Squawka
·13 November 2024
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Yahoo sportsSquawka
·13 November 2024
Greece and England meet in the Nations League on Thursday in what looks an intriguing contest at the Athens Olympic Stadium.
Greece (4-2-3-1): Vlachodimos; Rota, Mavropanos, Koulierakis, Tsimikas; Siopis, Mantalos; Masouras, Bakasetas, Tzolis; Pavlidis
England (4-2-3-1): Pickford; Walker, Konsa, Guehi, Lewis; Gomes, Gallagher; Madueke, Bellingham, Gordon; Kane
This League B Group 2 contest is scheduled to kick off at 19:45 and will be shown on ITV in the UK.
Greece stunned England with a 2-1 win at Wembley last month and will be desperate to do the double — guaranteeing them top spot in the section with one game remaining.
The Three Lions were tamed by a spirited display from the 2004 European champions in London and they now face a huge challenge to claim first place in the section to seal promotion to League A.
A hostile reception awaits interim boss Lee Carsley and his makeshift squad, so there could be more misery for England this week.
Greece fully deserved their 2-1 win over England last month and they can seal promotion with a game to spare by avoiding defeat against the Three Lions this week.
A 2-0 win over Ireland followed their shock win at Wembley and Ivan Jovanovic’s side have won all four games in the campaign to show it wasn’t a fluke, while conceding just one goal along the way.
They will welcome another shot at one of the continent’s big boys and their winning streak currently stands at five straight wins, while they have kept clean sheets in four of those matches.
Home form has been strong and they have lost just one of their last 13 fixtures in front of their own fans.
England can expect a tricky evening in Athens and they could be heading home empty-handed.
Midfielder Dimitrios Kourbelis will serve a one-match ban for the hosts due to an accumulation of yellow cards, but Fotis Ioannidis is back in the squad after recovering from injury.
Lee Carsley has been handed a difficult assignment for his penultimate match in charge as the interim boss has seen eight withdrawals from his original squad.
Bukayo Saka, Declan Rice, Phil Foden, Jack Grealish, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Cole Palmer, Levi Colwill and Aaron Ramsdale have all pulled out, while John Stones, Kobbie Mainoo, Harry Maguire, Luke Shaw and Eberechi Eze were already unavailable.
Morgan Rogers, Taylor Harwood-Bellis and Lewis Hall have received their first senior call-ups as a result, while Jarrod Bowen, Jarrad Branthwaite, Tino Livramento and James Trafford have all been added to the travelling party.
Kyle Walker remains in the squad despite being a fitness doubt.
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