Nations League: Greece 2 (Bakasetas 48, Mantalos 92) Ireland 0
A collective groan rose from the 800 Irish fans when Caoimhín Kelleher stained an outstanding individual performance to gift Petros Mantalos the second Greece goal.
With 91 minutes on the clock, the party in Piraeus could finally begin.
It is now beyond reasonable doubt that Greece are better at football than the Republic of Ireland. For 360 minutes, since June 2023, they have had their number across four competitive matches by an aggregate score of 8-1.
Ear drums were split when the inevitable first goal arrived from a strike by Tasos Bakasetas. The Greece captain found the top corner of Kelleher’s net, with the Liverpool goalkeeper beaten by a deflection off Liam Scales.
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Kelleher had been heroic and secure, until, that is, a brain freeze to go with the Nathan Collins clanger in Helsinki last Thursday.
The Bakasetas goal, three minutes into the second-half, ended Ireland’s brave resistance.
Under the cosh, half-time had come as a Godsend for already exhausted Irish players. They had survived and occasionally troubled a high-flying Greek side, still fresh from victory over England at Wembley.
The crowd inside the Karaiskakis Stadium played its part in the result. The green lasers were out. So much so, in the 40th minute Dutch referee Joey Kooij instructed the public announcer to tell fans to stop shining lights in Robbie Brady’s eyes as he took a corner.
Heimir Hallgrímsson was up, demanding that his players kept tearing into the Greeks. It was not a night for the faint-hearted. Pre-match the Ireland manager namechecked his former Iceland captain Aron Gunnarsson as the epitome of a football “warrior.”
He may add Scales and Josh Cullen to that list.
This Nations League gathering was dedicated to the memory of George Baldock, the English-born defender capped 12 times for Greece who was found dead in the swimming pool of his Athens home last Wednesday.
Local rivalries were shelved as the Greece number two jerseys with “Baldock” on them did a steady trade at the home of Olympiacos, despite the defender having played for Panathinaikos. An intimidating, crackling atmosphere fell silent before kick-off when a poignant video of Baldock was shown on the big screen.
Once the action started Ireland adopted a 4-4-2, high-pressing formation as Troy Parrott joined Evan Ferguson in attack.
The partnership almost yielded an early goal, although not before Ireland made some jittery errors, like Dara O’Shea throwing a ball out of play and Kelleher sending his kick out straight at Greece goalkeeper Odysseas Vlachodimos.
But the first scoring opportunity fell to Ferguson when Parrott forced an error. Just as the teenager let fly, over the crossbar, Dimitris Giannoulis nudged him in the back. The referee missed it.
Greece were much sharper, with Kelleher forced to make several fantastic saves, first from Giorgos Masouras after Scales blocked an initial effort by Taos Bakasetas.
The opening onslaught continued with Scales and Sammie Szmodics each making blocks on Masouras as the full house demanded a goal.
Szmodics, following his lively performance against Finland, was everywhere in the first-half, pickpocketing Lazaros Rota and feeding Parrot before sprinting beyond the AZ Alkmaar striker. Parrott failed to return the favour.
Greece kept coming, playing at a rapid tempo, but Kelleher was inspirational, again denying Bakasetas with a marvelous stop and diving on Vangelis Pavlidis’s follow up.
Only 30 minutes on the clock and the hosts were making use of 70 per cent possession, rattling off 12 shots.
In response, Ireland continually gave them back the ball. Just after Kelleher saved a Giannoulis shot, nine passes were strung together only for Dara O’Shea to cheaply boot it away.
However, Hallgrímsson got a response after putting the group on notice. Four of the players that featured in last month’s 2-0 loss to Greece in Dublin – Will Smallbone, Alan Browne, Matt Doherty and Callum Robinson – did not make this squad. Smallbone is hamstrung but the three veterans were cut loose.
Hallgrímsson took a while to react to Greece’s opening goal, eventually sending in Festy Ebosele and giving a debut to Jack Taylor as Chiedozie Ogbene and Ferguson made way.
Unfortunately, Ferguson’s height was missing seconds later when Brady lobbed a cross into the box.
Another crucial moment for Ireland came on 68 minutes when Taylor’s header forced a tip over from Vlachodimos after a fine cross by Cullen.
Greece manager Ivan Jovanović turned to Liverpool’s Konstantinos Tsimikas, having missed the England game through illness, to contain Ebosele who was a constant threat down the right.
As Ireland continued to search for an equaliser, Taylor had another attempt blocked by a thicket of bodies as the individual quality needed to stretch Ireland’s unbeaten streak to two matches was absent.
Greece: Vlachodimos (Newcastle United); Rota (AEK Athens), Mavropanos (West Ham United), Hatzidiakos (FC Copenhagen), Giannoulis (Augsburg); Kourbelis (Al-Khaleej), Siopis (Cardiff City); Masouras (Olympiacos), Bakasetas (Panathinaikos), Tzolis (Club Brugge); Pavlidis (Benfica). Substitutes: Pelkas (Basaksehir) for Masouras (65), Douvikas (Celta de Vigo) for Pavlidis, Zafeiris (Slavia Prague) for Bakasetas (both 72), Tsimikas (Liverpool) for Kourbelis, Mantalos (AEK Athens) for Tzolis (both 82).
Republic of Ireland: Kelleher (Liverpool); O’Shea (Ipswich Town), Collins (Brentford), Scales (Celtic), Brady (Preston North End); Ogbene (Ipswich Town), Cullen (Burnley), Knight (Bristol City), Szmodics (Ipswich Town); Parrott (AZ Alkmaar), Ferguson (Brighton and Hove Albion). Substitutes: Ebosele (Watford) for Ogbene, Taylor (Ipswich Town) for Ferguson (both 57), Molumby (WBA) for Knight, Johnston (WBA) for Szmodics (both 72), McAteer (Leicester City) for O’Shea (82).
Referee: Joey Kooij (The Netherlands).
