Sport: Category:
    In Association With
Scoreboard Match Schedule Standings Teams Player Leaders News
Final
Greece 0-2 Sweden
Half: 0-0
Goals
  0-1Z. Ibrahimovic67'
  0-2P. Hansson72'
Preview  |  Stats  |  Matchcast  |  Matchcast  |  Match Report
Commentary  |  Team Stats  |  Player Stats
Greece v Sweden
Time Commentary
93' FULL TIME SWEDEN 2-0 GREECE
Full time and Sweden have three vital points in their quest to reach the knockout stages. They fully deserved the victory in what was for the most part a dull game, thanks to Greece's tactics. Zlatan Ibrahimovic's goal will long live in the memory, and a few more moments like that from him will see Sweden go far in this tournament. Greece face Russia next, with the loser destined to exit Euro 2008 at the first stage, while Sweden get to really test themselves against Spain.
91' FOOTBALL THE WINNER
Amanatidis fires in a low cross looking for Samaras but the striker's control lets him down and Sweden clear. Certainly no time for a comeback now, and from a neutral perspective you have to be happy that Sweden have won tonight - for football's sake. Not meaning to be harsh on the Greeks, but their defensive minded tactics have no place on this stage.
90' STOPPAGE TIME
We'll have three extra minutes in Salzburg.
87' STRAIGHT AT ISAKSSON
Torosidis nearly grabs one back for Greece, taking on Stoor in the box before firing straight at Isaksson from a tight angle.
85' GREAT SUPPORT
There's a brief stoppage as Antzas receives treatment for cramp. The Swedish supporters, all clad in yellow, have made a fantastic atmosphere throughout the game and they're louder than ever now. Fantastic support.
82' NO FAIRYTALE
Henrik Larsson goes for a fairytale goal with a 25 yard free kick, but it's well wide of Nikopolidis' goal.
80' DOWN AND OUT
The Swedish fans are celebrating and at the moment it looks game over. Greece are offering absolutely zilch up front and are a shadow of the side which fought so hard to claim their triumph four years ago.
78' SWEDEN SUB
A crying shame for Wilhelmsson as he is carried off the pitch with what looks like a torn hamstring. He's had an impressive game, but you have to fear that his tournament is now over. Markus Rosenerg is his replacement.
75' WILHELMSSON DOWN
Ouch, that looks painful. Wilhelmsson looks like he's done some major damage to himself as he pulls up suddenly when on another surging run down the flank. He's receiving treatment now, but it doesn't look good.
74' ANOTHER CHANGE
Another sub for Sweden as Niclas Alexandersson is replaced by Fredrik Stoor.
72' GOAL! SWEDEN 2-0 GREECE
An Elmander shot loops up to about two yards from goal where Hansson stumbles the ball into the net with some part of his body. Awful defending from Greece who never looked like clearing that. As majestic as the first goal was, the second was just ugly. But Sweden couldn't care less, they've got the three points in their hands now.
71' SWEDEN SUB
Sweden make a change of their own, replacing goal hero Ibrahimovic with Johan Elmander.
70' GREECE SUB
Right, now we might see some attacking intent from the Greeks. Centre back Dellas is replaced with striker Amanatidis. That should mean 4-3-3 for Greece with Amanatidid joining Charisteas and Samaras up front.
69' NO SUPPORT
Samaras pushes for an immediate reply, trying to force a path to goal in the area, but Hansson clears with no support forthcoming for the striker. Greece have to go for it now.
67' GOAL! SWEDEN 1-0 GREECE
Ohhh yes, what a goal! Zlatan Ibrahimovic scores what can only be described as a wondergoal, taking the ball from a throw in, playing a one-two with Larsson, and then rocketing a side footed shot into the top corner from 20 yards. Reminiscent of that famous Brolin-Dahlin goal from Euro 92. That's his first goal for 14 international matches, and it was well worth the wait. Now maybe we'll have a football match!
66' DADDY COOL
Blimey, Hansson nearly scores a spectacularly good own goal. Dellas lumps the ball in the box looking for Samaras and the Swedish defender flashes a header inches wide of Isaksson's post. Daddy cool, eh?
64' A GOAL PLEASE
Nilsson optimisitically aims for goal from all of 35 yards, but Nikopolidis watches it go harmlessly wide. What this game needs is a goal.
62' BLOCKED SHOTS
Awful defending from Sweden as Mellberg gifts Greece the ball but Karagounis and Katsouranis can't take advantage as both their shots are blocked.
