The EPIC Story of How Greece Won EURO 2004

it is often said that 2004 was the craziest year in football history from Porto winning the Champions League Valencia winning the UEFA cup and La Liga double Arsenal going Invincible Verda breman's German domestic double even San Marino won their only ever game it truly was the year of the underdog and the biggest fairy tale of 2004 was certainly Greece at the 2004 European championships however what they achieved was not random the Greeks were almost the perfect underdogs as all the right pieces fell into place 6 years earlier the Greeks had beaten Germany and the Netherlands on their way to the 1998 under 21s European championships final where they lost to Spain this was the basis of a golden generation as five members of that team were named in the squad for Euro 2004 Angelos caras had just won the double with Verde Breman whilst legendary Captain theodoras zagaris had won The League Cup with Leicester before returning to his homeland and six members of the Euro Squad were also part of the historic pan Nikos team who beat Arsenal and Barcelona on their way to the Champions League quarterfinals two years prior so this certainly wasn't a bad team however compared to the likes of Luis Figo Zinedine zidan Raul Franchesco totty Clarence sof David Beckham Michael ballak and pavl nfed Greece didn't have the star players that others at Euro 2004 did but the they did have Otto rogle the German manager had gained the reputation of a strict disciplinarian who had quite The Knack of Performing Miracles during the 80s and early '90s he took Verde Breman from a mid-table side who had just bounced back from relegation to a legitimate German Powerhouse winning multiple Bundesliga titles cups and the European Cup winners cup but his most remarkable achievement before becoming the manager of the Greek national team was his time at Kaiser slon there he won the German second division title in his first season and in his second the Bundesliga when he took over the Greek national team in 2001 his first message to the players was that the national team came first with Greek football being so divided by bitter rivalries rare hoga was Keen to instill a strong level of unity King Otto quickly achieved this as Greece finished first in their qualification group ahead of a great young Spain team and Ukraine's golden generation but the Greeks came into Euro 2004 about 150 to one nobody even expected them to get out the groups when they were once again drawn against the Spanish a strong Russian team and the hosts Portugal who occupy the other side of this story the Portuguese were in the midst of a golden generation of their own with one of the world's best players in LS Figo and the Wonder kid of the time Cristiano Ronaldo not to mention heroes from their run to the semi-finals of Euro 2000 including the legendary ruy Costa Nuno Gomez Who scored four goals at that tournament and one of Leon's best players at the time Peta Deco minisha Ricardo carvalo Nuno Valente Paulo Ferrera and costina were all members of Porto's Champions League winning team and they filled out the rest of the squad to top it all off they had recruited Felipe Scolari as manager who was fresh off winning the World Cup for Brazil two years prior and with Portugal hosting the tournament many people expected the country's footballing coronation however the beautiful game is really that simple Euro 2004 opened at the newly built estadio DOA in PTO as the hosts welcomed Greece Portugal were confident of an easy start but that expectation Came Crashing Down When goros kagunes smashed one in from 25 yards with the score 1 n at halftime scalari introduced Cristiano Ronaldo for his competitive International debut a decision which backfired as the future balandor winner gave away a penalty Angelos binz tucked the ball into the top corner to give Greece a 2-n Advantage however it wasn't all bad for Ronaldo as he headed home a consolation goal from a corner Felipe Scolari's preference for his Brazilian compatriot Deco over a Portuguese icon like ruy Costa was very controversial however the naturalized playmaker showed his class when he assisted manisha's opening goal in the next game against Russia before the debate was again brought into focus when ruy Costa came off the bench and scored a late goal the game ended 2-n and the Portuguese fears were eased if anything their biggest issue was fitting all this incredible Talent into a team of 11 players in their second game Greece proved they were no fluke as Angelos caros scored to secure a hardfought 1-1 draw against Spain which meant they only needed a draw against Russia to qualify for the next round however disaster struck when the Russians went 2-n up within 17 minutes meanwhile in the other game Portugal knew that victory over their Iberian rival Spain would secure top spot and with the scores level at halftime scalari brought on Euro 2000 hero Nuno Gomez who scored a great goal to secure