2004 Portugal

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Portugal 2004

The twelfth European Championship, was held in Portugal, involving 16 teams, and has been highly regarded as the best Euro Championship of all, due to the high level of football being played. Having only a population of 10 million, Portugal hosting the finals could prove a major breakthrough, as the smaller nations usually fail to meet UEFAs requirements. It is not yet known, if Portugal has managed to pay off their massive investment, as the new stadiums built are not often full during the Portugese domestic season.

Expect the Unexpected

The first game saw the hosts, Portugal losing to unfancied Greece, 2-1, with Theodoros Zagorakis scoring the first goal in the seventh minute, after Paulo Ferreira made a poor mistake. The group stages has provided many shocks, including Greece finishing second ahead of Spain, and Germany went out in the group of death, featuring The Czechs, The Netherlands, and Latvia.

The Italians controversially knocked out by the Scandinavians

Another casualty were The Italians. The final group games saw Italy against Bulgaria, a game they must win. The winner between Sweden or Denmark will top the Group. But a score draw of 2-2 or higher, will see both the Scandinavian countries through to the second stage.

Italy narrowly beating Bulgaria 2-1, thanks to Antonio Cassano late injury time winner. However Mattias Jonson 89th minute equaliser against Denmark, ended the game at 2-2. Sweden, Denmark and Italy all finished on 5 points, with goal difference of all three nations at 0, the group was decided by the amount of goals scored between them. Sweden topped the group with 3, Denmark had 2, with Italy losing out with 1.

The 2-2 draw seems to be suspicious. As this was the only result which could knock Italy out of the competition. Italian goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon, were amongst those who accused Sweden and Denmark of match fixing.

However, if anyone saw the match between Sweden and Denmark, would understand that there is little conspiracy behind the match. The game was played at a very high tempo, with both teams playing to win the match. Denmark were leading at 2-1 but still were looking for a third goal. It is believed to be very differcult to fix a match, when two teams played out of their skins to win it. Sweden and Denmark were never penalised for the 2-2 draw

Greece's shocking wins against France, Czechs and Portugal (again)

The knockout stages had some classic games, including Portugal beating England on penalties. The game drew 1-1 after full time, and 2-2 after extra time. The biggest shock was holders France lost 1-0 to Greece, who will play The Czechs in the semi finals. Czech Republic has been the most outstanding team of the tournament. They have beaten The Netherlands in the group stages 3-2, whilst being 2-0 down at one point. They also beat Denmark rather convincingly in the quarter finals 3-0.

Greece's Traianos Dellas made history, as he was the first player to activate the Silver goal rule, by scoring in the 115 minute against The Czech Republic. This didnt allow The Czechs to reply in the second half of extra time, and had to bow out of the competition.

The final saw the repeat of the first game, Portugal vs Greece. Angelos Charisteas 57th header proves to be decisive, as Greece took their first football honour in their history.