Greek players pay tribute to Baldock during historic upset win over England
Vangelis Pavlidis scored Greece's first-ever goals at Wembley Stadium to secure a historic 2-1 win over England in the Nations League on Thursday.
Pavlidis tiptoed into the area and fired a low shot past goalkeeper Jordan Pickford to open the scoring at the start of the second half. Jude Bellingham equalized in the 87th minute with a shot from range, but Pavlidis seized on a goalmouth scramble deep into stoppage time to hand Greece its first victory over the Three Lions.
Greece celebrated the first of Pavlidis' goals by holding George Baldock's shirt high into the sky. The English-born Greek defender, who played for Sheffield United and Panathinaikos, was found dead on Wednesday in his swimming pool in an Athens suburb.
Greece is now in first place in Nations League Group B2 with nine points out of nine. England is second with six.
Pavlidis would've had a hat-trick had he managed to stay onside when attempting to convert Christos Tzolis' pass in the 83rd minute. The No. 48-ranked side had another two goals ruled offside and an attempt cleared off the goal line.
Greece lost seven of its previous nine matches against England, drawing two, but summoned something special on a night of somber remembrance.
Barely 24 hours before kickoff, the Greek national team confirmed Baldock - a right-back born in Buckingham, England, with Greek roots on his father's side - had died at the age of 31. He earned his first call-up in June 2022 and made 12 appearances for his country of ancestry.
Baldock wasn't part of head coach Ivan Jovanovic's squad for October's Nations League matches.
The players in Greece's starting lineup held up Baldock's shirt pre-match, and Pavlidis again summoned his teammate's former No. 2 after scoring the opener.
"It was a really special day for us because of George," Pavlidis said. "We have thought about him a lot since we heard it yesterday. A difficult moment for us because George was part of the team.
"Special guy. We have to play for him and it doesn't matter the score today. We gave everything for him."
For just the third time in its history, England has lost three times at Wembley in a calendar year.
Thursday's defeat is also Lee Carsley's first as England's interim manager. Carsley replaced Gareth Southgate on a temporary basis in August and led the national team to back-to-back 2-0 victories over the Republic of Ireland and Finland.
He must now answer for his unusual tactical setup on Thursday. With Harry Kane sidelined by a suspected leg injury, Carsley opted against fielding another striker, rolling instead with five attacking midfielders and without forwards Ollie Watkins and Dominic Solanke for the first hour. England ended up going 84 minutes without a shot on target.
"We tried something different and tried to overload the midfield. We tried it for 20 minutes yesterday, we experimented, and I'm disappointed it didn't come off," Carsley said. "With the quality of players we've got, that's the challenge, to get them all on the pitch.
"I thought it was a creative way to play. But we were second best for a lot of tonight. You are going to get setbacks and it's important we respond."