GREECE MANAGER GUS Poyet was among the crowd at the Euro 2024 qualifiers draw in Frankfurt, thinking the same as those around him.
“I think like everyone”, said Poyet, “probably like you, as soon as we saw Groups B and C everyone was saying ‘OK, not Group B or C’.
Group B paired Netherlands and France together; Group C housed a repeat of the Euro 2020 final between Italy and England. Jurgen Klinsmann drew Ireland’s name to assign them Group B, with Greece next to follow into that same group. Gibraltar were the last side drawn into the Group of Death.
“Unfortunately it is how it is. You cannot predict this. It’s a little bit of luck. It’s going to be very difficult, very difficult for us. We’re going to try to enjoy it, for the players it is great, playing against great players and national teams. But the idea of playing in qualification is to qualify. For Greece, that is very important to qualify for a big tournament because since 2014 we have not. We were expecting a little bit more luck but fair enough, we’ll play.”
Greece were fourth seeds in the draw, ranked one pot below Ireland. Their head-to-head meetings, says Poyet, cannot be drawn: any side hoping to upset the Dutch or the French has to beat the other sides.
“There are two favourites in the table and the rest we need to try and nick points everywhere and win the games you must win. That’s the problem for you and for us, our games are fundamental. You cannot draw that game, you need to win because you need the points. The other ones, the difficult ones, are to take points.
“Ireland are very competitive, they don’t give up and go till the end. We like a little more, let’s call it, Latin football. In Greece, we like it slow, passing the ball and different kinds so we have to be at our best to compete.”
That last comment may not indicate an in-depth working knowledge of Ireland, but the squad will provide some familiarity to Poyet: he released John Egan from Sunderland when he was in charge at the club.
“He was still in the second team. I was trying to stay there for long, trying to bring some players from the second team, John was one of the main ones. It will be nice to see him.
“I enjoy dealing with football people when I go back to that part of the world, including Ireland.We recognise each other because we were together at some stage of our careers in England.”
Greece have one benefit that Ireland do not have in that they are guaranteed a play-off for the Euros courtesy of their Nations League campaign. Greece won their League C group – ahead of Kosovo, Northern Ireland, and Cyprus – and have thus guaranteed themselves a backdoor option to the Euros.
Ireland must wait and hope that their Nations League finish is enough to earn a crack at the play-offs.