Angelos Anastasiadis

The debut of Dutch coach John van 't Schip on the Greece bench marked one more defeat for the national team, the third in succession, as the 1-0 loss to Finland on Thursday at Tampere leaves Greece all but out of the Euro 2020 finals.

Canadian-born Dutchman John Van 't Schip is the new manager of the Greek national team, the Hellenic Football Federation (EPO) announced on Wednesday.

The former assistant to Marco van Basten at the bench of The Netherlands from 2004 to 2008 has signed a two-and-a-half year contract that will see him coach Greece through the end of the 2022 World Cup qualifying.

Hellenic Football Federation (EPO) President Vangelis Grammenos informed national coach Angelos Anastasiadis on Monday he is no longer needed at the national team set-up, but the two sides have not yet agreed on a way for the termination of their contract, nor has a successor been found yet.

Greece suffered a humiliating 3-2 home defeat to Armenia, a team that had never before beaten the Euro 2004 champions, and will require a miracle to qualify to the finals of Euro 2020. What Greece needs this summer is a restart, probably with a new manager.

Italy ran riot at the Greek defense in the first half to score three goals in 10 minutes and secure an easy 3-0 win in Athens on Saturday, against a deflated Greece that suffered its first loss at the Euro 2020 qualifiers.

A rather experimental Greece team lost 2-1 to Turkey on Thursday at a friendly game in Antalya, showing manager Angelos Anastasiadis has plenty of work to do to gear the national team up for the Euro 2020 qualifiers against Italy and Armenia at home.

Greece will miss talismanic striker Costas Mitroglou in its key clash with Bosnia on Tuesday due to his injury in the game at Liechtenstein, but at least it will welcome back captain Sokratis Papastathopoulos.

Mitroglou picked up a leg injury that is ruling him out of the game at Zenica, so coach Angelos Anastasiadis has called up Panionios striker Fiorin Durmishaj to replace him.

The Greek national team defeated Liechtenstein 2-0 at Vaduz at the start of its campaign for the Euro 2020 qualifiers on Saturday, having produced one hour of decent soccer.

Greece will need to revert to glorious performances of the past if it is to harbor any hopes of making Euro 2020, as the draw for its qualifying group on Sunday has placed it against Italy, Bosnia and Finland among others.

A Vassilis Lampropoulos own goal condemned Greece to its third loss in six Nations League games, as Estonia won 1-0 at the Olympic Stadium of Athens on Sunday weathering the strong but fruitless pressure of the Euro 2004 winers.

The Greeks ran into the staunch defending by the Estonians whose physical ability made up for their technical inferiority to the Greeks.