WARSAW, Poland — Shades of 2004.

Greece surged into the European Championship quarterfinals, defeating Russia 1-0 Saturday on a goal by Giorgos Karagounis shortly before halftime.

In another Group A match at Euro 2012, co-host Poland was eliminated when it lost 1-0 to the Czech Republic in Wroclaw.

The Czech Republic finished first after three Group A matches and Greece was runner-up in the four-team group. The bottom two teams in each group of four are eliminated from the tournament.

Karagounis, making his team-record-tying 120th international appearance, sent a low shot under goalkeeper Vyacheslav Malafeev with the final touch of the first half.

The Greeks, the 2004 European champions, then did what they do best: defend.

"This is a great night for all Greeks," Karagounis said.

For the Russians, it was a shocking early dismissal after they made the semifinals four years ago. Russia was the overwhelming choice going into the match, but it was guilty of squandering chances. The Russians finished the match with 25 shots while Greece managed five.

"We should have won by a wide margin tonight, but we didn't. My compliments to Greece," Russia manager Dick Advocaat said after the team's 16-match unbeaten run was snapped. "A number of players weren't sharp enough to score."

As the minutes ticked off, Greek fans sang their national anthem and some Russians lit flares before leaving the stadium.

Meanwhile, all it took was one strike from Czech midfielder Petr Jiracek in the 72nd minute to bring an end to the Euro 2012 dreams of 40 million Poles.

Major League Soccer

• Sebastien Le Toux, a former Sounders player, scored in the 80th minute as the host Vancouver Whitecaps beat Colorado 1-0. It was his first goal in an MLS match since April 18 against Sporting Kansas City.

Vancouver won despite playing a man down after striker Darren Mattocks was ejected in the 60th minute; he got two yellow cards. The Whitecaps (7-3-4) have surpassed their total of six victories from last season, their first in MLS.

Vancouver is third in the Western Conference with 25 points, one more than Seattle.

In other MLS matches, league-leading Real Salt Lake defeated Chivas USA 3-0; D.C. United beat Philadelphia 1-0, Sporting Kansas City blanked Toronto FC 2-0; Houston defeated FC Dallas 2-1 and New England and Columbus played to a scoreless draw.

Note

• Abby Wambach's 136th career goal for the U.S. women's team led the Americans past Sweden 3-1 in a tuneup for the London Olympics before 2,751 in Halmstad, Sweden.

Alex Morgan and Tobin Heath also scored for the Americans. U.S. goalkeeper Hope Solo, a former Washington Huskies standout from Richland, made five saves. Solo and Morgan are on the Sounders Women's roster.