Scotland need a draw at worst if they want to head to Tuesday’s meeting with Denmark at Hampden to have a chance to finish top of Group C and secure automatic qualification to the World Cup finals in USA, Canada and Mexico.

A defeat in Athens means it would all depend on Denmark’s home game against Belarus to see what fate lies in store for Steve Clarke and his team, something we do not want to do considering Denmark ran out comfortable 6-0 victors away from home against the same side back in October.

Selection issues

Scotland have travelled to Athens without their number one goalkeeper Angus Gunn, who despite being the third-choice goalkeeper at Nottingham Forest has been one of Scotland’s best performers in this qualification campaign. This means that one of Craig Gordon, Liam Kelly and Scott Bain will take Gunn’s place, the likely choice for this being Gordon with his experience earning the trust of Steve Clarke previously, despite not featuring for Hearts much this season.

Other selection issues include Napoli’s Billy Gilmour, who will be missing the trip to Athens, but the hopes are that he will be available v Denmark on Tuesday. Lennon Miller is a late absentee having been injured in training with Udinese and missing out on their defeat to Roma on Sunday. Bristol City Ross McCrorie also misses out after being called up. McCrorie and Miller have been replaced by West Ham's Andy Irving and Rangers' Connor Barron.

Greece looking for revenge?

After an impressive start to World Cup qualifying, defeating Belarus 5-1 at home, Greece’s campaign has hit the buffers and officially ended after three defeats in a row. A shock to many, especially to those in Scotland who believed that Greece were the favourites to finish top of Group C.

The last time Scotland met Greece, just under a month ago at Hampden, the Greeks were impressive as they tried to show that their 3-0 home defeat at the hands of Denmark was only a blip. For 60 minutes, Greece controlled the tempo and had the momentum which resulted in them taking the lead through Kostas Tsimikas. But as soon as Greece scored, their control of the game vanished, as Ryan Christie scored within two minutes of the restart. Then, late goals from Lewis Ferguson and Lyndon Dykes meant the Greeks had it all to do if they wanted to remain in the running for World Cup qualification.

However, a disappointing first half in Copenhagen which saw the Danes go 3-0 up meant their ambitions of qualification had faded. As the full-time went, a 3-1 defeat meant Greece’s chance of reaching a first major tournament since World Cup 2014 in Brazil was over.

Could revenge be on their minds going into Saturday? Perhaps. Maybe the main focus of Ivan Jovanovic is the chance to start a fresh ahead of what could be a difficult task of staying the UEFA Nations League group A before the Euro 2028 qualifiers get underway in 2027.

Who to watch out for?

The impressive Konstantinos Karetsas, who tormented Scotland at Hampden in March, is an obvious target as is the likes of Club Brugge’s Christos Tzolis. Charalampos Kostoulas who Brighton paid a region of €35 million in the summer from Olympiacos could be given the chance to impress after he was rewarded with his first senior callup.

Hibernian’s former midfielder Nectarios Triantis, currently with Minnesota United in the MLS, switched his international allegiance to Greece earlier this year and, like Kostoulas, has been rewarded with a first senior callup.

Greek's gods at home

Scotland go to Greece as one of only a handful of nations that have defeated them on their home pitch in recent times. Since 2020, Greece have only lost five of their last 24 home matches.

A daunting task at stake perhaps, especially when you consider that lots is at stake in the game for Scotland, whereas Greece now have an opportunity to experiment and have the chance and take Saturday as a free hit in preparation for the UEFA Nations League.

A chance to make history

Scotland will take anything on Saturday, a boring 0-0 draw, a 3-0 controlled win, a 1-1 draw thanks to a last a minute equaliser from the Greeks… Anything other than a loss is a result for Scotland in the hopes of going to Hampden with the chance to automatically qualify to the World Cup finals in USA, Canada and Mexico.

If they manage to get a result we are looking for on Saturday, then we will be looking back to the 15th of November 1989, the last time Scotland qualified for a major tournament in front of their home fans at Hampden Park when they secured a place in the 1990 World Cup. We all hope that we can finally get one of those moments for ourselves.

This is all about seizing the moment…but first one big job awaits in Athens.