61' BOOKING
Torosidis is the latest player in the book for Greece, for chopping down Wilhelmsson.
60' DEFENSIVE TACTICS
Once again the Greeks knock the ball nonchalently around their defence like they haven't a care in the world. The crowd show their displeasure and Dellas promptly whacks the ball upfield aimlessly. I reckon they need a new gameplan, preferably one that involves playing football.
57' GONE FLAT
There's a storm brewing here in Salzburg, but it's in the air and not on the pitch. The weather is deteriorating, as is the quality on display from these two sides. Sweden look like they need freshening up here, and Kallstrom may be the man to come off the bench soon.
54' WASTED SET PIECES
Greece are well renowned for their match-winning set pieces but they've had no joy from them so far tonight. Karagounis is charged with delivering them but he wastes a free kick and a corner in quick succession.
52' SWEDEN PRESSURE
From the resulting free kick Svensson lays the ball off the Zlatan to optimistically fire in from 30 yards. It's deflected for a corner, which is cleared by Kyrgiakos.
51' BOOKING
Seitaridis clips Ljungberg with a late tackle and goes in the book.
48' OPPORTUNITY MISSED
Great opportunity for Wilhelmsson as the Greek defence completely opens up but with Nikopolodis advancing the Swedish midfielder lobs the ball over the top from just outside the area.
46' SECOND HALF
Sweden get the ball rolling for the second half. Greece have made a change at half time, replacing Gekas with fellow striker Giorgios Samaras, the Man City player who spent last season on loan at Celtic.
45' HALF TIME SWEDEN 0-0 GREECE
A pretty even half of football, good in places, particularly from the Swedish attack. Greece seemed to give up on attacking towards the end of the half and their alarmingly defensive tactic of knocking the ball around their back four was certainly not pretty. Set up for a good second half though, with both sides needing to win you feel.
45' TOO SHORT
Wilhelmsson skips past Dellas to the byline and crosses towards the head of Larsson, but it's just over the top of the 36 year old's head.
44' BASINAS BOUNCER
Basinas tries his luck from about 30 yards, which isn't powerfully struck but bounces awkwardly in front of Isaksson. However, he keeper concentrates well and palms the ball around the post for a corner, which is cleared.
42' OUCH!
Zlatan takes an almighty knock right in the mommy-daddy button from a high Karagounis boot. Ouch, and then ouch some more. Deep breaths!
40' BORING FOOTBALL
Well this game has been pretty noisy throughout, but the volume has just reached it's highest level yet as Greece unimaginatively knock the ball around their defence for a few minutes. You'd think they were 3-0 up with two minutes to go. Not the kind of football you expect from European Champions, but they have a game plan and they're going to stick to it.
38' CHARISTEAS SHOT
Charisteas looks to do his Superman impression again, taking on a couple of players down the right before shooting powerfully from a narrow angle. Keeper Isaksson saves with ease.
37' NICE FLICK
Wilhelmsson feeds Larsson with a delightful backheel flick and he in turn looks to play in Zlatan, but Greece clear.
35' PEDESTRIAN PACE
Greece enjoy their best spell of possession so far, but can't do anything decent with it. They look happy to play at a pedestrian pace, which is good news for the ageing Swedes.
32' ZLATAN GOES CLOSE
Sweden begin to dominate again and Ibrahimovic goes the closest so far to breaking the deadlock. A long ball into the box finds him with his back to goal but he attempts a clever flick header which drops onto the roof of the net. Very unlucky and a cracking effort.
31' RUN FREDDIE RUN!
Ljungberg knocks the ball past Kyrgiakos and tries to leg it past him, but the Swede has lost a yard or two of pace over the years and the best he can get is a corner from the defender's challenge. Svensson's delivery is easily cleared.
28' POOR GEKAS
Not a lot of quality emanating from Greece's midfield yet, and poor Gekas has barely been fed a decent pass so far. He's cutting a frustrated figure up front.
25' IN A MUDDLE
Hansson gets in a right muddle and dithers over a long ball into the box, before Nilsson helps him out and clears before Charisteas can take advantage.
24' COMPOSED
Dellas has looked a composed and dominant figure so far, even spraying a couple of inch-perfect long range passes to Karagounis. No joy on either flank for Greece yet though.
22' GOOD ATTEMPT
Ibrahimovic tries to release Larsson with a first time ball but it's just too strong for the former Barcelona and Celtic veteran. Greece are struggling to impose themselves here.
