Greece lost on penalties and extinguished the Euro dream

It was and still is a dream for her National…

THE Hellas bend me 4-2 on penalties (0-0 regular time and extra time) by Georgia in Tbilisi in the final of the playoffs and was left out of the final stage of Euro 2024 in a very bitter way. They missed a penalty Bakasetas (1o) and Giakoumakis (4o), he had beam in the 102′ Mavropanos with a header.

In this way, blue and white lost great opportunity to return to a major event after her participation in 2014 World Cupin which her run was ended on penalties against Costa Rica.

THE National had a mediocre image in the normal duration of the match, was harmless, and did not risk much despite the thirst of the home team. In overtime, she turned up the heat and stressed both her opponents and the audience, touching the goal just before the mini-break, with the West Ham stopper.

In the second part he saw the great star of Georgia, Kvaratskeliato be knocked out with an injury, while she herself had lost Baldock (60′) and Kourbelis (67′) with a forced substitution, while Mandalos also requested a substitution in the 99th minute.

The penalties

Kochorasvili, 1-0

Bakasetas, parry

Davitashvili, 2-0

Masouras, 2-1

Mikautze out

Bouchalakis, 2-2

Dvali, 3-2

Giakoumakis, out

Chakvetje, 4-2

In the coach’s mind

A winning team – usually – does not change, with Poget following last Thursday’s successful recipe against Kazakhstan. Choosing not just the 4-3-3, but also the same eleven. Vlachodimos started under the posts, Mavropanos and Hatzidiakos were the two stoppers, while Baldok and Tsimikas were at the ends of the defense. In role “6” Kourbelis, while Mandalos and Bakasetas were the inside midfielders, with Masoura and Pelkas at the ends of the attack and Ioannidis at the top.

With 3-4-3 Georgia lined up. Mamardashvili was in the goal, Kverkvelia, Kasia and Dvali in the center of the defense. In the center Kitesvili in the role of six, Kotsorashvili and Kakvetatze were in front of him, while Kakabatze and Sengelia were on the right and left sides respectively. Zivzhivandze and Kvaratskelia were on the attack line.

The match

The National team had a clearly more difficult task compared to last Thursday’s match and this became clear with the good morning. After all, he was playing in front of one hostile public, which has been living and breathing for days for this particular match. The Agriculture he rushed in in the match, but in a half with mediocre Greece, he couldn’t do anything special offensively.

In the 4th minute we can say that we were lucky, as o Kvaratskelia he broke in from the left and in a phase where our defense was not calm, he lost his balance, as a result of which the danger passed.

THE first threat on the part of the National team – and one of the two in the first half – was recorded in the 8th minute, when after Hatzidiakos was stuffed, Ioannidis tried to get behind the opponent’s defense, with Dvali making a save.

At 11′ it turned out to be one of the most dangerous spells for the home side, with Kakvetze fouling out and Dvali missing a header and the ball going just wide of Vlachodimos’ left-hand post. After the twenty minute began to balance the situation Greece, trying to impose its game, but the rise of the national team did not continue.

However, he almost found something good in the 37th minute. THE Ioannidis he fought between two opponents on the edge of the area and the ball reached Pelkas who lost his balance inside the area. THE last good moment in the first half and perhaps the best in this period happened in the 45th minute and it was for Georgia. Tsakvetze committed a foul and Vlachodimos cleared with one hand.

In the second part Greece entered better, searching with more fervor the way to the opposing area and the opposing team felt it with some corners. With his entrance Constantia (instead of Pelkas) in the 60′, the National team got a little more unpredictability in the first minutes.

In the 70′ the ball was laid in Bakasetawho caught strong shot just outside the area, but the ball found the bodies. By the time the 90 minutes were completed, the game continued to be poor in quality, with both teams taking fewer and fewer risks as time went on. Fatefully, the match went into overtime.

Another national presented in overtime. After we did in the first half of it, as many finals as we didn’t have in the rest of the match, with really good moments and we stressed them out. Even in public this passed. This should probably have happened sooner.

In 1996, she became first dangerous visit, with Masura crossing but Chimika failing to threaten. In the 100′, Mapakasetas did well outside the area, with Mamardashvili clearing.

The national team made it 1-0 in the 102nd minute, with Tsimika executing a corner from the left, the Black cloth to come out victorious in the air, but the ball ends up in the horizontal beam. We also had a good moment in the 103′, with Rota’s shot from a good position sending the ball wide anyway.

Out of nowhere we went to suffer at 105′ the damage. Mavropanos made a cheap mistake, Mikautadze took the ball and turned it in from the right for Davitashvili and Vlachodimos to keep us up.

The continuity of Greece was not comparable in terms of phases. The hosts played without their big “weapon” from the 108th minute, but they found the mental reserves and two minutes later, Chitaishvili passed everyone, but was stopped by Vlahodemos. The National team got the ball at their feet, but did not find a very good moment in the second part of the overtime. The weak one was the best head of Masura from the balls of Bouchalakis. The last final of the match was Mikautatze’s missed shot in the 120th minute.

The film of the match via sport-fm.gr.

MVP: Mamardashvili wins the award as his penalty kick from Bakaseta gave the hosts a margin of error. In addition, he made a good intervention in Bakaseta’s shot.

Whistle: Very good Marciniak, who showed that when he wants to he can referee at a very high level.

Georgia (Willy Chaniol): Mamardashvili – Kverkvelia, Kashia, Dvali – Kiteisvili (104′ Kvekveskiri), Kakabatze, Kotsorashvili, Kakvetatze (104′ Davitashvili), Sengelia (86′ Chitaishvili) – Zhivzhivantze (74′ Miketatze), Kvaratskelia (109′ Kvilitaia)

Left on the bench were: Loria, Gugelashvili, Gotsoleishvili, Lokoshvili, Gvelesiani, Altounashvili, Kankava

Greece (Gustavo Poget): Vlachodimos – Baldoc (60′ Rota), Mavropanos, Hatzidiakos (105′ Retsos), Tsimikas – Kourbelis (67′ Siopis), Bakasetas, Mandalos (99′ Bouchalakis) – Masouras, Pelkas (60′ Konstantelias), Ioannidis (90′ Giakoumakis )

They stayed on the bench Paschalakis, Athanasiadis, Koulierakis, Pavlidis, Hatzigiovanis, Zeka and Siopis.

Referee: Marciniac

Assistants: Sokolnitsky-Listkevich

4th: Kruzliak

VAR: Kwiatowski-Frankowski