The Greek national team is going through a nightmare in Amsterdam in its match against the Netherlands for Matchday 5 of the Nations League. The “blue-and-whites” had a nightmare first half, conceding five goals and writing one of the darkest chapters in their history.
Ivan Jovanović’s team put in a disappointing performance. Greece failed to cope with the pressure from the home team, showed huge defensive gaps, and watched as the Dutch exploited nearly every one of its weaknesses. As a result, they found themselves trailing by five goals before the first 45 minutes were even over.
ΣΧΕΤΙΚΑ ΑΡΘΡΑ
The historical context is even more telling: The national team conceded five goals in a single half for the first time ever, setting an unprecedented negative record for the squad. Until now, the team’s worst single-half total of goals conceded was four, a mark that had been set in two different matches.
Specifically, on August 16, 2006, in a friendly against England at Old Trafford, Greece had conceded four goals in the first half and had gone into the locker room trailing 4-0. The goals were scored by John Terry (14′), Frank Lampard (30′), and Peter Crouch (35′, 42′).
The same thing had happened on September 5, 2001, in the away match against Finland. The national team had conceded four goals in the first half, with the hosts ultimately prevailing 5–1.
This time, however, the collapse was even more severe. The five goals scored by the Netherlands in just 45 minutes surpassed the previous negative record of four and set a new, historically negative record for the national team.
*photo source: AP