20' DELLAS DEFENCE
Ibrahimovic starts to get involved with a nice couple of touches outside the box, but Dellas does well to crowd him out and clear.
17' MOVE OF THE MATCH
Best move of the match comes from Sweden as Ljungberg, Larsson and Wilhelmsson combine for the latter to break through on goal and clip the ball straight at the keeper. The offside flag is up though, and justifiably so.
15' RESPITE IN ACTION
A brief respite in the action as Sweden knock the ball around midfield with no great urgency. The stands are still shaking though, cracking atmopshere being generated by both sets of supporters. Salzburg has never heard anything like it.
13' SWEDEN ON TOP
Attacking the end where the majority of their fervent support are housed, the Swedes have certainly started the brighter here and are looking to get the ball up to the front two at the earliest opportunity. No joy yet though.
11' SVENSSON RIPPER
A Swedish cross is cleared only as far as Anders Svensson who unleashes a ripping 25 yard volley which flashes just wide. Boy that was close.
9' FRONT TWO VITAL
It will be interesting to see how effectively Larsson and Ibrahimovic combine up front for the Swedes. Zlatan hasn't scored in his last 14 internationals, while Larsson has been playing for Helsingborg in his homeland - hardly the highest quality of football over there it has to be said.
8' DUBIOUS KNOCK
Katsouranis leaves the field with a highly dubious knock. Trust me, he's fine.
7' CHARISTEAS RUN
What a run! Charisteas tries to take on the whole Swedish defence before disappointingly scuffing a left footed shot from 12 yards. Attacking intentions aplenty here.
5' END-TO-END
100mph start to this game with some meaty challenges and end-to-end action. Sweden look bang up for this, as do their fans who are lifting the imaginary roof off this place.
3' CORNERS
Sweden get on the frontfoot with a couple of successive corners which the Greek defence struggle to clear.
2' EARLY BOOKING
Charisteas goes straight in the book for an over-zealous challenge on Hansson. The ref has set his stall out there. Incidentally our man in black is Massimo Busacca, from Switzerland.
1' KICK OFF
The champions get the game underway to a thunderous roar.
0' ANTHEMS
Plenty of noise from the Swedish fans - they've created a sea of yellow in the stands. Pretty boring anthem though, nothing compared to the lively Greek alternative - most enjoyable!
0' SWEDEN TEAM NEWS
The big news for Sweden is that Henrik Larsson, making his third comeback after retirement in international football, starts up front. He's partnered by the dangerous Zlatan Ibrahimovic, of Inter Milan. Other familiar names include Freddie Ljungberg, the ex-Arsenal midfielder now plying his trade at West Ham, Olaf Mellberg, of Aston Villa, and Nantes midfielder Christian Wilhelmsson.
0' GREECE TEAM NEWS
There's some familiar faces in the Greece line up as some of their heroes from 2004 return to defend the trophy they so famously won. Nikopolidis remains in goal, central defender Dellas, who scored the winner in the 2004 semi-final against the Czech's, is still there, as is Angelos Charisteas, who scored the winner in the final. Their line up is as expected, with boss Rehhagel having the luxury of a fit squad to choose from.
0' PREVIEW
The final two teams to get their Euro 2008 campaigns underway go head-to-head as reigning champions Greece take on Sweden at the Stadion Wals-Siezenheim in Salzburg. Greece caused one of the biggest shocks in sporting history four years ago when they beat hosts Portugal 1-0 in the final to lift the trophy for the first time. Despite that success, hardly anyone is predicting a repeat performance this time around. However, they breezed through qualifying to get to Austria and Switzerland and have kept many of the 2004 side, as well as manager Otto Rehhagel. With Spain beating Russia 4-1 the second spot in Group D appears to be well up for grabs and both sides will be desperate to a defeat today which could end their campaign before it has begun.
Commentary  |  Team Stats  |  Player Stats
Teams
GreeceSweden
Antonios Nikopolidis
Sotirios Kyrgiakos
Theofanis Gekas
Ioannis Amanatidis
Georgios Samaras
Angelos Charisteas
Giourkas Seitaridis
Angelos Basinas
Konstantinos Katsouranis
Traianos Dellas
Giorgos Karagounis
Paraskevas Antzas
Vassillis Torosidis
 
Andreas Isaksson
Fredrik Ljungberg
Olof Mellberg
Zlatan Ibrahimovic
Johan Elmander
Christian Wilhelmsson
Petter Hansson
Markus Rosenberg
Mikael Nilsson
Henrik Larsson
Andersson D.
