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Salzburg, Austria: Greece's four-year reign as European champions officially ended on Saturday after a 1-0 loss to Russia eliminated the team from the tournament.
The Greeks needed at least a draw to stay in contention in Group D, but Konstantin Zyryanov's 33rd-minute goal, combined with Spain's 2-1 win over Sweden, left the surprise 2004 champions with nothing to play for in their third and final match. The result also put Spain into the European Championship quarterfinals.
Zyryanov's third international goal in 14 appearances came after Sergei Semak had acrobatically collected a long cross from Diniyar Bilyaletdinov and sent it back across goal, with goalkeeper Antonis Nikopolidis chasing the loose ball.
Miracle
"That's football," Greece coach Otto Rehhagel said.
"The Russians were very fast. That's it."
Greece nearly equalised in the 87th when Angelos Charisteas knocked the ball into an empty net, but Fanis Gekas had been whistled for offside.
Spain lead Group D with six points, and are assured of playing in the knockout round no matter what happens against Greece on Wednesday in Salzburg. Russia and Sweden play at the same time in Innsbruck with one of the two advancing. Greece became the fourth defending champion to be eliminated from the first round of the European Championship.
Germany was knocked out at the same stage in both the 1984 and 2000 tournaments, and Denmark followed up its remarkable run to the title in 1992 by going out in the first round in '96.
"Back in 2004, a miracle happened, but that happens maybe every 30 years," Rehhagel said. "Otherwise, if it happened every week, it wouldn't be a miracle."
The Greeks dropped their five-man defence from the opening match in favour of a more attacking formation. And even though the defenders were playing far more forward than usual, the Greeks failed to create any great opportunities to score in the first half.
"We played a lot better than we played against Sweden," Rehhagel said. The introduction of Giorgos Karagounis for the injured Giourkas Seitaridis late in the first half sparked some more forward movement, but most of Greece's chances were barely a threat to Russia and their goalkeeper Igor Akinfeyev.
"We couldn't convert our chances," Rehhagel said. "We had a couple but couldn't score - that's the problem with Greek football. We're not a team that scores many goals. I had hoped we could score one tonight but it didn't happen."
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