The Greek national team defeated Liechtenstein 2-0 at Vaduz at the start of its campaign for the Euro 2020 qualifiers on Saturday, having produced one hour of decent soccer.
Greece created 30 final efforts, with 10 of them within the goal frame, but only got to score twice.
Even so, a win is a win and was a positive start for a team that had not scored twice in a game in almost a year and a half.
This confidence-building victory will matter little unless Greece gets a result in Bosnia this morning.
Even a draw should be good enough.
Greece is in the same group with Italy, Bosnia, Finland, Armenia and Liechtenstein. The top two teams of the group advance to the finals.
Greece will miss talismanic striker Costas Mitroglou in its key clash with Bosnia due to his injury in the game at Liechtenstein, but at least it will welcome back captain Sokratis Papastathopoulos.
Mitroglou picked up a leg injury that is ruling him out of the game at Zenica, so coach Angelos Anastasiadis has called up Panionios striker Fiorin Durmishaj to replace him.
This is the first ever invitation for Albanian-born Durmishaj, who has also played for the Under-21 national team of Albania.
Asked last Monday, Greece’s national holiday, whether qualification to the Euro 2020 finals would mean something given that this time, after many years, the national team is coached by a Greek, Anastasiadis stated: “I feel great responsibility, and if we achieve the target of qualifying to the finals, this will have a great significance for all Greeks.”