Niclas Alexandersson
Anders Svensson
Fredrik Stoor
Substitution
46' - Samaras
 - Gekas
70' - Amanatidis
 - Dellas
  
  
Elmander - 71'
Ibrahimovic - 
Stoor - 74'
Alexandersson - 
Rosenberg - 78'
Wilhelmsson - 
Yellow Cards
 Charisteas (2')
 Seitaridis (52')
 Torosidis (61')
 
 
 
GreeceTeam StatsSweden
0 Goals 2
0 Assists 1
7 Shots 12
5 Shots on Goal 5
3 Saves 5
0 Penalties Scored 0
0 Penalty Kicks 0
15 Crosses 18
6 Corner Kicks 6
2 Offsides 2
11 Fouls Committed 15
3 Cautions/Yellow Cards 0
0 Red Cards 0
Commentary  |  Team Stats  |  Player Stats
Greece
  GA SHT SHT-OG Svs SPct PKF PKS YC RC
A. Nikopolidis 2 10 3 1 33.3 0 0 0 0
  SUB G Ast SHTS SOG SOG% CK CR FC FS Off YC RC
I. Amanatidis +71 0 0 0 0 - 0 4 1 0 0 0 0
P. Antzas 0 0 0 0 - 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
A. Basinas 0 0 1 1 100.0 1 0 0 2 0 0 0
A. Charisteas 0 0 2 2 100.0 0 1 1 2 0 1 0
T. Dellas -71 0 0 1 0 0.0 0 1 0 1 0 0 0
T. Gekas -47 0 0 0 0 - 0 0 0 1 1 0 0
G. Karagounis 0 0 2 1 50.0 5 5 2 2 0 0 0
K. Katsouranis 0 0 0 0 - 0 0 1 1 0 0 0
S. Kyrgiakos 0 0 0 0 - 0 0 0 3 1 0 0
A. Nikopolidis 0 0 0 0 - 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
G. Samaras +47 0 0 0 0 - 0 1 2 0 0 0 0
G. Seitaridis 0 0 0 0 - 0 1 3 1 0 1 0
V. Torosidis 0 0 1 1 100.0 0 2 1 2 0 1 0

Sweden
  GA SHT SHT-OG Svs SPct PKF PKS YC RC
A. Isaksson 0 7 5 5 100.0 0 0 0 0
  SUB G Ast SHTS SOG SOG% CK CR FC FS Off YC RC
N. Alexandersson -75 0 0 0 0 - 0 3 0 1 0 0 0
Andersson D. 0 0 0 0 - 0 0 3 0 0 0 0
J. Elmander +72 0 0 0 0 - 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
P. Hansson 1 0 2 1 50.0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0
Z. Ibrahimovic -72 1 0 3 1 33.3 0 2 4 1 0 0 0
A. Isaksson 0 0 0 0 - 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
H. Larsson 0 1 1 0 0.0 0 3 3 0 0 0 0
F. Ljungberg 0 0 1 1 100.0 0 0 0 2 1 0 0
O. Mellberg 0 0 0 0 - 0 1 0 1 0 0 0
M. Nilsson 0 0 1 0 0.0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0
M. Rosenberg +79 0 0 0 0 - 0 0 2 1 0 0 0
F. Stoor +75 0 0 0 0 - 0 0 0 1 0 0 0
A. Svensson 0 0 1 0 0.0 6 2 2 0 0 0 0
C. Wilhelmsson -79 0 0 1 0 0.0 0 6 0 2 1 0 0

Goalkeepers
GAGoals Allowed
SHTShots Faced
SHT-OGShots on Goal Faced
SvsSaves
SPctSave Pct.(Percentage)
PKFPenalty Kicks Faced
PKSPenalty Kicks Saved
YCCautions/Yellow Cards
RCRed Cards
Players
GGoals
SHTSShots
SOGShots on Goal
SOG%Shots on Goal %
CKCorner Kicks
CRCrosses
FCFouls Committed
FSFouls Suffered
YCCautions/Yellow Cards
RCRed Cards
AstAssists
OffOffsides
SUBSubstitution
s3 © 2009 by STATS LLC.
Any commercial use or distribution without the express written consent of STATS LLC is strictly prohibited.