This time the day in… the office, as Gustavo Poyet said, went well. The national team beat Northern Ireland 3-1 in Rizoupolis on the last round of the Nations League groups and ended their participation in the competition in the most perfect way.

Winning from first place means promotion to the top division, which practically means a stronger opponent, which means more commercial matches, as well as the fact that Greece will get a second chance through the playoffs (a match with Turkey is very likely). be in Germany for the final round of Euro 24 if he doesn’t make it through the qualifiers.

As for yesterday’s match, the national team bought a very good second half for themselves, where at times they played excellent football, producing machines that the Uruguayan coach wants to see. Greece opened the scoring in the 14th minute with a close header from Peacock-Farrell from Peacock-Farrell, but Northern Ireland responded just four minutes later when Lavery caught the Greek defense by surprise to draw the match 1-1. .

In the second half, the national team increased its effectiveness and played with an opponent in the half of the field. The team’s efforts were rewarded with Masura’s 55th-minute goal after a great combination of Mandalu and Bakaset. The icing on the cake was Mandalo’s 80th-minute goal with a powerful shot from outside the box that made the final score 3-1.

ELLAS (Gustavo Poget): Vlachodimos, Baldok, Mavropanos, Hatzidiakos, Tsimikas, Kourbelis, Mandalos (Goutas, 90), Bakasetas (Buchalakis, 76), Pelkas (Funtas, 67), Masouras (Hatzigiovanis, 76), Ioannidis (Duvikas, 67) ). ).

There is an open possibility that the Greek national team will play in the semi-finals against Turkey, with a Euro 2024 ticket in the background.

Northern Ireland (Ian Barra-Clough): Peacock-Farrell, Bradley (D. Charles, 68), Flanagan, Evans, Lewis (Ferguson, 77), McNair, McCann, Davis, Thompson (Sayville, 9), Magennis (McMenamin, 77) , Lavery (68′ White).

• In another group match, Kosovo beat Cyprus 5-1 to finish 4th and qualify for the play-offs.

• Group 2 final standings: Greece 15, Kosovo 9, Northern Ireland 5, Cyprus 5.

• In yesterday’s games of the last round of the Nations League groups: Category A: Switzerland 2-1 Czech Republic, Portugal 0-1 Spain. Category B: Albania – Iceland 1:1, Ireland – Armenia 3:2, Norway – Serbia 0:2, Ukraine – Scotland 0:0, Sweden – Slovenia 1:1.

KOSTAS KUKULAS