So the Golden Generation are finally delivering.
With Luis Figo at his spellbinding best, Portugal beat Holland 2-1 to reach the Euro 2004 final on home soil.
Much has been made of England captain David Beckham's criticism of the Real Madrid training schedule which he claims has left him short of fitness for the tournament.
Figo, despite a poor performance by his high standards against England, made no secret of the fact he disagreed with his fellow Galactico in the build-up to the semi-final.
And anyone thinking he was blindly sticking up for his pay-masters would do well to watch the 90 minutes against Holland in which we saw the full range of Figo's mastery.
Figo was practically perpetual motion from start to finish, prompting and probing in attack and not shirking his defensive duties when Holland ramped up the pressure.
As the standard bearer for the all-conquering Portugal youth team of the early 90s that have never converted that promise into genuine achievement at international level, Figo has lived with pressure from his teenage years.
At 31, he has been showing signs that time is catching up with him, yet here he was very inch the inspirational captain.
While heaping praise on Figo, though, we must not forget to salute his coach, Luiz Felipe Scolari.
The World Cup winner took the brave decision to substitute his skipper 75 minutes into the victory over England.
Figo reacted by skulking off the pitch behind the goal and stomping down the tunnel into the changing rooms.
His replacement, Spurs flop Helder Postiga, scored both in normal time and in the penalty shoot-out to reward Scolari's bravery, yet still he had to field questions in the days leading up to this game about Figo being replaced.
Admirably, he brushed them off - with some style as well - and if he was looking for a reaction from his star player, he got one against the disappointing Dutch. And how.
With Figo approaching the twilight of his career, he will soon be passing the baton on to younger men: the new Golden Generation if you like. Step forward Cristiano Ronaldo.
At 19 this boy has the potential to achieve the unthinkable: supplanting Figo in the 'league' of Portugal's greatest-ever players.
There will be those who still brand him a show-pony and say he is all tricks and no end product, yet in three weeks 'the other Ronaldo' has shown just why Sir Alex Ferguson believes he is the most talented youngster in Europe.
Like Figo, Ronaldo has plenty going forward yet like his mentor he is also not afraid of tracking back, indeed he even refused to shirk a tackle with the fearsome Edgar Davids.
Two goals for the tournament make him Portugal's top-scorer and even being booked for removing his shirt as he celebrated - a rule football's top brass should be thoroughly ashamed of - couldn't sour an unforgettable night.
Yet the juxtaposition of joy and sadness was never more evident than when Ronaldo embraced his Manchester United team-mate Ruud van Nistelrooy at full-time.
Van Nistelrooy was a peripheral figure in Lisbon and was lucky to avoid a booking as his frustration got the better of him and he aimed a boot at Portugal goalkeeper Ricardo.
The poacher supreme was far from Holland's only poor performer, though, with Arjen Robben also failing to hit the heights he had managed earlier in the tournament.
But to dwell too long on post mortems of how the Dutch misfired is to take attention away from Portugal.
This was their night.
These men are within 90 minutes of getting their hands on some major silverware.
Some, Figo included, are probably in the last-chance saloon at international level.
This is their opportunity to achieve what a nation - and to some extents a continent - has expected for over a decade.
Waste it and they won't forgive themselves.
But on home turf, with Figo and Ronaldo pulling the strings, destiny beckons for the Golden Generation.
E-mail Article 
Print-Friendly
Subscribe to RSS Feed 
Post to del.icio.us
