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Portugal deserve home advantage and extra rest
Portugal have earned the major advantages of crowd support and an extra day's rest for Sunday's Euro 2004 final against Greece.
Portugal have earned the major advantages of crowd support and an extra day's rest for Sunday's Euro 2004 final against Greece.
Home advantage has not been much help in recent European Championships as the hosts had gone out in the semi-finals of the previous four tournaments.
France, winners in 1984, were previously the only host nation to reach the final since the event was re-formatted in 1980.
In some ways, being hosts can be a disadvantage as the home team has to go without competitive football for two years going into the competition, while their fans have higher than usual expectations.
COMPETITIVE EDGE
No matter how hard the coach and players try to treat friendlies as the real thing, they are not and players lose their competitive edge.
It certainly looked to be a problem for Portugal as, after a long and undistinguished run of friendlies, they seemed taken aback by the sheer tenacity of Greece in their opening group game, and crippled by nerves, lost 2-1.
Once they found their feet against Russia, however, the home support really kicked in to carry Portugal to their first competitive victory over Spain and into the quarter-finals.
England's remarkable fans ensured an even split of support in the Portuguese capital for the next game but the national outpouring of joy after Portugal's penalty shootout win certainly let the players know they were not alone.
In the semi-final even the massed orange army of Dutch fans had to give way to the by-now delirious home supporters, who had learned how to help their players even when things were going against them.
The Luz Stadium crowd for Sunday's final will be overwhelmingly Portuguese and, after several days of fanatical build-up, the players will run out for the match with the feeling that nothing can stand in their way.
Greece, who will keep reminding themselves that they were deserved winners of the teams' group-stage meeting, will be more concerned about the physical aspects of the final, namely the extra day's rest Portugal had after playing their semi-final on Wednesday.
PORTUGAL'S REWARD
If it had been any other team in the tournament they might have had cause for complaint but Portugal's extra day was a reward not for being hosts but for winning their group.
If Greece had beaten already-eliminated Russia in their final group game instead of losing then they would have followed the Portuguese route to the final.
Just two full days of recovery before the biggest game of their lives is not much for the Greek players, especially as they had 15 minutes of extra time and played a physically gruelling game to nullify the gifted Czech Republic attack.
The Greeks must also recover emotionally from what has already been an achievement beyond the players' wildest dreams.
"Although we are in the clouds now we have to stay on the ground because our bodies need to recover by Sunday," midfielder Stelios Giannakopoulos said after the silver goal win over the Czechs.
"Greeks can keep dancing until Sunday but for us we can only dance tonight."
Greece's pragmatic coach Otto Rehhagel has already started to switch the focus from celebration to preparation by putting the squad through an early-morning training session on Friday.
