Van ‘t Schip: “We must be ready both mentally and physically”
Head coach of the Greek national team, John van ‘t Schip, shared his impressions from the 2020/2021 UEFA Nations League draw.
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Earlier this week, the draw for the 2020/2021 Nations League took place, with Greece drawn into Group 3 of League C alongside Moldova, Slovenia and Kosovo. On September 3rd, the Greeks will travel to Slovenia for the group opener, before making the trip to Kosovo for the second game just three days later. The team in first place of the group will earn promotion to League B for the next Nations League campaign.
Van ‘t Schip, who inspired the team to a series of inspired performances during the concluding stages of UEFA Euro 2020 qualifying, shared his impressions from the draw result:
“The overriding impression from the draw is that the fate of this group depends purely on us. However, taking into account that the gap between European teams has become smaller in recent years, we cannot underestimate our opponents. We must be ready both mentally and physically, playing with discipline. We have high quality players, so our readiness will decide the outcome of the matches. Another positive thing is that we will play in countries which aren’t far away from Greece, meaning that we don’t have to make long journeys. We have enough time to scout the opponents. The Nations League is the first stage of our Plan Qatar.”
“Of course, we won’t underestimate any of our opponents, but this group depends on us,” added technical director, Kostas Konstantinidis, when speaking to Sport FM. “A lot of things can change before the Nations League begins. The national team is open to any Greek player who performs well. Our troubles in recent years? It all started in 2014, when we stopped playing to our potential. We should never be losing to the Faroe Islands, Estonia and Armenia. We want to change our philosophy. In the last games of Euro 2020 qualifying, we saw a team with passion and discipline. The players fought for each other. Sokratis Papastathopoulos and Kostas Manolas? The door hasn’t been shut.”
In 2018, Greece failed to move up to League B of the Nations League, conceding defeats to Finland, Hungary and Estonia.
