Greece were beaten 4-2 by Georgia on penalties and eliminated from the finals of Euro 2024.
The white bullet. That damned white bullet. In the 2014 World Cup, the last time the Greek national team was in a major tournament, they said goodbye to Russian roulette in that unforgettable match against Costa Rica for the 16.
Ten years later, the same again. The National team found a breather from its return to major events, but once again the penalties proved to be an insurmountable mountain.
After a sterile 0-0 for 120 minutes, Tasos Bakasetas marked Mamardashvili, Giakoumakis sent the ball wide and the cooler Georgians qualified for the final phase of the Euro (4-2).
You don’t do experiments or regular acrobatics at a time like this. Go with what brought you here. Therefore, for the first time in his two-year tenure on the bench of the Greek national team, Gustavo Poget repeated the same eleven, with the 11 that destroyed Kazakhstan also starting in Tbilisi.
Something similar for Vili Saniol who did not leave his favorite 5-3-2, with the only change compared to the semi-final the entry of the brilliant Hvitsa Kvaratshelia who served his sentence, instead of Mikautatze.
Bodies were falling
We expected nothing less and nothing more. From the first minute, bodies fell on every contested ball, the game went from the beginning to power and not to quality.
Baldock picked up the first card early on, with both teams trying to use big balls and set pieces to create dangerous situations.
Dvali caught up with over-intensity and cut Ioannidis who was facing the goal after 40 balls (8′), while the same players with a header on the second post had the first good moment after committing a foul (11′).
Monotony
By controlling the pace and circulation, the National Team “ate” the first critical 20 minutes, without being under pressure, slowly began to impose their “will” on the field.
However, against a very patient team, the risks were nil. This created a monotonous… loop. Greece moving around without threatening, Georgia looking for steals and quick transition, which in essence never came out, since Poget’s players, with pressure on the first pass, made sure to pull the handbrake on the home team’s attacks early on.
“Bloodless” conflict
To see one phase, we had to get to the end of the half, but by the time we got there the central amntic duo (Mavropanos – Hatzidiakos) had been loaded with a card, something changed the way they were going in the duels.
Boris Paikhadze rose to his feet when Tsakvetanze’s free-kick from a lateral position was overpowered for a corner by Vlahodemos, while the siege that followed after the execution ended with Dvali’s shot missing.
Shortly before the teams went to the dressing room, a skirmish between Mandalus and Kvaratshelia brought about a general scuffle between the benches, with the pressure being discharged with reds on the civilian population (Zavellas, Loria).
Unavoidable extension
The energy indicators rose at the beginning of the replay, but although the two teams pressed the two areas much more, they did not find clear finals. Tsimikas made a saving save from Kvaratshelia’s cross (49′), while a good lift by Baldok a little later and in full time, the Georgians made an effective save.
The forced changes (Rota instead of Baldock and Siopis instead of Kourbelis), as well as the entry of Constantelias, tilted the field, with the National team constantly winning possessions with repress, but spoiling them in the final decision / action.
A shot by Tsimikas with good conditions was very off target (64′), while in two phases Bakasetas (68′) and Ioannidis (71′) failed to finish their actions from excellent positions by inches.
With few risks and no end for either home in the replay, extra time seemed inevitable, but there… a ball was played!
Chaotic overtime
What didn’t happen in the first 90 minutes, happened in the first 15 of extra time. The lines for both teams opened, spaces were found and the phases began.
The dance of the phases started with a misdirected shot by Kvaratshelias (93′), but from then on, the field tilted. The Greek team took the lead and began to claim the “golden” goal.
The first goal came from Bakaseta’s dribble shot (100′) which was difficult for Mamardashvili, while two minutes later Mavropanos rose higher than everyone, after taking a corner, but his header stopped on the crossbar.
At the time when Georgia looked dazed, Greece found another clear phase but the unmarked Rota shot high from an excellent position inside the area.
But this excitement may have brought relaxation. From a cheap sale of the ball by Mavropanos, the Georgians quickly took the lead and it took a great intervention by Vlachodimos in Davitashvili’s projection (105′) to save us from 1-0.
In the second half of extra time, Greek creativity faltered again and there were two occasions when the possibility of penalties was briefly wavered.
In the first (110′), Chitaishvili with a slam skier passed five players, but Vlachodimos cut with his foot, while in the last phase of the match, Mikautatze made the pivot move, but his shot went just wide.
THE PENALTY PROCEDURE
Kotsorashvili 1-0
Bakasetas saves Mamardashvili
Davitashvili 2-0
Masouras 2-1
Mikautze out
Bouchalakis 2-2
Dvali 3-2
Giakoumakis out
Chakvetje 4-2
GEORGIA (Willy Chaniol): Mamardashvili, Kvirkvelia, Kasia, Dvali, Sengelia (86′ Chitishvili), Kakabatze, Kiteshvili (103′ Davindashvili), Kotsorashvili, Chakvetanze (103′ Kverkvesvili), Kvaratshelia (108′ Kvilitaia), Zhivzivadze (74′ Mikoutanze).
GREECE (Gustavo Poget): Vlachodimos, Baldoc (60′ Rota), Mavropanos, Hatzidiakos (106′ Retsos), Tsimikas, Kourbelis (66′ Siopis), Mandalos (98′ Bouchalakis), Bakasetas, Pelkas (60′ Konstantelias), Masouras, Ioannidis (91′ Giakoumakis ).
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