a 1-nil win zez RZ managed to pull a goal back for Greece but the game ended in defeat many Greek players thought they were eliminated however they were actually level with Spain on points goal difference and head-to-head records meaning they progressed due to the fact they had scored four goals to Spain's two which means that that single goal against Russia is perhaps the most important goal for a losing team of all time because if they hadn't scored Greece would have been eliminated on goal difference the reward for Greece in the quarterfinals just a small matter of the European Champions France many in the Greek Camp were probably very worried but otter rogle told his team that they had nothing to lose that they had already won because here they were playing in The Knockouts France on the the other hand did have something to lose and Patrick Vieira admitted that this French team could struggle mentally when overlooking the Lesser sides Sagal two years prior at the World Cup a prime example and this is exactly how it played out France created chances but failed to take them then suddenly in the 65th minute Greece Captain theodoros zagorakis crossed the ball into the box Angelos car scored with a thumping header to send the Champions packing a historic Victory and Greece were in into the semifinals meanwhile Portugal would play one of the games of the tournaments as they faced England's Garden Generation spearheaded by the breakout star of the tournament in Wayne Rooney however it was his strike partner Mel Owen who opened the scoring after some poor defending in a nightmare start for the Portuguese before disaster struck for the English as Rooney broke a bone in his foot and had to be substituted England continued to come forward as Portugal struggled to create me ful chances until late in the game where two substitutes simu and Helder Pasa combined for The Equalizer then in the last minute s Campo scored for England only for the ref to roll it out for an alleged foul and signal for extra time then it was Portugal's turn to think they had the game W as ruy Costa scored one of the goals of his career before Frank Lampard sent the game to penalties just 5 minutes later but the drama didn't end there as both David Beckham and ruy Costa missed their spot kicks due to a dodgy penalty spot as the shootout headed into sudden death Portugal keeper Ricardo took off his gloves and became the most unlikely of Heroes saving Darius vel's penalty and then smashing in the winner himself an iconic moment in Euro's history as Portugal joined the Greeks in the semifinals with Germany Spain and Italy all exiting at the group stages before England and France went out in the quarterfinals Euro 2004 had a huge chance of an upset winner however at the time most people thought that would be the Czech Republic who had reached the final in 1996 they still had a few members of that Squad including the current balandor holder pavl nedved and to add to this a new golden generation of players had broken through petek would prove himself as one of the best Keepers in the world Thomas Ritz and yang CA had recently won the Bundesliga with Dortmund not to mention Milan baros who had been the star of the tourn tournament with five goals and two assists in just four games the Czechs had defeated both Germany and the Netherlands to top the group of death with a 100% record before smashing Denmark 3-0 in the quarterfinals they were without a doubt the best team at the tournament based on performances however in the semi-final they had The Misfortune of facing Greece in 2004 a fixture where form and logic seemingly go out the window the checks created chance after chance after chance but kept missing with many players having since spoken about how their own mentality defeated them and they hit rock bottom when their star player pavl nfed went off injured the Greeks rode their luck massively in this game but managed to force extra time where the silver go rule was in play and as fate would have it it was injury time in the first half of extra time where tranos deas scored what would become Greece's trademark goal the Czech Republic now had about a minute to respond which unsurprisingly they couldn't Greece had pulled off a miraculous achievement reaching the final of a competition they'd only qualified for once before on the other side of the draw Portugal faced the Netherlands in what would be a fairly routine Victory Cristiano Ronaldo opened the scoring from a deco Corner before a w strike from Manisha gave the Portuguese a nice Advantage as they sore out the game for a 2-1 win with an extra day's rest and no extra time played Portugal had every advantage and their expected coronation was just around the corner as Portugal and Greece walked out in a packed estadio Delo the stage for the Euro 2004 final was set a first time European Champion would be crowned as two Nations respective golden Generations came head to head as many finals are this was a kg