{"id":908081,"date":"2026-09-28T03:02:09","date_gmt":"2026-09-28T03:02:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/908081\/"},"modified":"2026-09-28T03:02:09","modified_gmt":"2026-09-28T03:02:09","slug":"nations-league-greece-stun-klopps-germany-netherlands-sink-serbia-but-gakpo-hurt-nations-league","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/908081\/","title":{"rendered":"Nations League: Greece stun Klopp\u2019s Germany, Netherlands sink Serbia but Gakpo hurt | Nations League"},"content":{"rendered":"

Greece stunned Germany 1-0 in Augsburg to go top of their Nations League<\/a> group and spoil J\u00fcrgen Klopp\u2019s debut in the home dugout.<\/p>\n

Dimitrios Kourbelis scored the only goal in the 74th minute, earning Greece their first-ever victory in 11 matches against Germany. Ivan Jovanovic\u2019s side now lead \u2060Group A2 with six points \u2060from two matches; Klopp\u2019s side are third with one point from two games after a 1-1 draw against the Netherlands<\/a> on Thursday.<\/p>\n

The hosts were in control for most of the game and had close to 80% possession in the first half alone. Germany<\/a> were ultimately punished \u2060for sloppy defending, especially in the second half, which gave the visitors space to attack.<\/p>\n

Felix Nmecha fired wide in the 54th minute, moments after the Greece<\/a> keeper Konstantinos Tzolakis \u200chad palmed a Joshua Kimmich free-kick over the bar. The Greeks then almost scored in the 66th after Kimmich lost possession in his own half, but the substitute Fotis Ioannidis fired just wide of the post.<\/p>\n

It was a frustrating first home game in charge of the Germany side for J\u00fcrgen Klopp. Photograph: Kai Pfaffenbach\/Reuters<\/p>\n

They did better eight minutes later, with Kourbelis\u2019s deflected low drive earning their second victory in a row after their last-gasp 2-1 win over Serbia<\/a> on Thursday. Greece will now host the Dutch on Thursday, while Germany are at home to Serbia.<\/p>\n

Klopp shrugged off the defeat after the final whistle. \u201cPersonally, I\u2019m completely unbothered by it,\u201d he told ARD. \u201cI\u2019ve lost far more matches in my life than I would have liked \u2026 but as long as you draw the right conclusions, a loss is ultimately just a piece of information \u2013 no different from a win.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe absolutely need these kinds of matches \u2013 they are exactly the games we wanted to have,\u201d Klopp added, while Kimmich said his new coach \u201chas been very clear about what he wants \u2013 as players, we need to implement it\u201d.<\/p>\n

Earlier, the Netherlands earned a 2-1 victory in Serbia thanks to Mexx \u200cMeerdink\u2019s double on his second appearance for his country. It was their first win under their new coach, Xavi Hern\u00e1ndez, following Thursday\u2019s draw with Germany.<\/p>\n

Meerdink, who plays for the Eredivisie leaders, AZ, opened the scoring with a confidently taken penalty in the 30th minute. Luka Jovic equalised for the hosts but Meerdink struck again in the 69th minute to earn three points.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a boyhood dream,\u201d Meerdink said. \u201cEverything is happening so quickly. You just don\u2019t realise what can happen in the space of a week. It\u2019s also great that we managed to win here. I did feel a little pressure, but you play that out of your system. And then to score two \u200bis fantastic.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cody Gakpo is an injury concern after going off in the 17th minute and will undergo a scan on Monday. \u201cIt\u2019s his ankle, that\u2019s all I know,\u201d Xavi said on the Liverpool winger\u2019s injury. \u201cTomorrow we will know, but hopefully it\u2019s not too important.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mexx Meerdink scores his second goal in the Netherlands\u2019 2-1 victory in Belgrade. Photograph: Marko \u0110urica\/Reuters<\/p>\n

Jo\u00e3o F\u00e9lix scored for the second \u200bconsecutive Portugal match as the defending champions edged past Norway 2-1 in Oslo to top Group A4 with two wins from two games. Erling Haaland cancelled out Jo\u00e3o F\u00e9lix\u2019s 17th-minute opener in the 54th minute, but Gon\u00e7alo \u200bRamos\u2019s chip three minutes later secured victory for Jorge Jesus\u2019s side in Oslo.<\/p>\n

Bruno Fernandes was left out of the Portugal squad on Sunday, with Jesus revealing beforehand that the Manchester United captain had \u201cplayed through the pain\u201d in Thursday\u2019s 1-0 win over Wales.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe played with an injury he brought from Manchester United,\u201d the Portugal head coach said. \u201cHe wasn\u2019t his usual self \u2026 [but] he really wanted to play against Wales.\u201d<\/p>\n

Portugal stay in Scandinavia for their next game, away to Denmark on Thursday. Norway visit Cardiff to take on Wales, who earlier lost 2-0 to the Danes<\/a> in Copenhagen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Greece stunned Germany 1-0 in Augsburg to go top of their Nations League group and spoil J\u00fcrgen Klopp\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":908082,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[43,44,41,39,42,40],"class_list":["post-908081","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/908081","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=908081"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/908081\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/908082"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=908081"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=908081"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=908081"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}