2004 European Football Championship
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The 2004 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly called EURO 2004, was held in Portugal between June 12 and July 4 2004. The UEFA European Championship is a quadrennial football competition between national teams organised by UEFA, the governing body in Europe. This was the first time that the competition was held in Portugal, and UEFA considered the tournament "the best ever". This was mostly due to the high level of football played, big surprises (Germany, Italy and Spain were knocked out during the group stage, title-holders France were sent home by unfancied Greece, and hosts Portugal managed a winning streak towards the final following their opening defeat, beating England and Netherlands) and the party feeling present in all host cities and throughout the country.
For the first time, the final featured the same teams as the opening match, with the hosts losing both of them, also for the first time.
The final was almost a replay of the opening game: the hosts Portugal versus Greece. Greece won 1-0 with a single goal from a corner via Angelos Charisteas' head in the 57th minute. The success of Greece, who had never won a single match in their previous appearances in any finals tournament, was totally unexpected (Bloomberg reports that UK bookmakers gave them 100-1 odds at winning prior to the tournament), but their organisation, passing ability and solid defensive play took their opponents and the rest of the football world by surprise.
During the opening ceremony, the Portuguese portrayed a ship, symbolizing the voyages of the Portuguese explorers, sailing through a sea which gave place to to the flags of all competing countries. Such was the enthusiasm that overtook the Greek fans that the ship became the symbol of the Greek victory, as Greeks chanted for the "Pirate Ship" (πειρατικό), as the Greek National Team was instantly named, into the early morning hours.
The Road to Victory for
Greece made it to Euro 2004 after surpassing Spain in their qualifying group. In the final tournament Greece were drawn in to Group A with Spain, Portugal, and Russia. Greece were one of the lowest ranked teams in the tournament and were not expected to even make an impact. In the opening match against Portugal, Greece achieved a surprise victory by beating Portugal 2-1. After this win, the team was nicknamed "the pirate ship" by Greek sportscaster George Helakis. The nickname was inspired by the opening ceremony, which was held just before the game, and involved a ship floating on the football field (a homage to Portugal's history of exploration). Greece were portayed as the pirates who surprised the opponents and "stole" the win from their hands, a theme that would repeat itself throughout the tournament. Four days later, Greece stunned Spain in front of a majority Spanish crowd to a 1-1 draw after being down 1-0 at the half. Charisteas scored on a beautiful goal that went between the legs of Casillas, the Spanish goalkeeper. In the last group game, Greece went down quickly 2-0 to Russia (who were already eliminated). Greece pulled one back on a goal by Vryzas which was wonderfully set up by a Papadopoulos header. Without that goal, Greece would have been eliminated. Because Greece and Spain both had a 0 goal differential, Greece took second place in the group over Spain on goals scored (4 for Greece, while only 2 for Spain). In the quarterfinals Greece faced off with the reigning champions France. At 65 minutes, Greece took the lead when captain Zagorakis flicked the ball high in the air as a French defender flew by, retained possession and then sent a perfect cross to Charisteas for the header. Greece held on to win, knocking France out of the Euro 2004 and becoming the first team ever to defeat both the hosts and defending champions in the same tournament. Greece reached the semifinals for the first time to face the Czech Republic, who were the only team to defeat all their opponents to this point, including a convincing 3-0 win over Denmark in the Quarterfinals. After 90 minutes the game ended 0-0. In the first half of extra time, a close range header from Dellas off a corner ended the Czech campaign, putting Greece in the final of Euro 2004. For the first time in history (a recurring theme in this tournament), the final was a repeat of the opening game with Greece and hosts Portugal facing off in a rematch. In the 57th minute Angelos Charisteas gave Greece the lead with a header off of a corner by Basinas. Greece held on to win Euro 2004, definitely one of the biggest shocks in football history. Captain Zagorakis was named the man of the tournament.
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Qualifying
Qualification for the tournament took place from September 2002 to November 2003. Fifty teams were divided into ten groups of five teams and each played the others in their group, on a home-and-away basis. The 1st placed teams automatically qualified, and the ten group runners-up took part in play-offs to select another five teams. Including the host nation, Portugal - who qualified automatically - 16 nations competed in the tournament.For details of qualifying matches see 2004 UEFA European Championship (qualifying).
Teams
The participants in the Euro 2004 final tournament were:
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Squads
For a list of all the squads that appeared in the final tournament, see 2004 European Football Championship (squads).Venues
| Estádio Municipal de Braga Location: Braga Capacity: 30,000 Club: SC Braga | Estádio D. Afonso Henriques Location: Guimarães Capacity: 30,000 Club: Vitória SC | 
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| By number of pitch classes : ditonic | tritonic | tetratonic | pentatonic | hexatonic | heptatonic | octatonic | ||
