miracle
We have a lot to thank Greece for – democracy, Olympics, moussaka, and of course great package holidays at affordable prices!
Football? No, the Greeks were never taken too seriously in football. But something strange happened in the summer of 2004.
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No one really considered the possibility of them winning Euro 2004 and why would they? It was their first European Championship since 1980 and their last major tournament appearance came in the 1994 World Cup which saw them lose all their group matches. They hadn’t even scored at a major tournament before.
But this was a tournament like no other. Germany, Spain and Italy were knocked out at the group stage, while France started the defence of their title with a crazy victory over England. However, Les Bleus never truly got going.
And this paved the way for one of football’s great underdog stories as Greece outwitted the superstars of European football to lift the Henri Delaunay trophy 16 years ago today.
The journey didn’t start in Portugal, however. The hiring of German Otto Rehhagel, who had achieved decent things in management including three Bundesliga titles (one of them with a newly-promoted Kaiserslautern side in 1998), sparked something of a silent revolution.
You may be familiar with one of his first matches in charge of the Greek national side, it came in the final match of their 2002 World Cup qualifying campaign, a creditable draw against England.
David Beckham’s stunning late free-kick, which guaranteed England’s automatic qualification for the World Cup, understandably stole the headlines. At the time, it was seen as a match where Beckham bailed a poor England side out but hindsight shows us that it was actually a decent result for the Three Lions.
Greece were long out of contention to make it into South Korea and Japan by then so attentions immediately turned to their bid to qualify for Euro 2004.
The continent should have taken more notice of what was happening as Greece went on a six-game winning streak to finish top of their qualifying group, forcing Spain to make it to Portugal via the play-offs.
Onto Euro 2004 – bearing in mind Athens was the host city for the summer Olympics that year so this football tournament would merely have been treated as the warm-up act in an exciting sporting schedule.
“The target was to win a game,” claims a member of Greece’s squad Vasilis Tsiartas, as quoted by ESPN. Well it was mission accomplished on matchday one as they caused an almighty upset against the host nation, winning 2-1 at Porto’s Estadio Do Dragao.
Giorgos Karagounis capitalised on a mistake at the back to give them a first-half lead and Angelos Basinas’ penalty doubled their advantage. A late Cristiano Ronaldo header wasn’t enough to spare Portugal’s star-studded squad’s blushes.
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In the other Group A game, Spain got past Russia and the two victors would face each other in the second round of matches.
Would Spain learn the lesson they suffered at Greece’s hands from qualifying? Not quite. Fernando Morientes put them in front but Angelos Charisteas earned Greece a vital point and now the knockout stages were tantalisingly close.
A 2-1 defeat to the Russians in their final match had Rehhagel and co sweating as they needed Portugal to do them a favour against Spain. Nuno Gomes’ strike gave Portugal the win and Greece squeezed into the last eight… on goals scored!
There was clearly something in the air at that tournament with a number of unlikely stories developing.
Wayne Rooney became a star with braces in England’s victories over Switzerland and Croatia, while also giving French defenders Lilian Thuram and Mikael Silvestre the run-around in Lisbon.
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Sweden and Denmark went through in Group C at Italy’s expense – cue the conspiracy cries from the Italian camp as the Scandinavian sides played out a draw in their final group match. UEFA rightly dismissed the match-fixing allegations. If you look at Jon Dahl Tomasson’s opener, you’ll see you can’t possibly plan that…
And perhaps the biggest shock came in Group D as 2002 World Cup finalists Germany, a team that usually gets it spot on at major tournaments, were sent home early having not won a game – not even against Latvia! Czech Republic and the Netherlands finished first and second with arguably the best game of the tournament seeing the Czechs come back from 2-0 down to beat Dick Advocaat’s side 3-2.
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So onto the quarter-finals and the first knockout match saw Portugal beat England on penalties – the Three Lions losing in a shootout being the only predictable part of Euro 2004.
Finishing ahead of Spain was a great achievement for Greece but the Spaniards had a reputation for flopping at tournaments back then. Surely France, the European champions, wouldn’t fall foul of a team that didn’t boast a single world-class player?
Well, despite their reputation for getting behind the ball, Greece somewhat took the game to France with their ‘controlled offensive’ tactics (more on that later) as Kostas Katsouranis’ shot was nearly fumbled over the line by Fabien Barthez. Barthez was called into action again when he pushed Takis Fyssas’ lob over the bar.
But 20 minutes into the second half, a good run by Theodoros Zagorakis saw him find space down the right; he picked out Charisteas with a cross and his bullet header gave Greece the lead.
It was a nervous final few minutes, and yes, Thierry Henry was uncharacteristically wasteful that night but the scenes at the final whistle would pull on the heartstrings of any football romantic. Rehhagel, the players and the staff celebrated like they’d won the tournament. That would come in nine days though.
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Up next were the Czechs, the form team of the tournament. They’d have felt very confident having dispatched Denmark 3-0 in the quarter-finals. Greece did a number on them though.
Marek Jankulovski had three good chances, Tomas Rosicky hit the bar, Milan Baros accidentally blocked Jan Koller's goalbound effort, Koller spurned a glorious chance and then Baros missed a sitter. Greece took their only chance.
A corner from the right was met by Traianos Dellas in the last minute of the first period of extra-time. But this was the first and only tournament where UEFA had a ‘silver goal’ rule in place. The game would end if a team was winning at the end of the half. In short, the goal was timed to perfection and Greece were one win away from conquering Europe.
Some might call it luck but Greece’s path to the final and then winning the tournament had a method to it, with Rehhagel making full use of the tools he had.
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Journalist Aidan Williams, who watched Greece win Euro 2004 in wonder, simplified the complex tactics that were employed by Rehhagel.
"Essentially it was strong defence, nullify the opposition, flood the midfield and attack on the break. They won each game with almost identical goals; crosses from the side headed in, all 1-0, all very much the same way," Williams told talkSPORT.com.
Rehhagel will never be viewed as one of the elite names in management despite achieving arguably the most surprising result at a major tournament but Williams explains why it all came up trumps for him and Greece.
"It’s not just about being a great manager, it’s about being the right manager at the right place, at the right time and I think Rehhagel was that for Greece,” Williams added.
"He’s not a Guardiola-type, it was controlled offensives. Strong heading of the ball at the back and powerful attackers, which is done through attacking on the width.
"It’s the ideal style of management for teams that are up against it. It’s for teams that don’t have the skill of France, Czech Republic and Portugal. It’s strongly criticised of course but what is a team like Greece supposed to do? Try and attack and get picked off constantly and lose or should they try to win the tournament?”
Win the tournament they did as Greece humiliated Portugal once again, Charisteas heading home a corner from the right to make their nation rejoice.
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Many didn’t though. Greece were the underdogs everyone loved in the beginning but ended up becoming one of the least popular winners of a major tournament.
The Guardian’s report of the final said Greece were “the only underdogs in history who everyone wants to see get beaten.” Meanwhile, the Daily Telegraph’s report said “a tear flowed down the face of the beautiful game.”
Fortunately, not everyone saw it this way. Portuguese legend Eusebio showed a moment of pure class, giving Rehhagel a warm embrace as the winners’ medals were handed out.
The snobs of football will discredit Greece till the cows come home but Williams aptly explains why they deserve to be glorified just as much as any other European champions: "If it was so easy, lots of teams would be doing it and winning tournaments."