GREECE needs answers very quickly to avoid a humbling early departure from the European Championship, a tournament it won four years ago.

Sweden’s Zlatan Ibrahimovic found his long-lost scoring touch and Greece fell victim to it, losing to Sweden 2-0 in Salzburg, Austria, on Tuesday night in the European Championship.

Ibrahamovic had no international goals since October 2005 before connecting with a powerful right-footed shot in the 67th minute for his 19th goal for Sweden. Petter Hansson scored five minutes later off a scramble misplayed by the Greek defense.

“The Greeks didn’t play with heart like they normally do, and the Swedes pushed us hard,” Greece’s German coach Otto Rehhagel said. “Some of my players were unable to play at the level I expected them to. … They tried hard, but it wasn’t enough.”

Greece, an 80-1 shot when it won the tournament in Portugal four years ago, started with seven players from that winning squad. But it showed little offense and never really threatened once if fell behind.

(SD-Agencies)