The 2004 European Championships: Greece shock the continent

By Thom Watt
Antonios Nikopolidis was an ever present for Greece in Euro 2004.SNS Group

The 12th European Championships were held in Portugal and offered the perfect opportunity for the host nation to flex their muscles.

The majority of the “golden generation” had been and gone, and a new team was coming to the fore, with Manchester United’s Cristiano Ronaldo taking centre-stage.

France had romped through qualifying, holding a perfect record in their quest to retain their title. In eight matches the French scored 29 goals and conceded just two, justifying their position as early tournament favourites.

The Czech Republic had been almost as impressive. Featuring a team that included Pavel Nedved, Tomas Rosicky and the towering Jan Koller, the Czechs were a force to be reckoned with. England had also qualified undefeated, drawing just two of their eight fixtures.

Denmark, Sweden, Bulgaria and Italy also topped their qualifying groups, while Germany finished ahead of Scotland to qualify. Switzerland were the surprise winners of Group 10, finishing ahead of Russia and Ireland.

Greece were also surprise qualifiers, finishing ahead of Spain and Ukraine to guarantee their place in the finals. The Greeks only scored eight goals in the whole of qualifying, a record only marginally better than the Faroe Islands, but based their tactics on a defence that was only breached four times.

Croatia beat Slovenia 2-1 in the playoffs, while Russia narrowly edged out Wales 1-0. Spain thrashed Norway 5-1, while there was a debut appearance from Latvia, who beat Turkey 3-2.

There were high hopes for Scotland after the first leg of their playoff with the Netherlands. James McFadden scored the only goal of the game at Hampden, giving Scotland something to defend in the away leg against a Dutch side that was on the brink of implosion. Sadly for Scotland, the Dutch pulled together at home, thrashing Scotland 6-0. The only mercy was that it wasn’t even worse.

The opening match of the tournament saw Portugal stunned by Greece. The Greeks were 2-0 up before the hour, and Portugal only got a consolation goal deep into injury time. Spain’s win against Russia meant the hosts were in danger of elimination after the first round of games.

Portugal were significantly better in the second match, beating Russia 2-0, while Greece kept up their excellent record with a 1-1 draw against Spain. Nuno Gomes’ goal in the Iberian derby confirmed Portugal’s place in the quarter-finals, meaning Spain were eliminated even though Russia beat Greece.

England began the tournament well, taking the lead against France. David Beckham missed a penalty, but with seconds remaining the match was won. What England didn’t count on was Zinedine Zidane. In the first minute of injury time he was given a free-kick on the edge of the box, which was placed past David James. Seconds later and Thierry Henry was felled by David James and Zidane won the match from the penalty spot.

Croatia and Switzerland drew their opener, and England got themselves back on track thanks to a virtuoso performance from Wayne Rooney in a 3-0 win over the Swiss. France were held to a 2-2 draw with Croatia, who were dispatched 4-2 by Rooney and co in the final group match. France beat Switzerland 3-1 in the final group match to qualify as winners.

There was a shock in Group C as Italy were knocked out in at the first hurdle. Denmark held the Italians in their opening game, before a stunning Zlatan Ibrahimovic goal rescued a 1-1 draw in the second match. Sweden and Denmark had both recorded thumping wins over Bulgaria, meaning that the Scandinavian sides would qualify with a draw in their final game. Sweden and Denmark drew 2-2 to send Italy home.

Group D involved the Czech Republic, Netherlands, Germany and Latvia, who must have felt they were being fed to the lions. The Czechs recovered from a goal down to beat Latvia in their opening match, while the Netherlands and Germany played out a 1-1 draw. Latvia recorded arguably the biggest result in their history by holding Germany to a 0-0 draw, while the Czechs and the Dutch played out an absolutely classic 3-2 win for the latter.

With qualification open to all four sides, only the victors of the final matches could be guaranteed progression, Michael Ballack gave Germany the lead against the Czech Republic, but Marek Heinz and Milan Baros sent the Germans out at the group stage for the first time in 20 years. The Netherlands crushed Latvia 3-0 to join the Czechs in the quarter-finals.

Jan Koller and Milan Baros scored to help the Czech Republic reach the semi-finals at the expense of Denmark, while the Netherlands needed penalties to dispose of a stubborn Swedish team.

England and Portugal also needed penalties to separate them. Michael Owen gave England a lead within the first five minutes, but Helder Postiga equalised seven minutes from time, after almost constant pressure from Portugal. Rui Costa’s drive looked to have put Portugal through, but Frank Lampard equalised to take the game to penalties.

David Beckham and Rui Costa missed in the shootout, but the gloveless Portuguese goalkeeper Eduardo scored his sudden-death strike as Darius Vassell missed. The hosts were through to the semi-final.

Greece suffocated the holders, France, to eliminate them at the quarter-final stage. Otto Rehhagel’s men packed the midfield, starved Zidane of possession and exploited the holes left by the injured Patrick Vieira to carve out a 1-0 win thanks to Angelos Charisteas.

The Greeks continued their fine form into the semi-final, beating the highly fancied Czech Republic. Tomas Rosicky hit the crossbar, Antonios Nikopolidis made umpteen last-gasp saves, Karel Poborsky fired just too high and Traianos Dellas scored in extra time to take Greece to the final.

It would be a repeat of the opening match, as Portugal saw off the challenge of the Netherlands. Cristiano Ronaldo gave Portugal the lead, Maniche doubled that lead, only for Jorge Andrade’s own goal to give the Dutch some hope. Still, the Portuguese marched on.

Expectation was that the Portuguese would have learned their lesson from the opening fixture, when they were caught cold by Greece. Far from attempting anything tactically adventurous to oppose such a notion, Rehhagel stuck with the same stodgy, percentage-based football that had taken Greece this far and again found Portugal unable to cope. Charisteas scored the only goal of the game just before the hour mark and then Greece put up the shutters.

Despite only qualifying for their third major world competition, the Greeks had conquered Europe with tactical discipline, a game plan and an unparalleled belief in the power of the collective.

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