Mistrovství světa - kvalifikace FIFA - Mistrovství světa - kvalifikace 2026

Karais-is ridden Belarus get sent to Hellen back Tamhas Woods, 05.09.2025 22:36 Greece got their quest to reach the 2026 FIFA World Cup (WC) off to a flyer, with a 5-1 demolition of Belarus at the Georgios Karaiskakis Stadium marking their 10th win in 12 matches, while extending the White Wings’ miserable run in WC qualifiers to just one win in 13 (L12). Although Greece came into this firmly as the in-form team, the onslaught that met Belarus was truly stunning. Just three minutes in, Vangelis Pavlidis found himself in the unusual role of provider, as he stopped an attempted Belarusian counter and swept the ball across goal, into the path of a lurking Konstantinos Karetsas. The 17-year-old picked his spot beyond Pavel Pavlyuchenko to make it two goals in three internationals. The roles would then be reversed on 17’, when a sequence of passes downfield allowed an undermarked Karetsas to float in a cross from the edge of the box that Pavlidis gleefully headed home. Having already scored 3+ goals in a hat-trick of successive matches for the first time this century, Greece took just four more minutes to ensure they’d extend that streak to four games. Anastasios Bakasetas made a classic captain’s contribution, picking up the ball just outside the box and blasting a rocket high into the far corner, before Dimitris Kourbelis added a fourth 10 minutes prior to the interval, heading in underneath Pavlyuchenko via a deflection off Max Ebong when meeting a Bakasetas corner. Up to this point, Greece had won by a 5+ goal margin on just five occasions in competitive action throughout their history, but after a start to the second half that didn’t emulate the brutal first, they put themselves in a position to change that just past the hour mark. Ebong was far too casual in trying to play out from the back, and Bakasetas pounced on the ball before passing to Pavlidis, who then squared it for Christos Tzolis to side-foot in Greece's fifth. But Greece were momentarily brought back to earth soon after going 5-0 up when Bakasetas handled inside the box, allowing German Barkovski to dispatch a mere consolation. Celebrations were appropriately muted for Belarus, and with the damage long done, Greece ultimately cruised to a landslide win that saw them extend a proud unbeaten run in WC qualification openers to five games - spanning back to the qualifiers for South Africa 2010 (W4, D1). As for Belarus, they must rebound against Scotland on matchday two, but with them still being winless against countries ranked inside the world’s top 50 since defeating Greece in 2016, their chances of success don’t appear particularly high.