Ivan Jovanovic’s decision to trust in his young talents paid dividends as they earned an impressive win in Glasgow against Scotland to secure their place in League A of the UEFA Nations League for the next cycle.
The “Ethniki” downed the Scots 0-3 away in the second leg of their Nations League play-off on Monday morning (AEDT), winning the tie 3-1 on aggregate.
The “blue-whites” put their faith predominantly in its youth with only three players from the starting lineup being older than 23, and it reaped benefits immediately with them sneaking ahead in the tie after the first half.
Greece opened the scoring in the 20th minute with a quick counter-attack down the right flank that saw wing back Georgios Vagiannidis pass the ball across to playmaker Giannis Konstantelias, who then deposited it into the bottom right.
The Greeks then doubled their lead with an attack on the opposite side wherein left back Dimitris Giannoulis found Konstantelias in the box who passed it on to Konstantinos Karetsas, with the 17-year-old curling it beautifully into the top left (42′).
Karetsas made history with his strike as he became the youngest ever goal scorer for Greece, breaking the record held by Sotiris Ninis (who scored against Cyprus in a friendly aged 18).
The “Ethniki” went straight back to work after the break as Konstantelias assisted Christos Tzolis, who buried the ball into the bottom right inside the first twenty seconds of the second half.
It is a significant victory on many fronts as it not only seals promotion to League A for the 2026/27 Nations League but also gives them a wonderful confidence boost against one of their FIFA World Cup qualifying opponents.
