Anastasiadis era begins for Greece with win over Finland

An own goal sufficed for Greece to beat Finland 1-0 in Athens on Thursday, but did not suffice to avert Greece's elimination from the Nations League, on the debut of coach Angelos Anastasiadis on the Greece bench.

This score was not enough to maintain alive Greece's hopes for the top spot ion the pool, as it cannot catch Finland anymore due to an inferior head-to-head record - it had lost 2-0 at Tampere last month. However it will signal a positive start to the new era for the team, with a Greek coach on a permanent basis after a very long time.

The most positive news from the game for Greece concerns the energy and determination the Greek players showed, an element that had gone missing in the last few games under German manager Michael Skibbe. Anastasiadis will be happier about this than the actual result of the match.

Greece scored its goal after 24 minutes...