Greek cloud hangs over final

PORTUGAL are already winners, regardless of the result of tomorrow's European Championship final in the Estadio da Luz. They are winners in a football sense, in an economic sense and in an emotional sense.

The European Championship quelled racial tensions in Portugal, united the nation, galvanised the economy and fired enthusiasm for football to unprecedented heights.

The Championship opened with Luis Figo publicly voicing Portuguese ambivalence towards the Brazilian race by suggesting the case for including Deco in the national squad was a trifle tenuous. It was an attitude that had even deeper significance because Portugal's manager was also Brazilian, Luiz Felipe Scolari.

Consider the transformation. Scolari's status has been elevated to that of a deity, Deco's to that of his privileged acolyte. And Figo? Ask any Portuguese about Figo and he will insist he can walk on water.

For the Portuguese then, the European Championship has been magical; a captivating, exhilarating, memorable, adventure that has transported them out of their routine existence to a far, far better place.

It has delivered them to a plateau where the sun always shines, where the days are never-ending, where fantasies are fulfilled, where ambitions are bound only by the limitations of human imagination.

"Failure? There is no such thing as failure when you reach the semi-final of the championship," said Scolari when he put things into perspective in his worldly-wise, experienced way.

Portugal have done better than Scolari had predicted, for the semi-final was the milestone he had set when he embarked on his journey. And now they are in the final for the first time in history and craving an historic, first, championship title. In truth, failure to do so should not depress the joyous mood of celebration that has gripped the nation. For the Portuguese have made the Championship a spectacular organisational success.

They used the event to provide additional sports facilities of unequivocal beauty and modernity. They complemented 10 magnificent stadiums with infrastructural facilities that will forever remain a testament to their foresight. Their team took inspiration from the colourful stadium settings and the mood of their boisterous fans to excite and delight. Their football reflected their sunny dispositions and their initiative was repaid as they recovered from their initial stumble against Greece to negotiate the challenges presented by Russia, Spain, England and Netherlands.

The players grew in status, their reputations soaring, their achievements growing ever more accomplished. Figo led the way and they crowded behind him, one upon another, as they strove to match his genius and contribute in a meaningful way - Ronaldo, Deco, Costinha, Maniche, Miguel, Ricardo. Inspiring them all - urging, cajoling, exhorting them all onwards, ever onwards, to greater and more extravagant deeds was Scolari. This team has been developed in his image for the big man is energised by the contest, fired by the sense of competition, driven by the desire to succeed.

So, to this point, the story is perfection. As a tale of human endeavour, as a melodrama of heroic proportions, it is magnificent. But now, suddenly, all is changed. Now suddenly, and without warning, the blue skies threaten to cloud over, the fairytale assumes the nature of a potential disaster and Portugal's sporting world is filled with foreboding.

The failure to mention that Greece will be Portugal's opponents tomorrow until now was not an oversight, it was deliberate. No disrespect to Greece or to its people, but of all the teams in the competition this team is one that excites least of all.

The final everybody who was not Greek wanted was a match with the Czech Republic. This, it was believed, would have been a more fitting final pairing, calculated to produce a contest that would have had the capacity to excite and entertain.

Now the harbingers of doom fear a battle more than a contest, a dour and bad-tempered squabble between resentful hosts and their parsimonious opponents. It threatens to be an unseemly dog-fight that will not provide the spectacle the final deserves, or yield the result that justice demands.

Greece have scratched and gouged their way through a series of unexceptional matches. They looked good initially when they beat a Portugal team frozen with fear and anxiety 2-1. They then drew with Spain, lost to a dismal Russia, beat France and finally the Czech Republic.

On the way they scored six goals and conceded four. Their brilliant German coach, Otto Rehhagel, used his resources magnificently and they prospered by refusing to allow opponents play, frustrating them to the point of exasperation and exploiting their own formidable individual skill to capitalise on their scoring opportunities.

Fair play to Greece for achieving what had seemed impossible, but one cannot avoid the conclusion that the championship has been flawed by their arrival in the final. No fewer than six of the players who started against the Czechs and two of the substitutes who were introduced played a scoreless game against an understrength Ireland in Athens on November 20, 2002 when Don Givens took temporary charge of Ireland.

Greece, champions of Europe? It could happen, but hopefully not. Football is a game that is only meaningful when it is played in the proper spirit in a progressive way.

Referee Collina allowed Greece far too much licence against the Czechs; his performance was lamentable and was a contributory factor to a result that, I fear, will rob the tournament of the climax it would have deserved.