Thursday night in Thessaloniki is not a routine Nations League away day for the Dutch. Greece sit top of Group A2 with six points from two games. The Netherlands have four. Kick-off at Toumba is 20.45 Dutch time, and the ground is already sold out. Greek media are calling it the biggest football fever since Euro 2004. More than 100,000 people sat in a digital queue for a stadium that holds about 29,000. Oranje are walking into a cauldron.
That is not hype invented for television. On Sunday Greece beat Germany 1-0 in Augsburg — their first win against the Nationalmannschaft in history. Four days earlier they came from behind to win 2-1 in Belgrade, Christos Tzolis equalising and Anastasios Douvikas heading the winner in the fifth minute of stoppage time. Two away wins against Serbia and Jürgen Klopp’s Germany. League A. Group leaders. Ivan Jovanović’s side have earned the noise.
Some new exciting football heroes…
The Greek surge
This is not the Greece of 2004, packed behind a wall and waiting for a set piece. It is still organised, still stubborn, but the personnel have changed. Vangelis Pavlidis leads the line. Tzolis, now at Arsenal, is the wide threat who created the Germany winner. Kostas Tsimikas bombs from left-back. Konstantinos Mavropanos and the rest of the back line sit deep and dare you to play through them. Goalkeeper Konstantinos Tzolakis kept Greece alive while Germany had 75 percent of the ball and 16 shots. Dimitrios Kourbelis then scored the only shot on target that mattered. That is the method: absorb, stay compact in a 4-4-2 or 4-2-3-1, then break. Against Germany they had 24 percent possession. Against a Xavi team that wants the ball on the opponent’s half, they will try the same trick at home.
The club game in Greece has helped the mood. PAOK’s Toumba is already one of the loudest club grounds in Europe. Give that crowd a national team that has just beaten Germany and you get a night that will try to drag Oranje into a fight rather than a possession exercise.
Where Xavi has to be smarter
Xavi’s week started with a 1-1 against Germany — Gakpo’s late equaliser — and a first win in Belgrade, 2-1, Mexx Meerdink scoring twice. The Spaniard was not satisfied. “We need to play better, especially in the first half.” Cody Gakpo is out. Ruben van Bommel is the likely starter on the left. Veerman, Gravenberch and Reijnders might keep the midfield, although the two mainstay players looked a bit leggy. Xavi might opt for dynamic Quiten Timber. The plan does not change: protagonists, opponent’s half, press when the ball is lost. Greece will not offer the spaces Serbia did.
That is the test of the game model. If Oranje circulate in front of a low block and start floating hopeful balls into the box, they play Greece’s game. Xavi does not want that English-style launch. Which is why there is no Weghorst. And why Zirkzee is added to the mix. Xavi wants third-man runs, half-spaces, full-backs who are not twins, and a press that wins the ball high enough that Pavlidis never gets a clean counter. Van de Ven and Dumfries have to be brave without leaving Tzolis one-v-one in transition. Meerdink has to occupy centre-backs so Summerville and Van Bommel can receive between the lines, not on the touchline with their back to goal.
Historically this fixture belongs to the Netherlands: nine wins in eleven meetings, including 1-0 in Athens and 3-0 in De Kuip in 2023. That history will not hush Toumba for a minute. A win would put Oranje top. A draw leaves Greece in control of the group. A loss, after all the talk about passion and initiative, would make the Xavi project look like theory against a side that simply refuses to open up.
Greece have earned the right to be awkward. The Dutch have the better squad. Thursday is about whether Xavi’s Oranje can impose the football they promised when the stadium is against them and the opponent is happy with 30 percent of the ball. Win it the hard way, and Thessaloniki becomes the night the new era stops being a press conference.
Interestingly enough, there is quite some Orange in the Greek squad. Not only was former NT manager John Van ‘t Schip their NT manager and potentially the coach who got them to really believe in themselves. Their draw against majestic Spain managed by Luis Enrique put them back on the map. But the Greece squad also has a couple of players who – one could argue – were developed in the Netherlands. Striker Pavlidis made his way to Benfica via Willem II and AZ. Douvikas became top scorer in Holland for FC Utrecht. Tsimikas got his first senior minutes at Willem II, while Tzolis was part of the FC Twente squad before he made his way to Arsenal.
And don’t forget Giakoumakis (former top scorer), 2004 hero Charisteas (who played for Ajax and Feyenoord), goalie Barkas at FC Utrecht (considered one of the top goalies in the Netherlands) and Hatzidiakos, who came through the AZ academy.
Interesting connections and I think we’ll see a heated match, probably a couple of cards in different colours?
Still I believe we’ll see a Dutch win: 1-3. Van Bommel will get his first goal, and Meerdink will add one too. I think typically we’ll see a captains goal too, a Virgil header from a set piece. I also believe we’ll see Zirkzee subbed in, and Noa Lang as well I believe.
What he said.