Was lost… the ball by the national football. Absolute sovereignty for Greece against Belarus and a “pounding” that brought a stunning 5-1, in its premiere in the 2026 World Cup qualifiers. Goals and assists had Pavlidis, Karetsas and Bakassetas!
National football found Belarus in front of her – the “weak” team in the 3rd qualifying group for the Mundial 2025 – and … sent a clear message. Greece wants the first to qualify for the tournament to be played in the US and showed it, breaking its opponent 5-1 in “Karaiskakis”.
The Jovanovic team wins other friends with its attractive and aggressive football (27 final attempts, with 20 in the first half). None of the internationals were lagging behind, with Konstantinos Karetsa, Vangelis Pavlidis and Tassos Bakassetas having the most “strong press” on the pitch. With Denmark in “Karaiskakis” the next match of the blue-white (08.09) Scandinavians with Scotland in Copenhagen!
See HERE the Live of the match
The game …
The … good thing, it seemed from the beginning. The race started in a dreamy way for Greece. Only at 3 ′ the blue -white managed to open the scoring with Konstantinos Karetsa. Pavlidis fought “battles” with the Belarus defenders on the borders of their large area and from the left, he turned the ball, the ball reached the young midfielder who made the move for 1-0
For a few minutes, National Football played … full attack. Belarus found them “dark” and received a lot of pressure on her home. Pavliuchenko saw the ball go a little out of Koulierakis ‘head (8 ′), while performing a great deal on Tsimika (9 ′) and Mavropanos’ head (10 ′).
The stadium … went down in favor of Greece. Belarus tried to cut the National forum, with a shot at its hearth, but the 2-0 came quickly. At 17 ′ Karetsas pulled the cross from the right with the left foot and Pavlidis scored heads from the height of the small area. In the 21st followed by Bakassetta’s Brace for 3-0 blue whites.
Greece continued to create and lose phases, with its midfielders being stormy. Especially Karetsas was unstoppable. Jolis saw the guests pushing his head close to 31 ′ two minutes before, Pavliuchenko had removed his place with one hand. Finally, the 4-0 of the first half came at 36 ′. From a corner kick by Bakassetta, Kourbelis defeated the opponent’s goalkeeper. Ethniki stopped creating phases in the opposing home only when the referee sent the two teams to the locker room.
Greece had total control of the match and in the second half, it threw a “turns”, but reached a new goal at 63 ′. Bakassetas stole the ball in the opponent, Pavlidis made the shoot and her extremist was on a vacant fire for the 5-0 national! In the next minute, Jovanovic made his first changes, wanting to rest Tsimika – Kourbeli and “warm” Kyriakopoulos and Mouzakitis.
In a “flash” match, Belarus managed to reach 5-1. At 70 ′ and after the home side’s cross, the ball found in Bakassetta’s stuck hand, which made the ball moving, tilting his body. VAR called the referee, who gave a penalty and Barkovsky executed loudly to reduce the score.
Shortly after, in the 73 ‘Jovanovic put Ioannidis and Konstantelia instead of Pavlidis and Bakassetta. The blue -white pushed another goal and at 80 ′ missed a unique opportunity to achieve it. Jolis left alone under the cross, passed Pavliuchenko and burst, but Pascevic managed to kick a corner shortly before the ball crossed the line.
The match compositions:
GREECE: Tzolakis, Tsimikas (62 ′ Kyriakopoulos), Koulierakis, Mavropanos, Vagiannidis, Kourbelis (62 ′ Mouzakitis), Zafiris (83 ′ Mandalos), Bakassetas (73΄)
Whitish: Pavliuchenko, Zambellin, Martinovic (55 ′ Martinovic), Petsin, Pigas, Yablonski (79 ′ Miakic), Korzun, Kovalev (46 ′ Barkovski), Gromico (67 ′ Passevi).
The 3rd Group’s score
Greece 3 (5-1)
Denmark 1 (0-0)
Scotland 1 (0-0)
Belarus 0 (1-5)
The program of National Greece
Greece-Belarus 5-1
08/09/25 21:45 Greece – Denmark
09/10/25 21:45 Scotland – Greece
12/10/25 21:45 Denmark – Greece
15/11/25 21:45 Greece – Scotland
18/11/25 21:45 Belarus – Greece