sweden spain register victories | Greece defeated

Coach Otto Rehhagel defended Greece’s cautious approach after their 2-0 Euro 2008 defeat by Sweden on Tuesday.



The champions fielded five defenders in a bid to keep Swedish strike pair Henrik Larsson and Zlatan Ibrahimovic quiet.

“If we had not played the way we played it would have been 5-0 against us in the first half,” Rehhagel told reporters.

Greece next meet Russia here on Saturday before completing their Group D campaign against Spain in Salzburg four days later and the German coach said defence would again be the cornerstone of his strategy.

“We do want to score goals as well but the truth is we don’t score many,” said Rehhagel, who led Greece to their surprise triumph in Portugal four years ago. “So we must secure the back first and then see whether we can score a goal on the break.

“You must understand we don’t have the offensive potential of the German team (for example).

“Some of my players failed to reach their full potential today. They tried but against such a strong and physical team it was just not enough.”

Ibrahimovic produced a glorious long-range strike in the 67th minute to record his first international goal for more than two and a half years before Petter Hansson doubled the lead five minutes later following a goalmouth scramble

Torres benched in spain's win

Spain coach Luis Aragones said every player in his squad is as important as the next despite hat-trick hero David Villa's match-winning performance in the 4-1 Euro 2008 Group D victory over Russia here.

Villa stole the headlines but Liverpool striker Fernando Torres also had a good game despite being hauled off just 10 minutes into the second half.


Aragones explained that decision was tactical and that everyone in his squad has their part to play during the tournament.

"I'm very happy with the whole group," he said. "Everyone is well aware how important everyone is from the people on the bench to those who score three goals.
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"I had to take someone off because we needed more insurance in the centre of the field.

"We are a team who are improving day by day in trying to achieve what we are all hoping for, which is why I'm a happy man."

Aragones defended his decision to withdraw Torres so soon.

"Torres has played a long, tough season and will be a very important player for us but in this moment we needed more strength in the centre of the pitch," he said.

"Their two midfielders, the 11 (captain Sergei Semak) and 14 (Roman Shirokov) were causing us problems.

"Fernando will be very important for the rest of the tournament and he was an important help for Villa to score that first goal and he gave a tough time to their defence.

"Villa is a striker and a scorer and he could even have scored more goals but it's the same with Fernando.

"We have the great fortune of having three forwards that can score goals but everyone knows that these goals come in streaks of good luck and (Tuesday) it was David, next time it could be Fernando."

click here to see the euro 2008 pic galary

Spain are known for being perennial under-achievers in big tournaments, often starting out among the favourites but flattering to deceive once things get down to the business end.