Greece v England: Nations League – live | Nations League

4 min: England need to win this game if they’re to have a chance of finishing top of the group. They need to match or better Greece’s 2-1 scoreline also. With this in mind, on ITV, the commentating team of Sam Matterface and Lee Dixon have already mentioned the benched Harry Kane over 800 times.

2 min: Gordon outpaces Rota down the left. His low cross dribbles all the way through to Madueke, who attempts a snapshot from the penalty spot but can’t get anything away. That’s a fine run by Gordon and a promising start for England.

England get the ball rolling. Plenty of boos as they do so. Hey, it is nearly pantomime season, after all.

The teams are out. Greece in blue, England in white, the Olympic Stadium of Athens already on the boil. We’ll be off in a minute!

Greece’s Euro 2004 heroes, led by Otto Rehhagel, are paraded on the pitch. Partly so they can be honoured with more shiny trinkets, partly for crowd-up-whipping purposes. “You can win trophies with an imported German manager,” notes our man Philip Cornwall, at the scene for the purposes of leisure rather than work, but already planning ahead for 2026.

England’s stand-in captain Kyle Walker talks to ITV. “Obviously you turn up and expect [Harry Kane] to be playing … the manager has made a decision and we have to stick by that as a group of lads … this is a game you want to be involved in … we take points off them and we’ve a good chance of finishing top … these are the games you want to be involved in for your country … with Harry being on the bench [Jude Bellingham] needs to take front mantelpiece and get some goals tonight … momentum to take into Sunday [against Ireland] as well … there was a lot of emotion [at Wembley] with the very sad news of George Baldock dying … they played for him, really … we need to make sure we quieten the crowd down … hopefully get a result.”

Lee Carsley speaks to ITV. “It was important to give Ollie Watkins the opportunity to experience a night like this … this team needs to try to create leaders and one way of doing that is giving them the opportunity … [Harry Kane] is fine … he obviously wants to play but his attitude has been fantastic … it’s important we give the players the chance … Curtis Jones is an all-round very good midfielder … he’ll play a little bit deeper tonight than he currently does with Liverpool … hopefully our performance will be better [than against Greece at Wembley] … it’s important we match Greece for tempo and energy … the goal is to win the World Cup so this will be a valuable experience for them and hopefully develop them.”

No fewer than eight Greece players are in danger of missing their last match in Finland if they pick up a yellow card tonight. Five of those men start – Vangelis Pavlidis, Christos Zafeiris, Christos Tzolis, Kostas Tsimikas and Manolis Siopis – while another three are on the bench (Dimitris Pelkas, Giannis Konstantelias and Dimitris Giannoulis). Not a single England player is walking the disciplinary tightrope ahead of the Wembley showdown with Ireland.

A reminder of how Group B2 looks. England have to win tonight to retain a chance of finishing the group on top and gaining automatic promotion. Greece need just a point this evening to guarantee they’ll finish first and go up; in that scenario, their victory at Wembley means they’d pip England on the head-to-head.

1. Greece P4 W4 D0 L0 F9 A1 Pts12

2. England P4 W3 D0 L1 F8 A3 Pts9

3. Republic of Ireland P4 W1 D0 L3 F2 A7 Pts3

4. Finland P4 W0 D0 L4 F2 A10 Pts0

England, as a harrumphing Harry Kane has noted, are already without Bukayo Saka, Declan Rice, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Cole Palmer, Phil Foden, Jack Grealish, Levi Colwill, Jarrad Branthwaite and Aaron Ramsdale. They’re also without Kane in their starting XI. He’s on the bench – injury is reportedly not a factor – with Kyle Walker taking over captain’s duties. Noni Madueke starts for the first time while Curtis Jones makes his debut.

Greece make two changes to the starting XI they named for the 2-1 win at Wembley. Kostas Tsimikas of Liverpool and Christos Zafeiris are in for Dimitris Giannoulis and Dimitrios Kourbelis.

Greece: Vlachodimos, Rota, Mavropanos, Koulierakis, Tsimikas, Siopis, Zaferis, Masouras, Bakasetas, Tzolis, Pavlidis.
Subs: Tzolakis, Mandas, Vagiannidis, Retsos, Alexandropoulos, Ioannidis, Douvikas, Pelkas, Hatzidiakos, Konstantelias, Mantalos, Giannoulis.

England: Pickford, Walker, Konsa, Guéhi, Lewis, Jones, Gallagher, Bellingham, Madueke, Gordon, Watkins.
Subs: Trafford, Henderson, Gibbs-White, Gomes, Kane, Hall, Livramento, Quansah, Harwood-Bellis, Rogers, Bowen, Solanke.

Referee: Daniel Siebert (Germany)
OUR: Bastian Dankert (Germany)

England captain Harry Kane has gone public with his displeasure over the number of withdrawals from the squad. He also might be a shock omission from tonight’s starting XI. What a savage irony. Kick-off is at 7.45pm GMT. It’s on!