Michael Skibbe

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.

The Hellenic Football Federation on Thursday announced the appointment of 65-year-old Angelos Anastasiadis as coach of the national team after German manager Michael Skibbe was sacked. Anastasiadis, who signed a contract that will run until December 2019, has coached several Greek clubs in the past. [ANA-MPA] 

Greece has parted ways with German coach Michael Skibbe after the team's disappointing run in the Nations League, the Hellenic Football Federation (EPO) said on Thursday.

EPO appointed 65-year-old Angelos Anastasiadis as his successor, the first Greek coach for the national team, who is not an interim solution, in 17 years.

An experimental Greece, consisting only of Super League players plus Alexandros Tziolis, lost 2-0 to Saudi Arabia in a friendly in Spain on Tuesday. Greece played the entire second half with 10 men.

Greece suffered a 1-0 friendly loss to Switzerland on Friday in its first match for 2018, going down at the Olympic Stadium of Athens to a team that will feature in this summer's World Cup.

Michael Skibbe will remain at the helm of the Greek national team for the next couple of years, after steering Greece out of ignominy and into the play-offs for a spot in the World Cup finals this month.

The Hellenic Football Federation (EPO) confirmed in a statement on Tuesday that Skibbe will arrive in Athens on Thursday to sign his new two-year contract.

Many things are about to change in the national team set-up following the elimination to Croatia from the 2018 World Cup, but manager Michael Skibbe is not one of them.

After 12 years at the Georgios Karaiskakis Stadium in Piraeus, the national team will likely relocate to the Olympic Stadium of Athens and the Kaftanzoglio Stadium in Thessaloniki.

Croatia snatched a goalless draw in Greece on Sunday and grabbed the all-important ticket to the World Cup finals of 2018 with a 4-1 aggregate score, due to Greece's miserable performance in the first leg in Zagreb on Thursday.

Greece manager Michael Skibbe is changing more than half of his starting line-up for the return leg of the World Cup play-off, according to the official line-ups.

Greece will need a miracle on Sunday to overturn the 4-1 deficit from the first leg at the Maksimir Stadion in Zagreb on Thursday, as Croatia was a class above the error-prone Greeks on the night. The dream of a third consecutive World Cup now appears distant for the national team.