A sad day for football

...and football fans all over the world. Greece 1, Portugal 0. Greece, who by anyone's reckoning was perhaps the 8th best team in the tournament, have won a completely unjustified victory. They lucked their way through game after game, including tonight's final.

Portugal were indisputably the better team BY MILES on the night but Greece put 10 men around the goal mouth and lucked out on a single corner, their only real attack of the game. All the things I hate about football have won over all the things I love about it.

I just hope and pray that the trend won't follow the Greek style because it would be a sad loss for football which is about passing and attacking, something the Greeks did none of.

Portugal were the better team and they deserved to win. But they lost, and so did football

Michael.

 

Sorry Michael, have to disagree .

Pauletta, Figo and [in particular] Deco were poor .

Ricardo should be shot for his poor positioning at the goal.

Greece were well organised, took their chance and won it as a team.

 

Sorry Michael but Bollox!

Portugal were shown up for the petulant, average team we thought they were, lacking a cutting edge.

It's easy to look pretty pinging the ball around. Maybe they forgot they needed to put it in the net! Portugal have always had the knack of looking good, retaining posession, but offering no end product.They were lucky against Spain, lucky against England, and only looked good against a very average Dutch side. Today they were exposed by a very disciplined outfit.

I am delighted the Greeks won. They had a plan and stuck to it.

 

Luck has shone kindly on Portugal throughout this tournament IMHO, until now. Still a major disappointment though and to lose in the final when you're the host nation must be especially hard.

Never gonna hear the last of this from my greek mates though, not until the next major tournament though where they revert to form and don't play well enough to even get to a final!

Well played greece, hard luck portugal.

 

I thought the Greeks played a very boring game, exactly like they played against the Czechs. Portugal had all the posession but their finishing wasn't up to the job but still they kept on trying. How often did the Greeks have a shot at the goal? twice, I think. This sort oif play does not promote the game. As someone else has already mentioned, the Greeks are the new Arsenal of yesteryears.

 

There's no point in getting into an argument about it, so I'm not going to. I'm pretty sure that 99% of football fans (excluding a few England supporters who still suffering from sour grapes over Portugal's fully deserved victory over them) would disagree with you.

I just hope that the kind of defensive boring strategy the Greeks played doesn't become popular because it will ruin football.

The Greeks haven't got any players of note and I don't think you'll see any of the major European leagues rushing to sign any of them up. They were a bunch of average players who got lucky with a defensive strategy and scoring on the single opportunity they had.

Michael.

 

I thought Greece played very well. OK, they're a defensive side, but they do it extremely well. They played to their strengths. They may not be the most exciting team in the world, but their tactics have finished off some pretty good teams in the tournament.

Portugal had a lot of possession but at no stage looked like scoring. How many saves did the Greek goalkeeper have to make? Hardly any. I thought it was a pretty average performance from the Portuguese, strangely lacking in passion.

Best of all, I won a smidgeon over £300. Just wish I'd bet on the Greeks at the start, when I could have got 150-1 on them...

-- Ian

 

OUCH! That's a bit below the belt! THAT WAS A GOOD GOAL! (and yes England didn't play well)

 

I thought it was a deserved victory. I thought the Greeks played to their strengths, were organised and defended fantastically. they looked reasonable going forward in the first half and looked more like scoring to me. The portuguese were neutralised and hardly created anything, and their defence looked shaky. To say that they didnt deserve the win seems a bit churlish to me.

I guess the Portuguese supporters will be saying its the refs fault next

I also think that if a team beats France, Portugal twice, and the Chechs , there must be more to it than just lucking out.

 

The Italians have been doing it for years!

 

What sour grapes Michael - quite a contrast to the day after Portugal beat England where the message from the English (alongside bleating about the ref) was well done Portugal and good luck for the rest of the tournament.

The Greeks had a bit of good fortune in coming through the first phase but after that, wins against France, Czech Rep and Portugal can hardly be called lucky. So, they only won each game 1-0 but boy can they defend a 1-0 lead (unlike England).

