England must beat Greece to get promoted to the top flight of the UEFA Nations League. Lee Carsley's interim tenure will end with a match against Ireland, the team he played for as a player.
However, the match against Ireland will be meaningless if the "Three Lions" cannot win against Greece. With 9 players withdrawing from this training session, the situation of the England team is quite chaotic. It seems that everyone is waiting for the day Thomas Tuchel officially becomes the head coach of the "Three Lions" on January 1, 2025.
However, Carsley still has to complete the task in the remaining 2 matches to help the "Three Lions" get promoted to League A. In the match against Greece last month, Carsley fielded a team with many attacking players and led to a surprising defeat.
Greece have won all 4 matches in this year's Nations League. With England ahead by goal difference (+8 compared to +5), they will still lead the group if they lose by less than 2 goals. And with just a draw against the "Three Lions", Greece will take the initiative. In the final match, they only have to face the bottom team, Finland.
If England finishes second, they will have to participate in a promotion play-off with one of the third-placed teams in League A. Currently, Poland, Belgium, Hungary or Serbia will be potential opponents for England in the play-off. The first and second leg matches will take place on March 20 and 23 of the following year.
That will be the time when Tuchel has started his work with the England team. At the same time, the German strategist also identified the opponents in the 2026 World Cup qualifiers of the "Three Lions". The draw will take place on December 13 with 12 groups with the participation of 4 or 5 countries.
There is still a small chance that England could drop to third place in the Nations League group. However, this scenario is unlikely to happen when England's goal difference is much better than Ireland's.
"We had a disappointing match against Greece, and now we have the opportunity to make amends when we take the field this time. I understand the importance of that. It's easy to regret after knowing the result and the performance. I believe in what we have tried. It's very important to try something new," Carsley said before the match against Greece.
The match between Greece and England takes place at 2:45 am on November 15 (Vietnam time).
