Thousands of Greeks took to the streets Saturday evening to celebrate their national team's surprise 1-0 victory over Russia at Uefa Euro 2012™ .
The win lifted Greece into the quarterfinals of the tournament and brought back memories here of their unexpected accomplishment in 2004 when they won the trophy.
In every major square in the country thousands of Greeks had gathered to watch the match on large television screens and they broke out in loud cheers when veteran captain Giorgos Karagounis scored the only goal late in the first half.
"I thank God for letting us celebrate such moments," Karagounis told Greek television station ET after the
match in Warsaw. "We did not give up. We can compare this to our cherished moments in Portugal in 2004."
Poland coach Franciszek Smuda resigned after the Uefa Euro 2012™ co-host was eliminated from the championship on Saturday in a 1-0 defeat by the Czech Republic.
"This is 100 percent the end of the road. My contract runs out at the end of Euro 2012. Thanks guys," a visibly upset Smuda told Poland's public TVP broadcaster.
The Poles needed to win the game after drawing their first two matches but a 72nd minute strike by Petr Jiracek ended any hopes they had of reaching the last eight.
"We did our best. Unfortunately, we had a lot of missed passes. In the second period, we had to fight non-stop to get the ball back," said 63-year-old Smuda, who has been in charge since October 2009.
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