National Greece proved its value, dominating Scotland’s impressive 3-0 in Hubden Park in a Nations League play-off match. With this victory he overthrew the defeat in “G. Karaiskakis ”(1-0) and secured its rise to League A of the Nations League.
National’s “little ones” made the Greeks proud, with Constantiles opening the scoring at 20΄ with a cool right -wing, Karetsa becoming the youngest scorer of the National and Nations League at 42΄ at the age of just 17, 46 and 4 -month -olds and 46 and 4 -day. Constantius had stolen the ball giving him the assist.
Jovanovic chose Tzolakis under the beams, with four in defense, from left to right, Giannoulis, Koulierakis, Mavropano and Vagiannidis. In the midfield, Zafiris and Mouzakitis took over the central axis, while Karetsas accompanied Jolis and Constantelia in three quarters. At the top of the attack was Pavlidis.
Characteristic is that Konstantinos Karetsas, Christos Mouzakitis and Giorgos Vagiannidis made their debut in the basic eleven.
The Scots started the race dynamically and had two good opportunities in the first eight minutes. The start came in the 6th minute when McGin found Maktomine in the area extremely well, but Tzolakis fired his shot. In the return, Robertson failed to find a goal. Two minutes later (8΄) a slip of Zafiris gave Maktomine the opportunity to try his foot from the height of the area, but the ball against an opponent and ended a corner in favor of the hosts.
Eventually the first goal came in the 20΄ for the Greek team with signature Constantiles. Karetsas fed Vagiannidis to the right, who made an ideal cross to the penalty spot. There, the PAOK midfielder executed with a cool right place, sending the ball into the net for 1-0.
Greece did not stop there and in the 42΄ she managed to double her goals with the frame! Mouzakitis found Giannoulis vertically, who turned the ball to Constantelia. With a smart pass, he fueled the frame, who sent the ball into the net with excellent place to the right of the area.
In fact, he became the youngest scorer in the history of the national and Nations League, at the age of just 17, 4 months and 4 days! The previous record at National was by Sotiris Ninis, who had scored for the first time with the blue -white friendly against Cyprus in 2008, being 18 years old, 1 month and 18 days. Regarding the Nations League, he surpassed Gavi, who had reached the record in 2022 with the Spanish jersey, in a match against the Czech Republic, scoring at the age of 17 and 10 months.
Within less than 20 seconds from the start of the second half, Greece made it 3-0, canceling any Steve Clark directive in the break. Constantiles stole the ball made a clever vertical pass to Jolis, who executed, raising his score to 3-0!
In the 66th, the National one missed a great opportunity for a fourth goal when Constantiles took a great pass to Pavlidis, who tried to defeat Gordon with a wonderful “digging”. However, the Scots removed the ball on the line, preventing the goal.
The end of the match found Greece celebrating its rise to League A, while Scotland is relegated to League B.
Scotties (Steve Clark): Gordon, Ralston, South, Hanley, Robertson (73΄ Wilson), Gilmour (55΄ Tierni), Maclin (55΄ Ferguson), McGin, Maktominei, Christie (73΄ Conway), Adams (55)
GREECE (Ivan Jovanovic): Tzolakis, Vagiannidis, Mavropanos, Koulierakis, Giannoulis, Zafiris, Mouzakitis (83΄ Ioannidis), Karetsas (72΄ Massouras), Konstantilias (72)