Greece forward Dimitris Salpigidis believes that his country can be proud despite their Euro 2012 elimination.
The 2004 winners exited this year's championships following a 4-2 defeat at the hands of Germany in Gdansk tonight.
Salpigidis, who scored a late consolation for his side from the penalty spot, insists that Greece's players gave their all.
"When we conceded a second goal we had to open up and that cost us," said the PAOK playmaker. "I hope the Greeks got some encouragement from watching us fighting.
"We scored twice. We did what we could."
Defender Sokratis Papastathopoulos added: "Maybe we could have been a bit more careful but we fought hard, we fought for the whole of Greece.
"We made it to the last eight and this is very important."
Greece have been drawn alongside Bosnia and Herzegovina, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania and Slovakia in their qualifying group for World Cup 2014.
Robert Summerscales
