There was a time when Portugal were considered the Brazil of Europe, for the flair with which they played football more than the commonality of language.

Iceland 1 Portugal 1: It was meant to be all about Cristiano Ronaldo in St Etienne but a man nicknamed Thor stole his thunder as Iceland held Portugal to a 1-1 draw in Group F.

Faroe Islands recorded a shock victory over Greece in Athens to leave Claudio Ranieri’s side slumped at the bottom of Euro 2016 qualifying Group F.

FIFA has banned former Greece coach Fernando Santos for eight international matches for verbally abusing match officials at the World Cup.

World Cup good, bad and ugly

We’ve a week left and maybe a lot longer for some, as the World Cup post-mortems linger on.

Costa Rica 1 Greece 1 (AET) (Costa Rica win 5-3 on penalties)

Greece 2 Ivory Coast 1

Your guide to all the weekend’s World Cup action

Romania coach Victor Piturca is looking for a minor miracle in Bucharest tonight as his side look to overturn a 3-1 deficit in their World Cup play-off second leg.

Republic of Ireland boss Giovanni Trapattoni has told Seamus Coleman he has a bright future on the international stage.

So long, 2012. It’s been emotional.

Seldom does an international get-together pass without Giovanni Trapattoni referring to the friends he’s won over his illustrious managerial career and, from that reservoir of acquaintances, Greece manager Fernando Santos last night chipped in to support the Ireland manager in his time of need.

Euro 2012 quarter-finalists Greece have had enough of eurozone jokes as well as the ridicule and sharp criticism of their playing style.

Greece 1 Russia 0

And we think we were living a nightmare against Croatia.

Greece and the Czech Republic have defensive problems ahead of their Euro 2012 clash in Group A today with the Greeks missing their first-choice central defence and the Czechs desperate to plug a leaky back line.

Greece and the Czech Republic have defensive problems ahead of their Euro 2012 clash in Group A today with the Greeks missing their first-choice central defence and the Czechs desperate to plug a leaky back line.

Poland 1 Greece 1

Greece opened their 2004 triumph with victory over hosts Portugal, and they will once again be looking to spoil the party, taking on the hosts in Warsaw tonight.

Poland captain Jakub Blaszczykowski issued a rallying cry ahead of tonight’s Euro 2012 opener against Greece, calling on his team mates to stand up and be counted in front of a 60,000 home crowd.

Ben Lyttleton on the young guns who’ll fire in Poland and the Ukraine

He’s short, left-footed, prodigiously gifted and selected his club because they agreed to pay for the growth hormone treatment he needed. The description of Ioannis Fetfatzidis as “the Greek Messi” is both understandable and apt.

Alexandros Tziolis and Panagiotis Kone were today omitted from the Greece squad for Euro 2012.

MANCHESTER UNITED’S most decorated player, Ryan Giggs, insists his focus remains on doing a job on the pitch and not coaching.

Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson has warned his side they cannot continue to waste chances if they want to win the Champions League.

Benfica coach Fernando Santos insists he has no special plans to man-mark Cristiano Ronaldo in tonight’s make-or-break Champions League clash with Manchester United.

Former England coach Sven-Goran Eriksson could return to football with a third stint at Portuguese giants Benfica.

Panathinaikos expect to lose Greek international Panagiotis Fissas to Celtic during the summer.