Sweden and Greece met in UEFA Euro 2008 match play in Salzburg's EM Stadion Wals-Siezenhaeim.
Greece is famous for its airtight defense with five defensive backs at time, and Sweden also has a strong back four. The playstyle was a sharp contrast to the wide-open Dutch match, or the Spain-Russia match played earlier that day.
Scoring chances in the first half were mainly the result of long lead passes and powerful personal efforts, as forwards tried to get behind the defense for shots.
The first half offered a lot of high-quality soccer, and several moments of excitement. In particular, the Swedish team got forward Zlatan Ibramhimovic free for a header at an open net, but the ball went just over the crossbar.
Both teams were waiting for the one or two excellent scoring chances that might come their way in the course of the match, and were not willing to press on offense, and this create an opening.
The Greek team was almost fanatical in eschewing offense for safety, sometimes not even following loose balls up the pitch. The Greek strategy was to frustrate the opposing team into making rash attacks and creating opening. However, Sweden was far too careful.
With one minute left in the half, Greek midfielder Angelos Basinas drove a bouncing shot at the right side of the Swedish net, almost fooling the Swedish keeper. Sweden drove back quickly, taking the ball deep into the Greek end, but no Swedish players could get to the header across the front of the Greek net, and the half ended with no score.
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