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BBC News
23-03-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
Was 'embarrassing night' just a 'bump in road' for Scotland?
Scotland let themselves down on "an embarrassing night" as they were relegated to Nations League B, said midfielder John Clarke's side held a 1-0 lead over Greece following Thursday's first leg in Piraeus, but were outplayed and outclassed by the visitors in Sunday's return, falling to a 3-1 aggregate Konstantelias swept home the opener having been left completely unmarked in the Scotland box before 17-year-old Konstantinos Karetsas curled a second just before half-time, having also been left alone in the penalty interval was much needed for the Scots, a chance to regroup and clear scrambled heads, but they shipped a calamitous third just 13 seconds after the restart - Christos Tzolis profited after Ryan Christie gave the ball away - and from there, the result was never in doubt."It's an embarrassing night for us, everyone is flat in the stadium, we let ourselves down," McGinn said."No threat in behind, probably too easy to pick up. Greece deserved to win." With two World Cup qualifiers against Greece to come this autumn, the play-off was a chance for Scotland to make a statement as well as maintaining their top-tier Nations League it was Ivan Jovanovic's side who put a proverbial marker down with a dominant performance."Greece were just a better side, we had no answer for them," former Scotland defender Willie Miller said on Sportsound."We had no creativity and no threat, we didn't make it difficult at all for Greece. It's League A we wanted to be in and we failed tonight."The boos on the full-time whistle highlighted the feeling among the Tartan Army, but Clarke backed his team to put the disappointment behind them."We've had a decent run," he said. "This is a bump in the road. "If there's one thing I've learned over my time in charge of the national team, it's that there are bumps in the road. It's how you react to it. "We have to react to this one and make sure that, come June, we know what we're trying to address, and come September, we know what we're trying to do, which is qualify for a World Cup." 'Scotland played it safe' - what went wrong? The first place to start is with the goals Scotland conceded. The marking for the first two goals was fairly non-existent and the third was a calamity of slack pass to give the ball away and then the flat-footed defending that allowed Tzolis to run on to Konstantelias' deft reverse pass."The goals are so disappointing on our behalf and we didn't create enough either," midfielder Kenny McLean said. "To work so hard to get into the position we were in and kind of throw it away there is really disappointing."Scotland lacked any kind of threat in behind, struggling without the injured Ben Doak's pace, and after a couple of early chances for Scott McTominay they struggled to create anything of note."There were players on the pitch playing it a bit safe, playing a sideways pass when what's needed and what everyone in the stadium wants is the ball played forwards," former Scotland striker Steven Naismith said. "It's tough to do it in an environment like this but that's probably the wee bit we lacked.""As good as Thursday was, it was as bad tonight," ex-Scotland forward James McFadden added. "A real sore one to take."Greece looked really comfortable. We didn't have enough performers. Too many players were well off their best." Greece youngsters shine After Thursday's first-leg loss, Greece boss Jovanovic made six changes to his starting line-up, including a start for an average age of 23 years and four days, it was the second-youngest team named in this edition of the Nations League, and the youthful talent came to the winger Konstantelias, 22, had a hand in all three goals, setting up the second and third after smashing the first beyond Craig Gordon. But it is Karetsas who will take the headlines. He scored the pick of the goals and looked so at ease in the international arena."For 17 and what he's doing, the goal tells you… He isn't rushing it and blasting it," Naismith said. "He's got the composure. "As a coach, these are the types of players who are really hard to find, willing to be aggressive and go forward. His first thought is to play forward and beat his man rather than be safe. "He influenced the game on Thursday and tonight, that's the sign of a very good player."The Genk attacking midfielder, who played off the right at Hampden, only made his club debut at the end of last season and has established himself as a regular in Belgium this season before making his international bow in the first leg."He's been class, picking up really good positions, comfortable in possession, and made great decisions as well," McFadden said when the 17-year-old was replaced in the second half. "It was an incredible finish - we're going to be seeing a lot of this kid going forward." Have your say What did you make of the performance? Were there any redeeming qualities?Have your say., external
BBC News
23-03-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
'A return to Scotland's worst of times under Clarke'