game Portugal had learned their lesson from their first match they could not afford to give Greece the lead meanwhile the Greeks played their usual game a solid defensive structure patiently waiting for chances to score suddenly halftime had arrived and neither team had properly threatened however 12 minutes into the second half Portugal's nightmare became reality and it came through the most predictable of sources a corner from the right was met by the head of Angelos caras to give Greece the lead a goal that had become the Greek trademark at this tournament Not only was this a disaster for Portugal but it was one that they really should have avoided and now Portugal were desperate for a goal Cristiano Ronaldo had a go then Luis Figo had a go ruy Costa even went for the extraordinary and then suddenly Costa played Ronaldo through on goal Portugal had finally got behind the Greek defense alas this chance perhaps came a little too early in Cristiano's legendary career as a poor touch led to a desperate shot and with that Portugal's hopes went up in smoke despite being the second lowest ranked team at the beginning of the tournament Greece Were Somehow European Champions and as Greek players celebrated with their fans the entirety of the continent watched on in [Music] shock many celebrated with them however some were not so happy Henry Winter wrote in the telegraph that a tear rolled down the face of the beautiful game meanwhile the guardian described Greece as the only underdogs in history that everyone wanted to see get beaten but the Greeks did not care in fact they took pride in it Upon returning to Athens the Greek players were received as gods they knew they hadn't played the most Heavenly of football but they won so they did not care equally it must be recognized that beauty is in the eye of the beholder for some people tikit taka might be the most beautiful football but for me a story like Greece at Euro 2004 that is football at its most beautiful football that can inspire a nation to dream otter Rago had the perfect game plan for his team and implemented a recipe for success and after the tournament he was nicknamed racles upon referring to Heracles the son of Zeus in Greek mythology for all of Greece's Delight we have to look at the other side of the story to Portugal's despair because there is one final Untold chapter of this tale as a tear rolled down the cheek of a 19-year-old Cristiano Ronaldo it represented the collective sorrow of a Nation dealing with the biggest footballing disaster in their history their golden generation the fact they were hosting the tournament Porto's European success in the same season it was all supposed to be so different however Portugal's despair couldn't last forever they kicked on reaching the semi-finals of the 2006 World Cup and Euro 2012 but their relationship with Greece and the Euros was not over otter rogle remained in charge of the Greeks until 2010 and his successor was Portuguese manager Fernando Santos Santos like rare Hao became an honorary Grecian as he took them to the quarterfinals of Euro 2012 and their first ever World Cup knockout game in 2014 where they lost on penalties to Costa Rica and he left Greece and became the Portugal manager Euro 2016 was his first tournament in charge and for the Portuguese a familiar story played out however this time they occupied a different role after a poor start Portugal were written off but qualified for The Knockout rounds on goal scored just as Greece had done in 2004 they then took a page out of the Greek Odyssey in building their Journey to the final on defense throughout the tournament they won just a single match within 90 minutes with Fernando Santos inspired by otter rogo applying a strict disciplined game plan citing his time in charge of Greece as the perfect education for Euro 2016 Portugal went on to win the tournament 12 years on from 2004 defeating a French golden generation in their home Stadium just as Portugal's Garden generation had been defeated in their home stadium it was Socrates who said falling down is not failure failure comes when you stay where you have fallen Portugal had taken the Greek philosophy applied it to their game and that is how they achieved their greatest honor as Ronaldo's tears of Despair in 2004 turned to tears of delight in 2016 it was finally Portugal's turn to celebrate

Channel: 90+1 Football

Views: 33,658

Keywords: greece 2004, greece, football iconic, uefa european championship, uefa euros, oh my goal, logan paul soccer, european championships, ronaldo goals, ronaldo skills, winners, football, world cup, hitc sports, raymar football, uefa, goals, score, raymar, soccer, sports, football documentary, euro 2024, euros highlights, football highlights, ronaldo, cristiano ronaldo, cr7, portugal, Otto Rehhagel, charisteas, deco, rui costa, luis figo, rooney, nedved, czechia, czech republic, lyes bozidi

Id: B-usdgyw9WM

Length: 15min 10sec (910 seconds)

Published: Tue Jun 18 2024