On the pitch, Greece was the winner of Euro 2004. But the best performers in the three-week tournament may have been the fans.
Not once during the 31 games did patriotism spill over into ugly scenes despite a series of nerve-wracking games between age-old rivals. Hooliganism, so long the scourge of the game in Europe, never had a direct impact, making Euro 2004 the most incident-free continental championship in two decades.
”Forca, Forca,” — ”go for it” in Portuguese — fans from both countries shouted in unison at the sold-out 65 000-seat Stadium of Light on a balmy Sunday night.
When it was over, Greek fans went delirious with joy after scoring the biggest upset in European Championship history with a 1-0 win over the hosts. They immediately turned their corner of the stands into Europe’s biggest party, especially when the players came over to share in the revelry.
”It is great that soccer can unite all people for one day,” Greece’s German coach Otto Rehhagel said. ”It is something politics has often tried, and we were able to do it today. All people became brothers.”
For the Portuguese, it was time to turn melancholy.
The Portuguese fans sang ”Ole Portugal” one last time in the dying minutes and soon, many were in tears. Portugal’s foremost fan, Prime Minister Joao Durao Barroso, glumly stared straight ahead from the honorary stand, still wearing his ”lucky” red-green-and-gold tie. On Sunday, it failed to do the trick.
”For us, this is the icing on the cake,” said fan Dimitris Fatta, who travelled from Birmingham, England, to Lisbon without even having assurance he would get a ticket to witness national soccer history. ”I left my business and family behind just to see this,” he said. ”I might be risking a divorce here,” the father of two boys added.
”We wouldn’t miss this for anything,” said another fan, Andres Kavalieros. ”We have been walking with the Portuguese and singing with them.”
Fans from the 16 nations taking part rarely risked anything more than friendly banter during the three-week event, with fighting limited to some drunken tourists down south in the Algarve.
Instead, there was respect for national anthems with the ritual whistling of an opponent’s national hymn largely the exception.
The contingent of some 18 000 Greek fans belted out their anthem without a whistle from the opposing side at Sunday’s final, and the Greeks were just as courteous when the home anthem Heroes of the Sea was played.
”Never has there been a feeling like this in Portugal” said Armando Bastos, whose 53 years allowed him to remember the celebrations following the 1974 Revolution of the Carnations, which toppled the right-wing dictatorship of Antonio Salazar.
Even after the defeat, Portuguese fans could still revel in the glory of a well organised tournament as the sound of honking horns filled the night air. – Sapa-AP