SOMETIMES you try to analyse and then sometimes you just throw your arms up in the air and wonder ‘what is the point?’
Because this defied logic.
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Ireland spent one half completely on the back foot, believing in the existence of the ball but never actually touching unless it was being cannoned off their backside and emerged unscathed.
And in the other they flipped the possession stats and, at times, looked capable of punishing Greece’s showboating but conceded at both the start and the end, the second a self-inflicted wound.
It came when Caoimhín Kelleher – who had held Greece at bay in the opening period – gave the ball away, much like Nathan Collins had for Finland’s opener.
There the similarities began and ended.
In travelling from Helsinki to Piraeus, the port conjoined with the capital Athens, you remain in Europe but it may as well be a different world.
In the former, the Irish stood out for their jaywalking, an affront to the local sense of order.
Yesterday if you were not jostling to get on the ferry to get back to Piraeus from the nearest island Aegina you were not doing it right, with any semblance of a queue disappearing once the ship berthed.
When I went looking for the wallet I had dropped in the docks on Friday night, it had disappeared in the five minutes it took for me to realise and return.
There was a dead pigeon lying beside where I had been sitting. It was unclear whether it was connected. Maybe it had seen too much.
In Helsinki, any number of pristine trams delivered you to the door of the Olympic Stadium, whose stylish renovation was complete in 2020.
Here, graffiti-covered trains dropped you outside the stadium which itself was a fine arena but surrounded by roads in which they either forgot to put concrete or tiles on the footpaths or could not be bothered to do so.
There were more fans – Greeks – in the Press box since John Delaney took charge of ticket distribution for the European Championships qualifier against Slovakia in Zilina in 2010.
And, in another example of them not conforming to the norms of elsewhere, many of them were puffing away on cigarettes throughout.
The underlying suggestion of chaos and menace carried onto the pitch with Greece looking threatening whenever they went forward in the first 45 minutes with Ireland scrambling to throw bodies, limbs, anything in the way of the shots which rained down on Kelleher’s goal.
For all of the octopuses caught around these parts for consumption, Heimir Hallgrímsson was grateful to have one between the posts as the Cork man got through as much work in 45 minutes here as he might across the next month for Liverpool.
His efforts, and those of the outfield players, ensured that whilst the team buckled on plenty of occasions in the first half it did not break, somehow reaching the interval on level terms.
Remember that, on their last visit to Greece, 14 months ago, they had fallen behind as early as the 15th minute.
MUCH CHANGE
Incredibly, just three players – Nathan Collins, Josh Cullen and Evan Ferguson – in team for this match also started back then.
Stephen Kenny had used a 3-4-1-2 formation but was forced to change things up as Ireland were brutally exposed by, in particular, diagonal balls from the Greek wing-backs.
For this, Hallgrímsson went for something from the vintage collection as he sent out his team in a 4-4-2 shape with Troy Parrott coming in at Finn Azaz’s expense to partner Ferguson in attack.
How could you not pick him against Greece with a first name like that? Much like Azaz’s selection 72 hours earlier.
The Brighton striker – who turns 20 on Saturday – had a chance to score his last goal as a teenager but was pushed in the back by Lazaros Rota – who sounds like he would be able to come back from the dead provided he was on shift at the time.
There was no penalty and no further opportunity as good as that for Ireland to score in the opening period as they were kept occupied trying to keep the swarming and storming Greeks at bay.
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The home fans were getting frustrated, especially when Manolis Siopis was booked for a challenge on Chiedozie Ogbene when there had been no accompanying punishment for any Irish player who, because of the nature of the game, were more fouling than fouled against.
And they also showed a healthy disdain for the bell-ringer among the travelling 900 Irish supporters who had earlier joined in a respectful applause then silence as a moving video in memory of the player George Baldock who passed away on Wednesday aged just 31.
The impatience at their side’s inability to finish Ireland off disappeared within two-and-a-half minutes of the restart.
It should come as no surprise that Tasos Bakasetas was involved, rifling home after playing a one-two with Christos Tzolis.
He converted the penalty to give Greece the lead and then provided the assist for Georgios Masouras’ winner in June 2023.
And, last month in Dublin, the Greek captain was the architect of both of his side’s goals with knowing the threat and being able to nullify it two very different things.
But Greece did not use that opening goal as a launch pad for more. Ireland went on to have their longest spell of possession – not that that was saying much – soon afterwards.
There was nothing to show for it, though, bar appreciation for Jason Knight’s backheeled nutmeg to return a pass to Robbie Brady.
By then, Festy Ebosele and Jack Taylor had been introduced.
Ebosele’s threat on the right might have been expected, following his impact in Helsinki, but it was the debutant Taylor who forced Odysseas Vlachodinos into a flying save with a header from Josh Cullen’s cross.
He also had a shot blocked from a corner but, with the game nearing the end of its injury time and the visitors looking to launch one last attack, the Greeks showed themselves to be willing to accept gifts as well as bearing them.