Euro Chumps Up The Greek

Jun 15 2008 Ian Gilmour At Stadion Salzburg

GREECE 0

RUSSIA 1

HOLDERS Greece slumped out of Euro 2008 last night - pointless, goalless, hopeless.

Zenit St Petersburg star Konstantin Zyryanov's first-half goal for Russia was enough to see off the team who were the shock troops of Portugal but just shocking in Salzburg.

The win for golden Guus Hiddink's side keeps alive the Dutch coach's incredible record of never having crashed out of a major championships in the group stage.

Now it will take one more win in a sensational showdown with Sweden in Innsbruck on Wednesday night to make it five in a row for him.

Last night's win sealed Spain's place in the quarters as well - but Russia's lack of a cutting edge in front of goal could yet cost them dear.

The Swedes can still get through with a draw because of their superior goal difference but Russian tails will be up after this well-deserved win.

The Greeks had been garroted at home for the timid opening of their championship defence against Sweden.

Otto Rehhagel had obviously taken it to heart, making three changes and reverting to the back-to-front 4-3-3 that clinched the title four years ago.

But they toiled in the early stages to get near the ball thanks to the slicker passing of Hiddink's red machine who were still without the genius of banned playmaker Andrei Arshavin.

And the Russians came so close to going ahead in 14 minutes when Roman Pavlyuchenko - a late pick after recovering from a groin problem - curled in a magnificent effort that Antonis Nikopolidis tipped over.

Eventually the Greeks found a footing in the game and how they failed to grab the opener after 20 minutes is anyone's guess.

Real Mallorca's Angelos Basinas delivered a vicious inswinger from the left, Angelos Charisteas piled in for the header but the killer touch which saw him score the glory goal in 2004 deserted him here. The striker missed the ball completely and saw it squirt off Igor Semshov for a corner.

Greece were then left hanging on to the trophy by their fingernails as the Russians took the lead - and Nikopolidis will have nightmares about the goal.

Dmitry Torbinsky's cross to the back post was too deep and going nowhere but the Olympiakos keeper bizarrely chased after it.

And when Sergei Semak flipped an overhead kick back across goal, Zenit St Petersburg's Zyryanov had the easiest of tap-ins.

Russia should have put themselves out of sight and Nikopolidis denied Pavlyuchenko three times in six minutes at the start of the second half.

The Spartak Moscow star also combined brilliantly with maurauding full-back Yuri Zhirkov to tee up Dinar Bilyaletdinov but the Lokomotiv man screwed a dream chance wide.

At least Greece showed some guts after the break - maybe it was just belated pride kicking in.

Charisteas, Basinas and sub Giorgios Karagounis all tested keeper Igor Akinfeev - and a tight offside decision against striking sub Fanis Gekas with three minutes left could have made all the difference.

But the class, mobility and pace of the Russians always made them look the more likely to add to their lead.

And with the return of Arshavin on Wednesday they could yet be the dark horses they were tipped to be at the start of the tournament.

team sheet

GREECE: Nikopolidis, Seitaridis (Karagounis 40), Dellas, Kyrgiakos, Torosidis, Katsouranis, Basinas, Patsatzoglou, Charisteas, Liberopoulos (Gekas 60), Amanatidis (Giannakopoulos 80). Subs: Chalkias, Antzas, Goumas, Vyntra, Spyropoulos, Tziolis, Samaras, Salpigidis, Tzorvas.

RUSSIA: Akinfeev, Aniukov, Kolodin, Ignashevich, Zhirkov (V Berezutsky 87), Semak, Torbinsky, Zyryanov, Semshov, Bilyaletdinov (Saenko 69), Pavluchenko. Subs: Gabulov, Shirokov, Yanbaev, A Berezutsky, Ivanov, Bystrov, Sychev, Adamov, Malafeev.