Euro 2004 (1 Viewer)

[Steve Christou]

YAY! GO GREECE GO!

Who would have predicted this?

One game left, and, as already proven... anything can happen!

 

[Yee-Ming]

Thanks for the explanations Mark and Cees!


While I agree the golden goal rule was dumb, silver's not so bad; in a sense, if the first period of extra time remains scoreless, there's in effect no rule change at play when playing the second. Perhaps the real effect is that in the latter parts of both periods, both teams get cautious to avoid losing, instead of just the second period without the silver-goal rule.

As I was saying to friends, Rehhagel is a genius. He's taken a team without any recognised superstars, beaten the hosts, the favourites, the new favourites, and into the final. Well done!

 

[Haggai]

This is really astonishing. After knocking off France and the Czech steamroller, Greece is on the verge of winning it all. It would surely be even more of a surprise than Denmark '92, which had the benefit of at least a couple of well-known players.

I thought the first half was quite evenly matched today, with both teams getting some good chances. Tough break for the Czechs, obviously, with Nedved having to come off. But most of the second half absolutely belonged to the Czechs. The Greeks were fortunate to weather the onslaught, wave afer wave of Czech scoring chances. The little one-two punch with Rosicky and Koller was magnificent, a golden chance that Koller punched wide. Greece did get a nice chance in the injury time, but they were pretty lucky to get to extra time.

Then they suddenly dominated the extra period. I was stunned by how quickly the fortunes switched. The winning goal was certainly reflective of which team got the better of things in the first extra period.

 

[Stevan Lay]

Full circle. We're now back to where we started from. The curtain raiser becomes the climax of the tournament. Who would've thought that?!?!

I'm hoping for a Portugal win (which means Greece will win considering the way I'm tipping)

 

[Jonathan White]

I don't agree with the above, Denmark were rank outsiders and didn't even qualify for the tournament, they only got there due to war breaking out in Yugoslavia. Greece might not have famous players outside of their country, but they have very strong club sides and were VERY close to knocking England out of the world cup qualifyer a few years ago (remember that England fans....when Beckham was good _

 

[Haggai]

Jonathan, I'd forgotten about Denmark's back-door qualification in '92, you're right about that. But weren't Schmeichel, and maybe Brian Laudrup, at least somewhat known outside Denmark at the time? Not that it necessarily counts for a lot.

 

[MickeS]

Laudrup was certainly a "name" at that point, but the danish team as a whole wasn't really expected to go anywhere when they "slipped" into the tournament in '92, IIRC.

Congratulations to the greeks! I worked with several greeks in Sweden and they always seemed to have such high hopes... it always broke my heart to see them get excited for football only to see their team get knocked out early. Hopefully this has made up for that!

I'm not really rooting for either team now - Greece has my sympathies as an underdog, but I also like when the hosting team lives up to the hopes and expectations of the home crowd. Still... I think it would be great with an upset win like having Greece win it all.

/Mike

 

[Haggai]

It would be quite an historic year for Portuguese football if they won the final. Well, it already has been, with Porto having won the Champions League, and being the host country for the European championships, but even more so in that scenario.

 

[Michael Alex]

Greece qualifying for the final has to be the greatest hoax in recent football history. The Czechs should have scored at least three times in regular time AND they were denied a clear penalty by a very biased (throughout the match) referee. Not to mention that they were one of the best teams in the entire tournament.
The Greek side, on the other hand, have displayed minimal individual talent, zero creativity and a remarkable ability to destroy their opponents' offensive play thanks to the use of 9 defensively-oriented players. Their style of play harkens back to the Italian style of past decades which, thankfully, the majority of today's teams has abandoned.
Anyway I hope the side who has traditionally displayed what "real" football is about wins the final.

 

[Cees Alons]

That man, only just recovering from a heart-attack, is Steve Christou.

OK, Steve, congratulations!


Cees

 

[Stevan Lay]

I wonder what the Russians are thinking NOW?!?!?

Russia had beaten Greece in their Group A match but were defeated comprehensively by Spain & Portugal. They had beaten the 2004 Euro Champions.

Congratulations GREECE!!

 

[Steve Christou]

Cheers Cees. Un-fookin-believable!!

Greece 1 - 0 Portugal

Greece wins the European Championship. Yeah!!

I hope that's shut up some of the Greece haters on this thread.

 

[Haggai]

Wow, congratulations Greece, this is astonishing! The Greeks are undoubtedly in the midst of their biggest national celebration since...uh...let's see...the fall of Troy?

This really might be even more surprising than Denmark '92. Jonathan White mentioned on the last page that they had slipped into the finals through the backdoor when Yugoslavia was banned, but I'd forgotten (until the BBC announcers recalled during the game today) that there were only 8 countries who qualified for the finals in that tournament, as opposed to 16 now (starting in '96). And Greece had never even won a single match in a World Cup or Euro finals, ever, until now. Truly remarkable.

 

[Xenia Stathakopoulou]

Steve and me are probably the 2 of the happiest people in the world right now.WE ARE THE EURO 2004 CHAMPIONS YEAHHHHHHHHHHHHH !

 

[Steve Christou]

Yep, the Fourth of July will no longer be known as just an American holiday, but as the day we Greeks declared in one voice: "We will not go quietly into the night! We will not vanish without a fight!" We're going to play on! We're going to win! Today we celebrate winning... the European Championship!"

 

[Jonathan White]

Well done Greece

 

[Xenia Stathakopoulou]

You have to wonder though, if winning the cup will put us in the top 10 uefa world rankings.I remember when Denmark won it in 92 they made the top 10.

 

[Jonathan White]

Who cares if you make it into the top ten, you are the champions of Europe.

 

[Stevan Lay]

Basically, the best team of the tournament won. The best team of the tournament who played as a team, executed their strategies, tactics, and game plan as a team lifted the trophy. Kudos to Greece.

 

[Haggai]

The Czech Republic/Greece semi left me with the obvious conclusion that the Czechs were a better team, but I would still say that the Greeks earned their victory and deserved their championship.