Bitter taste for Greeks can still sour Scotland's hopes

"If there was a word to encapsulate how Greeks are feeling about their World Cup qualifying failure it would be "bitter". That of bitter disappointment. Three defeats on the spin saw their hopes of reaching a first major tournament since 2014 crash like so many plates on the tiled flooring of an Athens tavern. "The progression of the qualifiers was very bad for us with the defeats that took us out of contention for qualification early on," said coach Ivan Jovanovic as he assembled his squad for what are, on the face of it, meaningless matches against Scotland and with Belarus to come on Tuesday in the ultimate dead rubber."

"Jovanovic and his players had genuine belief that their major tournament hiatus would end this year as they tip-toed over the wreckage of that Scotland performance in March's Nations League play-off in Glasgow. It was a stirring Greek display that looked to have set the tone ahead of these autumnal meetings which were infinitely more important. Last month, back at Hampden and despite dominating for long spells, despite taking the lead, despite another sluggish Scottish performance, the Greeks were left sucker-punched by an incredible Scottish victory that all-but ended their hopes of progression, something that was confirmed a few days later after another 3-1 reverse in Denmark."

Greece were eliminated from World Cup qualification after three successive defeats ended hopes of reaching a first major tournament since 2014. Coach Ivan Jovanovic described the progression of the qualifiers as very bad, called the period difficult and said it was hard to accept, while insisting the team had the ability and quality to qualify. Earlier strong performances, including a stirring Nations League play-off display in Glasgow, raised expectations. Dominance at Hampden and taking the lead still yielded a damaging Scottish victory that all but ended hopes, which were confirmed after a 3-1 loss in Denmark. Remaining fixtures against Scotland and Belarus are effectively dead rubbers.

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