A month after Lee Carsley’s all-out offensive strategy ended in a shock 2-1 defeat to Greece at Wembley, England face the same opponents again with automatic promotion on the line in this UEFA Nations League match in Athens.

With Thomas Tuchel taking charge of the national team in January, Thursday’s match will be Carsley’s penultimate match as interim coach. Sunday’s match against Republic of Ireland at Wembley will be his last.

England are aiming for promotion to League A but trail Greece by three points with just two group matches remaining. As such, a victory at the Olympic Stadium in Athens would go a long way towards allaying fears of missing out on an automatic return to the top division.

How can England get automatic promotion?

If England top League B, Group 2, they will automatically be promoted to League A, from which they were relegated last season with Austria, Czech Republic And Wales.

Currently, England are second, with Greece top after four wins from four, and the Republic of Ireland third, six points behind England after three defeats and no wins. Finland down.

Finish second and promotion is still possible thanks to a home-and-away match against a third-placed team in League A, which takes place March 20-25, 2025.

As things stand, second place might be more likely for Carsley’s men…

Harry Kane pictured during a training session at St George’s Park on November 12, 2024 (Alex Livesey/Getty Images)

What if England lost to Greece?

If England lose, they have no chance of winning the group as Greece will be six points ahead with just one group game remaining.

It will be a tough away trip for an understrength England as Greece, who beat England for the first time last month, could happily play for a draw knowing they won’t would only have to defeat Finland three days later. Helsinki wins the group.

Even if England win on Thursday, they will hope to do so by a wide margin as Greece’s goal difference is currently better than three.

To make matters worse for England, they were hit by injuries to key players after Trent Alexander-Arnold, Declan Rice, Bukayo Saka, Cole Palmer, Phil Foden, Levi Colwill, Jack Grealish And Aaron Ramsdale all withdrew from the squad for the final Nations League group matches.

Could England suffer successive relegations?

Every cloud has a glimmer of hope. England, at least, have stayed clear of automatic relegation and have little chance of being involved in a relegation play-off.

Just as the third-placed teams in League A will face the second-placed teams in League B in a promotion/relegation play-off, the same will happen between the third-placed teams in League B and the second-placed teams in the League. C. Teams that finish last in their group are automatically relegated to the lower league.

Finland and the Republic of Ireland are the two teams fighting to avoid this fate in League B, Group 2. Mathematically, the Republic of Ireland could overtake England if they win their final two group matches – against England and Finland – and England lost both matches. games. However, contributing to the Republic’s plight is the need to overturn England’s superior goal difference on them, which would currently require a 10-goal swing.

Does any of this matter?

The Nations League was introduced in the 2018-19 season to replace this UEFAEuropean football’s governing body, called international friendlies “meaningless” and wanted to offer countries more competitive matches against teams of a similar level.

A total of 54 teams are divided into four leagues – labeled A through D – with 16 teams each in Leagues A, B and C and six in League D. Each league is divided into groups, with four groups (A1, A2, A3). , A4 etc) in Leagues A to C and two in League D.

Each team plays six matches in the championship phase; home and away matches against the three other teams in the group.

League A is at the top of the tree and this is where the winner of the Nations League is decided. The League A winners face the League A runners-up in a two-legged quarter-final to advance to the final four.

Significant cash prizes to be won. For the last campaign, the possible winners Spain received €10.5 million (£8.9 million, $11.7 million), while finalists Croatia received 9 million euros.

Added to this is an initial participation payment, which ranges from €1.5 million for League A teams to €500,000 for League D teams. There are also additional bonuses for winning your group, ranging from €750 €000 in League A to €250,000 in League D.

England are currently second in their Nations League group (Ryan Pierse/Getty Images)

What is England’s record in the Nations League?

Not great considering they are the fourth best nation in the world, according to FIFA rankings. Although top nations sometimes rotate their teams in the competition, England’s record should be better. This season, England have averaged two goals per game and won three of their four matches, but October’s historic defeat to Greece, particularly the performance itself, was a low point.

Matches played: 22 (including two knockout matches)
Victories: 8
Prints: 6
Losses: 8

How to watch

Kick-off at the Athens Olympic Stadium is set for 7:45 p.m. GMT (2:45 p.m. ET). For UK viewers, the broadcast will be shown live on ITV1, starting at 7pm GMT. US viewers can watch the match on FS1.

(Top photo: Alex Livesey/Getty Images)