Portugal fans demand success, says Scolari

PORTUGAL coach Luiz Felipe Scolari said yesterday that only victory in the final on July 4 in Lisbon at the Estadio da Luz will be a satisfactory result for the host nation.

Speaking 24 hours before the Portuguese face Greece in the opening match of the Euro 2004 tournament at the Estadio do Dragao, Scolari made no attempt to minimise the weight of expectation in a country which at the best of times is football crazy and which at the moment is talking about little else as it prepares to stage the biggest sports' event ever held on Portuguese soil.

Scolari led his home country Brazil to the 2002 World Cup the fifth time the South Americans had won the trophy and that record from the world's biggest footballing power means that a Brazil coach will only be welcomed home at the airport if he has the World Cup in his hand luggage.