Euro 2004, it’s already 20 years since the Portuguese epic!

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The pirate finished first!

On the occasion of the 20th anniversary (2004-2024) of the epic trip to Portugal, which was completed with the European Championship (EURO), we remembered some of the moments of the national team ‘s reception from Lisbon at the Panathinaikos Stadium (Kallimarmaro).

Thodoris Zagorakis and the European champions

It was Sunday, July 4, 2004 when Thodoris Zagorakis was lifting the European trophy he received from the hands of the late Portuguese football legend Eusebio and together with the whole of football Greece that was trying to recover from the pleasant shocks of the successive victories against the then European champions, the French (with names like Zidane, Henri, Trezegger, Vieira, Lizarazu and others who had lifted the European (2000) and several of them the 1998 World Cup in previous years).

And of course the only qualification win against the mighty Czechs with the historic header by Trainos Della in the first half of extra time from Vassilis Ciartas’ corner. The formidable Czechs, who had been anointed favourites to win the trophy thanks to their stunning performances!

And of course against the hosts and also favourites the Portuguese, whom we beat for the second time, once in the premiere and once in the final.

The victory in the semi-final against the Czechs

Since it holds a place in Portugal’s 2004 saga, let’s talk a little about the victory over the Czechs in the dramatic semi-final that came with the goal we celebrated perhaps even more intensely than the goal in the final. It was about 103 minutes into extra time when Ciartas took the corner and Colossus’ Trajan Della’s elusive header at the first post sent Peter Cech and the entire talented generation of Czechs prematurely to Prague, both on the pitch and in the stands of the Dragao (Porto’s stadium).

The curious rule of the golden goal (definitely golden for our national team)

At that time there was a variation of the golden goal that said that if a team scores in extra time, then the match does not end automatically (golden goal), as it had happened in the semi-final of 2000 with Trezeghe’s goal against the stunned Italians, but as soon as the half-time of extra time is over (which if it is the second half of course means the end of the match).

But we scored 2 minutes before the end of the 1st half of extra time, there are celebrations, the kick-off at 105 with Pierluigi Colina blowing the whistle, sending Greece to the final of Euro 2004 and all the Greeks in a “furious” state in the streets!(Text continuation after the photos. )

Photos from the Greek celebrations at the EURO 2004 victory

Euro 2004, in the final in Dalouge

In the final against Portugal in Dalouz, Lisbon, with over 10 thousand Greeks in the stands, the game went the way the Greek team wanted it to. With steely defence, they repelled the waves unleashed by Cristiano Ronaldo and Luis Figo until the 56th minute.

Then in one of the first chances and again with a corner he scored at 56′ with a header by the unstoppable Haristea (amazing goal with Spain in the equalizer by making “fools” of Puyol and Casillas from a precise center by Chiartas but also with France in the quarter-final after Zagorakis ‘s amazing action and kick (Lizarazou is still looking for him if I remember correctly) and of course the highlight header that left Barthez staring in amazement at the path of the ball up to his net.)

Euro 2004 – Greek National Team – Reception at Kallimarmaro

The reception at the Kallimarmaro and the march from the airport to the Panathinaikos Stadium was equally eventful due to hundreds of thousands of Greeks who had poured into the streets where the national team was going to pass through to see and congratulate in their own way the national team players and of course the team’s beloved coach, Otto Rehagel(the German who is loved perhaps like no other German by the Greeks).

So because of the traffic jams on the streets the arrival at the Kallimarmaro was delayed for a few hours without anyone being bothered as the whole time the atmosphere was so jubilant with chants and wild celebrations every time we saw one of the goals or some shots from the national team‘s coach on the screens.

The Greek National Team at the World Cup in Brazil

Ten years later, in 2014, the Greek football team celebrated a unique success, the qualification for the first time in history to the round of 16 of the World Cup in Brazil with a performance that surprised and astonished many, especially abroad, who only had to say about the boring game of the national team as they expected the full of international stars team of Ivory Coast to swallow the boring Greeks.

The answer came with a victory that was accompanied by the best performance of our national team in world cup finals against not only the predictions but also the misfortune of having to make 2 changes at the beginning of the first half leaving virtually without the required freshness that all teams gain with the 3 changes they make from the middle of the second half usually.

And that wasn’t enough, the Greek players had to deal with the … goalposts that stopped the Greek internationals 3 times. These “injustices” were corrected by the Samar…

The first substitution, Samaris who scored after a very nice steal of the ball and his cool execution, and of course George Samaras who in the 92nd minute won a fair penalty which he took with amazing composure and a beautiful strike, sending stars like Yaya Touré, Didier Drogba, the younger Gervinho (amazing goal against Colombia) home prematurely.

So on Sunday 29 June at 11pm local time, the national team will play* for the first time in a knockout match in its third World Cup appearance (the first was in the 1994 World Cup in the United States, which we are still trying to forget, second at the World Cup in South Africa in which, if we had paid much more attention against the South Koreans, we might have qualified relatively easily for the round of 16, and of course third now at the World Cup in Brazil with the dramatic 93rd minute qualification against Ivory Coast) against perhaps the great unknown of this World Cup, Costa Rica.

*Thetext was written in 2014, if you remember our national team was eliminated in penalties, the last one missed by Fanny Gekas, after a very good performance and unique chances to qualify in overtime where he played with one more player due to a red Costa Rican suspension.