Last night was a dream for the Greek national football team and was anything but “bad luck” being Friday 13th.

In a scenario that not even Gustavo Poyet could have hoped, the “blue and white” team emerged victorious from the Aviva Stadium in Dublin, beating Ireland 2-0 (20′ Giakoumakis, 45΄+4 Masouras) in the 7th round of the EURO 2024 qualifiers, while France beat Netherlands 2-1 at the the Johan Cruyff Arena thanks to the class of Kylian Mbappe.

The national team is now on 12 points and remains alone second in Group B, leaving the Dutch third with 9, while Didier Deschamps’s Blues qualified mathematically for the finals with 18 points in six matches.

Ronald Koeman’s side have of course one game less than Poyet’s, whom they will face on Monday 16 October at 21:45 (Tuesday 5:45 am AEST) at the OPAP Arena in the final game for second place and a ticket to EURO 2024.

After fighting without… injuries the very strong start of the hosts, who saw the attempt of Smallbone stopped by Vlachodimos (4 minutes) and Ferguson’s shot touching the right post and going out of bounds, the national team controlled the tempo after the quarter, kept and moved the ball well and started to make demands.

After Nijberg had let the play go without a whistle on 15 minutes, when Doherty had apparently kept Giakoumakis in the area, Bakasetas “longed” for Bazounou on 17 minutes with a very nice shot that was barely deflected by the Irish goalkeeper.

Three minutes later, however, the keeper had to pick the ball out of the net when Tsimikas won the rebound from Ogbene and with a free kick gave Giakoumakis the chance to find the ball with excellent timing in his jump and with a powerful header to open the scoring with a goal from a classic centre forward position, which had been so lacking in previous games.

On 33 minutes, an out-of-bounds shot by Bakasetas was blocked by Bazounou and four minutes later, Pelka’s choice to shoot instead of passing to Masouras, who was alone with an almost empty goal, denied the Greek team a second goal in an unprecedented opportunity, with the Irish keeper saving a corner.

Stephen Kenny’s side looked somewhat threatening for the first time after the 5th minute on 45 minutes, with Vlachodimos blocking Duffy’s header.

The first half, however, had more thrills. In the late stages of stoppage time and in an exemplary counter-attack that started with a deep ball from Mandalos to Giakoumakis, a turn from the left to Pelka and another turn from him to Masouras, the Olympiacos forward made it 2-0 at 45 minutes+4.

It was the Greek international’s sixth goal in the last seven games for the national team, while with four goals so far, Masouras is the top scorer for the representative team in the qualifiers for the European Championship 2024.

In the second half, the national team opted to give the ball to the Irish and wait for them in their defensive half. This way they controlled the game, as the home side did not have the leader or personality to carry the team.

With constant possession, Kenny’s players were unable to get into the Greek area, trapped in the Greek’s holding action, and the national team threatened with a third goal on 74 minutes when Chatzigiovannis’ cross was headed just over the bar by Ioannidis.

The only time the national team felt pressure was in the two minutes from the 82nd to the 83rd minute, when Doherty’s two headers forced Masouras to clear just before the line and Vlachodimos to intervene effectively, keeping the scoreline 2-0.

Referee: Glenn Nijberg (Sweden)

Yellows: Collins – Pelkas, Buchalakis

The Team Lineups

IRELAND (Stephen Kenny): Bazunu, Doherty, Skiles, Collins (46′ Manning), Duffy, Cullen, Brown (70′ Johnston), Ferguson, Smallbone (70′ Robinson), Knight, Ogbene (85′ Ida).

GREECE (Gustavo Poget): Vlachodimos, Rota, Chimikas, Mavropanos, Retsos, Kurbelis (64΄ Buchalakis), Mandalos, Pelkas (64΄ Hadjigiovanis), Bakassetas (87΄ Siopis), Masouras (87΄ Koulierakis), Yiakoumakis (70΄ Ioannidis).

Source: AMNA