Two Teams That Stole the Show at the European Championships

Football is not just a game, it’s an emotion – and the European Championships are that emotion on steroids. There’s something about watching your team battle it out on the world stage that brings out the patriot in us all. And, next summer, we will get to enjoy that feeling once more.

UEFA Euro 2024 gets underway on June 14th as hosts Germany welcome Scotland to the Allianz Arena in Munich. A decade ago, Die Mannschaft were on top of the world when they were crowned FIFA World Cup winners after defeating Argentina 1-0 in Brazil. However, back-to-back group stage exits at the tournament have since followed, and they will be hoping to get back on track on home turf just as they did when they reached the semifinals of the 2006 World Cup when hosting.

They will have to settle for a spot as distant third favorites though, as Bovada sportsbook has made back-to-back World Cup finalists a narrow +325 favorites, closely followed by the +350 England. Les Bleus knocked the Three Lions out of the recent World Cup at the quarterfinals stage thanks to English skipper Harry Kane missing a late penalty that would have levelled things up at two apiece. will one of those two live up to their billing, or will we have a surprise package steal our hearts, just as we have had in years gone by?

Greece - 2004

They say football is a team game, and Greece proved that more than anybody else two decades ago. They weren’t fancied to go far back in Portugal in 2004 and were one of the rank outsiders at the tournament. And to be fair to the bookies, they were right to price them as long as they did. The team had no superstars and the man tasked with scoring the goals required to bring victory, Angelos Charisteas, was only good enough for a spot in the Ajax reserve team at club level.

But they had something, something that set them apart – determination. Greece’s coach, Otto Rehhagel, realised that and set his team out to defend for their lives and in doing so, masterminded one of the greatest sporting upsets of all time. The Greeks knew that there was something in the air when they defeated the hosts by two goals to one in their opening game of the tournament. A point against Spain in their second game looked as though it secured a spot in the second round only for a shocking 2-1 defeat at the hands of Russia to almost derail their campaign before it had truly got started.

But Portugal defeated their Iberian rivals in the final group game to ensure that Greece progressed and from there, they never looked back. They knocked out a France side powered by Zinedine Zidane and Thierry Henry in the quarterfinals before Traianos Dellas scored the only Silver Goal in the history of the tournament en route to defeating the Czech Republic. They would meet the hosts once again in the final, and Charisteas’ first-half headed winner was enough to secure a 1-0 victory and take the trophy back to Athens for the first time in history.

Russia - 2008

Back in 2008, the Russians were an afterthought. They were thumped 4-1 by Spain in their opening game of the tournament thanks to a David Villa hat trick and many expected them to simply wilt under the pressure. However, Guus Hiddink had built a team that eliminated England in the qualifying round and his team had plenty of young stars that were certainly up to the task at hand, none more so than Zenit St. Petersburg winger Andrei Arshavin.

His club teammate Konstantin Zyryanov netted the only goal of the game as they beat the reigning champions Greece, before Arshavin himself - as well as striker Roman Pavlyuchenko - secured a shock 2-0 victory over Sweden and a spot in the quarterfinals. But that was expected to be the end of the road.

They met the Netherlands in the last eight who had emerged as tournament favourites thanks to thumping 3-0 and 4-1 victories against Italy and France, the two teams that had contested the FIFA World Cup final just two years prior. But once the action got underway, it was the Russians who were surprisingly the better team. After dominating in the first half, Pavlyuchenko would give his side a deserved lead in the 56th minute only for Ruud van Nistelrooy’s late equaliser to send the contest to extra time.

There, many expected the Dutch to finally gain control and sweep the Russians to the side. But that didn’t happen and it was Hiddink’s men who were on top once more. And late in the second period of extra time, they would get their just desserts. Dmitri Torbinski netted in the 112th minute before Arshavin ended things four minutes later to set up a semifinal against Spain. Las Rojas would win that one after netting three goals in the second half, but the Russians proved to the world that they had what it took to compete at the highest level.