With 17 minutes left to play at Hampden, Greece manager Ivan Jovanovic added insult to Scottish injury when calling ashore two of his best players, the duo who had done more than anybody else to put his team into an unassailable game was long done by then; 3-0 going on more. Scotland had been as wretched as Greece had been classy. Part of Hampden was exasperated, part of it was angry, another part was on its way home, fed Konstantelias had scored Greece's first and assisted the second. No need to exert him any more, not when there was not a scintilla of a threat of a comeback from Karetsas, the teenage sensation, had scored that brilliant second goal. He came off, too. Job done. Another mortifying reflection of Greece's dominance. Scotland didn't have a whole load of composure from the start, but at a painfully early stage they lost the bit they had. Lewis Ferguson clothes-lined an opponent and got a yellow card. George Hirst went yapping to the referee and he got booked as the savage reality of their own inadequacies was hitting them right between the eyes, Kieran Tierney had possession 20 yards into the Greek half. In front of him, a barren landscape. No movement, no options. He turned and booted it back to Craig Gordon and Hampden let him have rang around the national stadium and it was fair enough. A few moments later, Grant Hanley played an agricultural hoof down the park, the ball careering out of play with no Scotsman in sight. Cue another visceral response from the home after that Gordon knocked a clearance straight to Greek substitute Giorgos Masouras. Slapstick stuff. "Embarrassing" as John McGinn described the performance, later on. And it was. Embarrassing and unsettling. 'The rudest of rude awakenings' Ryan Christie expressed his frustration, "especially with how well the first leg went". We could revisit that now. The bottom line of Athens last Thursday was, indeed, amazing, but there were warning won the game through a penalty they should never have got and a defensive display that was always going to be hard to learned a lot about how to attack this Scotland team. They tore them apart with their speed of thought and speed of movement, the accuracy in their passing and the ruthlessness in their could go on and on in highlighting Scotland's failings. We could document their shocking lack of accuracy and their dismal habit of affording Greece all the time and space they needed to build their lead, but it would take too you were left with at the end was a feeling of despondency at how poor Scotland actually were. If there was hope, and belief, that this type of performance was maybe behind them, then this was the rudest of rude was a return to the worst of times under Steve Clarke - the World Cup exit to Ukraine, the horrible loss in Dublin that followed it, the soul-destroyer against Hungary in Germany. It was only one bad day amid a recent upturn, yes, but it felt worse than practically all of Scotland's go-to men fail was quite something. Just when you had trust in them again after three excellent victories in a row, they go and do this. 'Greece do psychological number on Scotland' Clarke has shown a fantastic capacity to recover from setbacks and there's reason to believe in his ability to do the same again now, but there was a weariness at Hampden. "It was a kick up the backside," said McGinn. But why was it needed?There were more boos at full-time but a fair number of supporters had vanished by then. It would be too dramatic to say their optimism of making the World Cup also disappeared, but the fact is Greece are in Scotland's group and they have now done a proper psychological number on Scotland before those games in the autumn. Clarke said as much in the has some months to ponder things now, a window in which to consider his next move. He suggested he regretted not changing his team a little more from Thursday to Sunday. He spoke about freshness, or lack of it. "I'll go away and look at myself," he might he be thinking about? The safe return of Ben Doak to add width and pace, for sure. The desperately needed reintroduction of Aaron Hickey after his awful injury woes, without is deeply loyal to the players who have delivered for him, but Scott McKenna is playing in La Liga every week. The composition of his midfield, too. Kenny McLean has been a tremendous servant but the time has surely come for Ferguson to take to League B is, in itself, no great disaster. Scotland will win more games down there. They'll have a better chance of grabbing a play-off place in the next Euros while operating in less rarefied thing that made Sunday stunning was the complete disintegration of a team we thought had more about them. That was the takeaway. Clarke has been here before, but the hope was he would never be back here again.
Yahoo
23-03-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Scotland relegated from Nations League top tier after heavy defeat to Greece
Scotland were relegated from Nations League A after a 3-0 home defeat by Greece. Steve Clarke's side made a decent start but goals from Giannis Konstantelias, Konstantinos Karetsas and Christos Tzolis had the visitors 3-1 up on aggregate with just 15 seconds of the second half played. The Hampden crowd expressed their dissent on several occasions as Scotland never really looked like getting back into the game. A nighmare start to the second half for Scotland! 😱 Greece make it 3-0 just 15 seconds into the second half!