Sweden Humilates Greece

The lacklustre nature of their loss to Sweden may have been a bitter pill to swallow for Greece, but with Giorgos Samaras insisting that there is "no point crying over spilled milk", the holders' UEFA EURO 2008™ campaign appears far from over.

No spark
The grim looks on Greek faces said it all. It was not so much starting their UEFA European Championship defence with a 2-0 loss to Sweden that was difficult to swallow, but the manner of defeat. Ninety minutes had brought only five shots by the holders, their circumspect performance meaning that as soon as Zlatan Ibrahimović gave the Swedes the lead with a sumptuous strike, a way back never looked on the cards. "Our passing game lacked spark and creativity," admitted centre-back Traianos Dellas. "Sweden played behind the midfield and it was difficult for us to move forward. It became increasingly obvious that the team that scored first would claim all three points. An outstanding goal by Ibrahimović gave the Swedes the edge. That's football."

Waiting game
That strike also drew admiring glances from Giorgos Samaras, who added: "He was off our radars for one second and he delivered. It was an outstanding goal. For a player like him, all it takes is one moment." Petter Hansson soon sealed Greece's fate at the Stadion Salzburg Wals-Siezenheim, though for Nikos Liberopoulos, watching from his vantage point on the substitutes' bench, it was at the back where Sweden were superior. "Watching from the sidelines, it was obvious that we feared the Swedes and they feared us," he said. "They are a very well organised team and had done their homework extremely well. They were patient, waiting for us to take the initiative and Greece are not used to playing like that. We still have two matches to go and we can still turn this situation around."

'Nothing is over'
That optimism was echoed throughout the Otto Rehhagel's camp, and the towering Dellas has been around for long enough to know there is still time for the holders to turn it around. "Nothing is over yet," the 32-year-old insisted. "We will explore our options, and we have to change some things. It's not my place to point out what must be changed – we have a coach who makes the decisions – but we need to remain calm, relax for a couple of days and be stronger against the Russians." Samaras was even more to the point, insisting that there is "no use crying over spilt milk". He added: "The only thing left for us now is to collect ourselves and plan for the two remaining encounters. It was an off day, a bad day at the office. Hopefully we will do better against the Russians."