They might not be the most entertaining team - they haven't the players to do this so they play to their strengths instead and who can argue with the stance of "if you want to win the game then a good start is not to let any goals in". In fairness the Greeks also carried on attacking after they went 1-0 up and only played keep ball down in the corner when the final whistle was in sight (so to speak).

The lack of entertainment might not be good for football but surely the fact that a non-fancied team can live the dream and go all the way to the final and then win it is a good thing in that it gives hope to all countries.

Matt.

p.s. I must also say I was delighted that I didn't have the displeasure of seeing that little cheating sh*te Deco pick up a winners medal.

 

No. Despite a few papers raising the fact that the ref was a long time friend of the Greek coach, I don't think anyone can complain about the ref. I thought he was pretty fair.

I have do disagree with you Robbo, I really don't think the Greeks deserved the win. Portugal created so many more chances and had dozens of near misses. Greece were a bit lucky with their single goal scoring chance of the game (and Ricardo made a very uncharacteristic error).

Michael.

 

I would rather see a hard working team win than listen to Beckham moaning about fitness,when he went skiing mid season.Their vistory makes Beckkam look all the more ridiculous

agree re Deco,he has been awful all tournament,although i feel soryy for Ricardo,he has been the player of the tournament for me

 

Not really, England and Portugal both played very well in that game and in the end it came down to penalties. There's no way that either side was clearly the better team as in this case (where Portugal was clearly the better team).

I really don't see what the English have against Deco . He's a great player and a cornerstone of the team. He only dives as much as any other player (Owen being a fine example of the diver's art). Perhaps you're still upset about Porto knocking out Man U in the CL?

Michael.

 

I had to say, I thought portugal were lacklustre and tired. (Is it me, or were they far more sparkling playing us?)
Again having 1 day less rest. I think that needs to be addressed.
But yeah, point taken, portugal do take it to the other team. I loathe defensive boring football. Truth be told I am still pained after us losing like that. It hurts, and now portugal will feel it keenly.
Nothing against portugal, we just lost it. I can't understand, as we do have some great players, and lo. watford won the premiership, and man U were down the table. Its that kind of result, bizarre. Doesn't add up.
Going to be a lot of depressed people in portugal for a week.
The greeks were remarkably like us, poor passing and giving away too easily, but great defence. could've easily been us, had we had some luck.
Portuguese definite black marks for trying to get free kicks.
I think the tournament will be remembered for rooney, what a shame he went off, may have been more magic, and how the big teams were mediocre, and exited early. There needs to be some soul searching.
True look at all the sides greece beat and luck doesn't work every time.

 

nope,I cheered when that happened

 

Back of the net Michael, back of the net. You can create as many chances as you like and be as pretty as a picture around the park, but that doesnt win games unfortunately. I should know, I am a long suffering holland supporter.

 

And from Michael's report on that game...

Maybe you'd like to try some Strawberries or Guava - I beleive both fruits are sweeter

FWIW, the media over here agree that the best team won on the night, and having been outplayed and out thought by the Greeks twice, I hardly think you can call it luck


As for all the chances Portugal created, we must have been watching a different game - I only remember the Greek keeper making one save of note throughout the 90 minutes, and at no time did the Greek defense seem to be in a state of panic.

 

so who was that nutter that ran onto the pitch? Was he Portuguese?

 

merlin - check the UEFA match stats:

Portugal had 17 shots (5 on target) to Greece's 4 (1 on target). The had 58% of the posession and made a staggering 550 passes to Greece's 368. They had less fouls and only 2 bookings compared to Greece's 4. Portugal were the better team, no doubt. btw, there's a difference between "clearly" and "definitely" . Portugal were definitely the better team against England (as I stated) but not by a large margin, hence not clearly. Tonight Portugal were clearly and definitely the better team.

I don't know who the nutter who ran onto the pitch was. He threw a Barcelona flag at Figo though (these Barca fans are nutters, still angry at Figo moving to Real Madrid ) so he was probably Spanish.

Michael.