#BBCFootball — BBC Sport Scotland (@BBCSportScot) March 23, 2025 They now drop down to the second tier of the competition ahead of the next set of group games in the autumn of 2026. Scotland had Ryan Christie back in the team after suspension with Lewis Ferguson the only player to drop out following the 1-0 first-leg win. Greece made six changes including handing a first start to Karetsas, the 17-year-old wide player whose introduction helped change the flow of the game in Greece's favour in the second half on Thursday. Sir Alex Ferguson made a pre-match appearance, holding up a number 10 shirt in tribute to Denis Law before a minute's applause for Scotland's joint-record goalscorer in the first home international since his death. The hosts started on the front foot. Che Adams had a penalty appeal rejected before Scott McTominay had an angled shot saved after being played through by Kenny McLean. Andy Robertson soon fired wide and McTominay then saw a shot deflected into the side net. But Greece levelled the aggregate score in the 20th minute with their first meaningful attack. Robertson was outnumbered as Karetsas fed overlapping right-back Georgios Vagiannidis, whose cutback found the untracked Giannis Konstantelias and the midfielder swept the ball home from 10 yards. Scotland almost responded quickly. McTominay sliced wide from the edge of the box before playing in John McGinn, who was denied by goalkeeper Kostas Tzolakis. Greece looked dangerous as the half progressed and they doubled their lead in the 42nd minute after the Scotland midfield again failed to track Konstantelias. Robertson ran into the middle of the box to close the midfielder down after he collected a pass from the left wing, but that just left Karetsas unmarked. Konstantelias teed up the teenager, who curled the ball first time into the top corner. Konstantelias produced another assist 15 seconds after half-time, collecting a loose pass from Christie and setting up Tzolis to finish. Boos rang out from the home fans after Scotland were stretched again and Karetsas curled beyond the top corner. The home fans were audibly unconvinced by Clarke's first attempt to change the game in the 55th minute, notably the decision to take off Billy Gilmour. McLean and Adams also went off as Kieran Tierney and Lewis Ferguson joined the midfield and striker George Hirst made his Hampden debut. There was little evidence of a cutting edge for Scotland. Hirst headed off target from two difficult chances and the scoreline could have been worse. John Souttar's goal-line clearance from Vangelis Pavlidis saved Grant Hanley's blushes after the defender's slip and Tzolis blazed over on the break. Clarke went for broke in the 73rd minute by bringing on strikers Tommy Conway and James Wilson and handing them wide roles but the best chance fell to Tierney, then playing at left-back, with only seconds left. Tzolakis made a good diving save.
The Independent
23-03-2025
- Sport
- The Independent
Scotland relegated from Nations League top tier after heavy defeat to Greece
Scotland were relegated from the Nations League top flight after a 3-0 home defeat by Greece. Steve Clarke 's side made a decent start but goals from Giannis Konstantelias, Konstantinos Karetsas and Christos Tzolis had the visitors 3-1 up on aggregate with just 15 seconds of the second half played. The Hampden crowd expressed their dissent on several occasions as Scotland never really looked like getting back into the game. They now drop down to the second tier of the competition ahead of the next set of group games in the autumn of 2026. Scotland had Ryan Christie back in the team after suspension with Lewis Ferguson the only player to drop out following the 1-0 first-leg win. Greece made six changes including handing a first start to Karetsas, the 17-year-old wide player whose introduction helped change the flow of the game in Greece's favour in the second half on Thursday. Sir Alex Ferguson made a pre-match appearance, holding up a number 10 shirt in tribute to Denis Law before a minute's applause for Scotland's joint-record goalscorer in the first home international since his death. The hosts started on the front foot as Che Adams had a penalty appeal rejected before Scott McTominay had an angled shot saved after being played through by Kenny McLean. Andy Robertson soon fired wide and McTominay then saw a shot deflected into the side net, but Greece levelled the aggregate score in the 20th minute with their first meaningful attack. Robertson was outnumbered as Karetsas fed overlapping right-back Georgios Vagiannidis, whose cutback found the untracked Giannis Konstantelias and the midfielder swept the ball home from 10 yards. Scotland almost responded quickly. McTominay sliced wide from the edge of the box before playing in John McGinn, who was denied by goalkeeper Kostas Tzolakis. Greece looked dangerous as the half progressed and they doubled their lead in the 42nd minute after the Scotland midfield again failed to track Konstantelias. Robertson ran into the middle of the box to close the midfielder down after he collected a pass from the left wing, but that just left Karetsas unmarked. Konstantelias teed up the teenager, who curled the ball first time into the top corner. Konstantelias produced another assist 15 seconds after half-time, collecting a loose pass from Christie and setting up Tzolis to finish. Boos rang out from the home fans after Scotland were stretched again and Karetsas curled beyond the top corner. The home fans were audibly unconvinced by Clarke's first attempt to change the game in the 55th minute, notably the decision to take off Billy Gilmour. McLean and Adams also went off as Kieran Tierney and Lewis Ferguson joined the midfield and striker George Hirst made his Hampden debut. There was little evidence of a cutting edge for Scotland. Hirst headed off target from two difficult chances and the scoreline could have been worse. John Souttar's goal-line clearance from Vangelis Pavlidis saved Grant Hanley's blushes after the defender's slip and Tzolis blazed over on the break. Clarke went for broke in the 73rd minute by bringing on strikers Tommy Conway and James Wilson and handing them wide roles but the best chance fell to Tierney, then playing at left-back, with only seconds left. Tzolakis made a good diving save.
