Ireland fall to disappointing home defeat to Greece at the Aviva
Ireland’s Chiedozie Ogbene and Alan Browne dejected after the second goal against Greece. Picture: INPHO/Ryan Byrne
THE Republic of Ireland’s struggles continued on Friday evening, with Greece beating Stephen Kenny’s team 2-0 in a Euro 2024 qualifier at the Aviva Stadium.
With qualification already out of reach, an attempt to finish the campaign on a high ended with first-half goals from Giorgos Giakoumakis and Giorgos Masouras giving Gus Poyet’s team the three points.
Whatever about the bigger picture – Ireland did show a sense of maturity as they played in a 4-2-3-1 formation instead of their traditional 3-5-2. The new system had Matt Doherty work with Chiedozie Ogbene and they doubled up to prevent Kostas Tsimikas from getting room.
The other forward players pressed and probed the Greece backline, and that created two chances inside five minutes. The first fell to Will Smallbone and he forced Odysseas Vlachodimos into a stretched save, and Evan Ferguson followed that up by grazing the outside of the post.
Ireland’s pressure on the right side won a corner after this and Nathan Collins headed Smallbone’s set piece just wide.
Greece grew into the game, and they almost took the lead when Gavin Bazunu palmed away a shot from Giorgos Masouras. Shane Duffy saved Ireland on that occasion as he stepped in to stop Giakoumakis getting to the loose ball inside the area.
Everything seemed to be going according to plan until Tsimikas created space by muscling Ogbene off the ball, and his perfectly weighted cross was turned in by Giakoumakis in the 20th minute.
Things fizzled out from an Irish point of view once the ball hit the back of the net. Everything they managed to put together was dealt with by the Greece defence, a group that was rarely put under pressure.
One moment that seemed to paraphrase the first half was Jason Knight winning possession and losing it over his first touch in the final third of the pitch.
Greece almost made it 2-0 in the 36th minute through a counterattack involving Giakoumakis and Dimitris Pelkas. The winger’s right-footed shot went out for a corner and that was headed away by the Irish defence.
Ireland’s attempt to pull one back led to space that Greece used to get the second goal. The counter was finished off by an unmarked Giorgos Masouras after Giakoumakis put the ball in.
Stephen Kenny reacted to what was going on by replacing Nathan Collins with Ryan Manning after the break. The team still played in the same way, which made the change look experimental as opposed to an attempt to ignite a comeback.
There was nothing adventurous about the second half, it was just a slow sleepwalk that was occasionally broken by shots from outside the area in a stadium that grew emptier and emptier with each passing minute.
Gavin Bazunu; Matt Doherty, Shane Duffy, Josh Cullen, Alan Browne, Evan Ferguson, Will Smallbone, Liam Scales, Jason Knight, Chiedozie Ogbene, Nathan Collins.
Ryan Manning for Collins (h-t); Mikey Johnston for Browne (70), Callum Robinson for Smallbone (70), Adam Idah for Ogbene (85).
Odysseas Vlachodimos; Panagiotis Retsos, Konstantinos Mavropanos, Dimitris Kourbelis, Giorgos Masouras, Dimitris Pelkas, Tasos Bakasetas, Lazaros Rota, Giorgos Giakoumakis, Petros Mantalos, Kostas Tsimikas.
Andreas Bouchalakis for Kourbelis (64); Tasos Chatzigiovanis for Dimitris Pelkas (64), Fotis Ioannidis for Giakoumakis (70), Manolis Siopis for Bakasetas (87), Konstantinos Koulierakis for Masouras (87).
Glenn Nyberg (Sweden)
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