UEFA Nations League Report: Republic of Ireland 0 - 2 Greece

From John O’Shea at Lansdowne Road

The crunch UEFA Nations League clash at the Aviva Stadium saw the Republic of Ireland fall to another home defeat at the hands of Greece. 

And it highlighted the scale of the challenge ahead for the newly appointed Irish manager - who succeeded Stephen Kenny after he too lost 2-0 at home to the Greeks.

Ireland manager Heimir Hallgrímsson flagged in advance that the Greece home contest was chief among the priorities. 

The sense has always been that the Greece and Finland games would define how Ireland do in the Nations League group - hence the importance of this particular contest.

Based on this particular focus, overall, it showed Hallgrímsson the task he has at hand to try and turn around the fortunes of Irish football.

After a comprehensive 2-0 defeat to England on Saturday, Ireland were looking to change the stat of never having beaten Greece in five meetings, the sole draw coming in a scoreless outing in Athens in 2002.

Greece, who came to Dublin having won four of their last five away games in the Nations League, have a new manager in Serbian Ivan Jovanović and won 3-0 against Finland on Saturday.

The visitors had the first clear-cut chance of note in the 11th minute, when Konstantinos Koulierakis headed just over the crossbar from a corner kick by Tasos Chatzigiovanis.

In a tight opening half, Ireland looked to spring to life when Jason Knight teed up Alan Browne in the box, but the Sunderland midfielder was unable to get the shot away.

Caoimhín Kelleher produced a number of impressive saves in the England defeat and he repeated the trick on 25 minutes when he tipped Tasos Bakasetas’ free kick around the post. 

Sammie Szmodics took matters into his own hands when he saw Greece goalkeeper Odysseas Vlachodimos off his line, but his lobbed attempt went off target.

As the opening half edged towards the conclusion, Chiedozie Ogbene did find the net with a lovely strike on the half-volley from the edge of the box, but it was ruled out for offside.

Just before the break Ireland threatened following good play from Will Smallbone that ended with Ogbene laying it off to Browne, who shot wide.

The sides were level pegging at the half time break. There were signs of encouragement from an Irish perspective, noteworthy how they looked in their shape out of possession.

But against the run of play, Greece went into the lead five minutes after the restart. 

Getting onto the end of a good Bakasetas pass, Fotis Ioannidis found the back of the net with a well-taken curling strike from just outside the box, as the Panathinaikos attacker made the most of the space provided to him.

Ireland looked to mount an immediate fightback but Jason Knight headed off target from an Ogbene cross.

Brighton’s Evan Ferguson was introduced into the action just past the hour mark as Ireland looked to one of their brightest talents to hopefully produce a moment of quality in front of goal.

But Greece came close to a second on 67 minutes when Christos Tzolis raced through on goal, but his shot went over. 

Bakasetas went close from a free kick shortly afterwards as Greece looked to hold possession and quash any hopes of a late Irish charge.

Heading into the final 10 minutes, Ireland looked to mount a late fightback but Greece put the contest to bed when they got a second three minutes from time.

Club Brugge man Christos Tzolis got onto a ball over the top from Bakasetas and buried it with a low finish to the corner.

Next up for the Boys in Green in the Nations League will be an away trip to take on Finland in October. 

Already, that game looks like it could have significant ramifications for both teams’ hopes of avoiding relegation to Nations League C.

Republic of Ireland: Caoimhín Kelleher; Dara O’Shea, Andrew Omobamidele (Matt Doherty 74), Nathan Collins, Robbie Brady; Chiedozie Ogbene(Callum Robinson, 83 ) , Will Smallbone, Jayson Molumby (Evan Ferguson, 63), Alan Browne; Jason Knight( Kasey McAteer,74) ; Sammie Szmodics ( Adam Idah, 83) .

Subs not used: Max O’Leary (gk), Mark Travers (gk), Callum O’Dowda, Jake O’Brien, Festy Ebosele, Liam Scales,  Troy Parrott.

Booked: Andrew Omobamidele (31), Jason Knight (71).

Greece: Odysseas Vlachodimos; Lazaros Rota, Ntinos Mavropanos, Konstantinos Koulierakis, Kostas Tsimikas; Manolis Siopis(Andreas Ntoi,88) , Andreas Bouchalakis( Dimitris Pelkas, 67)  ; Tasos Chatzigiovanis(Christos Zafeiris, 67) , Tasos Bakasetas, Christos Tzolis( Giorgos Vagiannidis, 87) ;  Fotis Ioannidis(Vangelis Pavlidis, 87) .

Subs not used: Kostas Tzolakis (gk), Christos Mandas (gk), Tasos Douvikas, Pantelis Hatzidiakos, Giannis Konstantelias, Petros Mantalos, Dimitris Giannoulis.

Booked: Kostas Tsimikas (58), Christos Tzolis (63), Manolis Slopis (73).

Attendance: 37,274 (official).

Referee: Espen Eskås (Norway).

extratime.com Player of the Match: Christos Tzolis (Greece).

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Opinion: Heimir Halgrimsson needs a win to justify methods and lift the mood of Irish football - <a href="https://t.co/94rjArr8tj">https://t.co/94rjArr8tj</a> <a href="https://t.co/AZPT23HGTS">https://t.co/AZPT23HGTS</a></p>&mdash; extratime.com (@ExtratimeNews) <a href="https://twitter.com/ExtratimeNews/status/1833401702382215249?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 10, 2024</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>