Greece enter semifinals after beating France

Determined Greece stunned the defending champions France with a 1-0 victory in the quarter-finals of the European soccer championship in Lisbon on June 26.

Angelos Charisteas sent Greece into rapture with a 65th minute header to finish off a fine cross from Greece skipper Theogoros Zagorakis.

Flicking the ball over defender Bixente Lizarazu, the Greece playmaker Zagorakis stormed down the right and sent a curling cross to the unmarked Charisteas, who headed home into the top right-hand corner.

Greece enters semifinals after beating France

Goalscorer Charisteas was inspired with their performance. "Tonight we really showed what we can do, " said Charisteas. "We played the best team in the world, and we beat them. "

"We've shown Greece deserves to be exactly where it is. This had nothing to do with luck. Now we have to calm down and see what the stage brings. We've made it here - now everything is possible."

"We have a very good team and, for me, our qualification for the semi-finals is the greatest moment in Greek football history, " added he.

France captain Zinedine Zidane had nothing but a yellow card from the match when the Real Madrid midfielder tackled down Georgios Karagounis from behind just before the match.

Greece were lively and keen to work hard for the whole match asthey almost outplayed France in the first half. The Greek eleven came close to taking a lead on 15 minutes when Konstantinos Katsouranis steered a Karagounis's free-kick towards French goalkeeper Barthez, who blocked the ball on the goalline with a little help from his post.

"We were just rushing forwards, and that was not the best way to go about it. It's a big disappointment. We had hoped to get to the final, " said France's head coach Jacques Santini.

"Greece deserved to score in the first half, but in the second half it was the other way around.

"There was too much wasted technique, and at the end of the game we lacked lucidity. We came up against a very tightly-knit defence. "

France came out strong in the second period and threatened withseveral chances, especially a late Thierry Henry header but Greeceheld firm until the 65th minute when their counter-attack finishedin a 1-0 lead.

In the later match, the title holders looked shiftless with theGreek's solid defense. They failed to level the game before Greece celebrated a place in the last four.

Greece, who earlier stunned Portugal 2-1 in the opening game, will play the winner of the match between Czech Republic and Denmark. Enditem

LISBON, June 25 (Xinhuanet) -- Following are the match statistics for the Euro 2004 quarter-final match between France and Greece onFriday:

France vs. Greece match statistics

FRANCE GREECE

0 Goals 1

0 Halftime score 0

3 Corners 3

0 Offsides 1

24 Fouls 14

2 Yellow cards 2

0 Red cards 0

15 Free kicks 23

7 Shots on target 5

6 Shots off target 0

0 Shot hit post/bar 0

4 Saves by goalkeeper 4

0 Goalline clearances 0

57% Possession 43%

Referee: Anders Frisk (Sweden)

Venue: Lisbon, Jose Alvalade Stadium

Attendance: 45,390

Source: Xinhua