Euro 2008 Lazy Liveblog: Greece vs Spain

GROUP D	June 18th, 2045 CET, Salzburg (Austria)
Greece 1 VS Spain 2 Charisteas 42′   De La Red 61′, Guiza 88′

FINAL: Spain goes 3-0-0, but only just. The backups take out the three-loss Greeks, 2-1. On to the quarters with Italy.

88′: Guiza gets the second for Spain, and this one is cooked. Dani plays Villa, with a nice header across the keeper.

83′: Some misses back and forth, mostly from Dani Guiza, who is not convincing anyone of a spot taking over for Torres or Villa.

76′: De la Red wants another, but he’s well wide with his driven shot.

73′: Guiza puts a great cross past the Greek goal, but there’s no finishing man.

71′: Greece lines up a free kick, and its taken poorly to the foot of the wall. If you’re a Greek player putting in a free kick, you should know instinctively to go for the head. That’s how you’ve always won in the past.

61′: SPAIN Equalizes. De La Red with the goal, a lovely laser right over Nikopolidis’ head.

59′: Iniesta is off, and this is officially a 100% backup team.

54′: Spain very nearly gets their equalizer, as Clooney is beaten to the post, but it’s off the post and across the goal again. A lifeline for Greece’s lead.

48′: In case there’s anyone left watching this one, Arschavin just made it 2-0 to Russia.

Short technical note : Apparently, the goal videos we’ve been posting are invisible to Internet Explorer users … and since there are still some of those left … we’re looking for new vids. As soon as I find something on the Charisteas goal, I’ll post it.

HALFTIME: The Greeks have control, and they will likely sit on it. It’s up to Spain’s backups to break them down.

45′: Karagounis goes down, looking like he took a finger in the eye. The Spaniards need to settle down with the dissent too, because a dumb red card here and their chances of coming off the bench for Spain are not good at all.

43′: Yellow for Arbeloa as well. Not a great day for the Spanish reserves.

42′: The GREEKS SCORE! Their first goal of the tournament comes from the hero of Portugal, Charisteas. That’s a bit of honor for the Greeks.

41′ : Yellow for Dani Guiza, who pushes off of a Greek defender. Was that one actually for his dive? If so, good for the ref … but I don’t think so.

37′: Another set piece opportunity for Spain. On the quick pass over and shot, Nikopolidis dives to his left and has the net covered. Shot is wide regardless. Garcis has a great chance off of a pass from Fabregas but can’t finish the flick over Clooney.

34′ : Spain comes close through a free kick of their own, but nothing doing. The Greeks counter, but do so rather weakly.

32′: Spain goes close through Sergio Garcia, but he’s well wide. The move was solid, though, and hopefully we’ll see something resembling some action if this keeps up.

27′: Greece with a promising attack down the wing. Can he turn it? He cannot. Still ultimately no teeth for Greece.

24′ : Nikopolidis almost breaks his hip knocking sideways into the upright. Careful, old man.

21′: Almost a lovely bicycle kick from a Greek forward, but he wisely stops short, since a full extension would have likely killed his defender.

13′: One thing I’ll say for Greece - they’ve been winning promising set pieces. And that’s a winning strategy for them in the past.

9′: Another Greek free kick. The backup Spain defense clears it well. This might be the meat of the game, though the Spanish attack should put a stamp on it at some point.

4′ : Charisteas is fouled, setting up a 34m free kick. Pepe Reina is more than equal to the deflection.

1′ : We’re underway. I’ll try to keep up with the major events in this one.

-10′ : Fun fact of the day - Giorgios Karagounis is on five career Euro yellow cards, and one more will make him the all time leader in Euro yellow. Reach for the stars, Giorgios.

Spain has done Holland one better in terms of resting players. Only Iniesta returns from the starting eleven that took out Sweden, and Premiership fans can watch with interest as Fabregas, Reina and Arbeloa get starts for the Spaniards.

-20′: We have our squads, and they are as follows:
Greece: Nikopolidis, Vyntra, Kyrgiakos, Dellas, Spyropoulos, Basinas, Karagounis, Katsouranis, Salpigidis, Charisteas, Amanatidis.
Subs: Chalkias, Tzorvas, Samaras, Giannakopoulos, Goumas, Antzas, Tziolis, Liberopoulos.

Spain: Reina, Arbeloa, Albiol, Juanito, Fernando Navarro, Sergio Garcia, De la Red, Alonso, Iniesta, Fabregas, Guiza.
Subs: Casillas, Palop, Capdevila, Marchena, Puyol, Villa, Xavi, Torres, Santi Cazorla, Senna, Silva.

-25′: We’re here for our second lazy liveblog, where I’ll be posting the major events from the matchup between Group D winners Spain and group losers Greece. Most eyes will be on the other match, but this should be a good chance to see Spain’s second tier of players, and see if Greece can salvage some honor from their unsuccessful title defense.