Even the epic Greek tales of adventure, mythology and human drama did not stretch the bounds of credulity quite this far.
First Portugal and Spain, then France, now the Czech Republic. Greece wrote a
new chapter in their incredible Euro 2004 odyssey with a silver goal winner from
former Sheffield United defender Traianos Dellas in Porto tonight.
This, remember, is a Greece side who had entered the competition without a
single victory in a major tournament in their entire history.
However, that was soon put to rest when they beat Portugal - their opponents
in Sunday's final - in the opening game.
Then, having drawn against Spain and beaten holders France in a quarter-final
shock, they repeated the surprise in their semi-final against the Czechs, the
tournament's supposed in-form team.
Put simply, the Greeks, who invented the concept of the epic struggle against
the odds after all, matched anything that their forbears could have written.
Having frustrated a Czech side deprived of the inspiration Pavel Nedved after
39 minutes through injury, they came into their own in extra-time.
Dellas capped an incredible night when he headed home the winner just seconds
from the end of the first period of extra-time, leaving the Czechs no time to
recover.
Greece, who will lose Georgios Karagounis to suspension in the final, must
improve markedly to beat Portugal again.
However, Otto Rehhagel's side seem to have developed the remorseless will to
win of their German coach's native team. Greece are, it would see, the new
Germany.
The match had sparked into life when Tomas Rosicky crashed a shot against the
bar with just two minutes gone but, while Marek Jankulovski also had a shot
parried, the flame was short-lived.
Caution soon pervaded as the tone had been clearly set by Rehhagel's decision
to deploy an extra defender, with wing-back Georgios Seitardis switching inside
to man-mark Milan Baros.
It was easy to understand Rehhagel's mindset, given the way in which the
Liverpool forward has tormented defences at this tournament, with five goals -
set to make him the golden boot winner.
However, the Greek defender's success in sticking manfully to his task, even
after earning the 22nd-minute booking which rather cramped his style, had a
significant knock-on effect.
Not only did it help to keep the Czechs at bay, but also meant Greece were
deprived of one of their own attacking threats, given the way in which he had
surged forward with menace in previous games.
Indeed, the Greek team's one-track mind was matched by their fans, who may
have been passionate and committed, but singularly ignored the Mexican wave
flowing around the rest of the stadium.
Keeper Petr Cech had to push away one dangerous cross from Panagiotis Fyssas
but, while Greece increasingly started to share possession, that was about it
for their first-half attacking threat.
Instead, it was left to Nedved to attempt to go it alone, while Jankulovski's
lob sailed over the bar and Rosicky's bundled shot was pushed round the post by
Nikopolidis.
Nedved had been injured as he attempted to reach the ball before Rosicky and,
despite limping back on, he was soon forced off and replaced by Vladimir
Smicer.
That gave Greece increased hope of another upset.
The Czechs had been just as cautious in the first-half of their quarter-final
tie against Denmark before letting loose after the break to win 3-0.
This time, at least they started to increase the pressure, although Karel
Poborsky was wide with a free-kick, while Jan Koller's goalbound header struck
Baros and Rosicky blazed a shot off target.
While Poborsky also sent a lob over the bar, Greece were dangerous from
set-pieces, with Vryzas threatening with two headers, and Bolton's Stelios
Giannakopoulos gave them fresh impetus off the bench.
The Czechs were at last starting to come to life in the final stages only for
Koller to flash a shot wide with the goal seemingly at his mercy, while Baros
was also marginally off target.
Karagounis was booked just before the end of normal time, thereby ruling him
out of the final, but his side experienced a new lease of life as extra-time
began.
Stelios almost headed the ball over Cech as the new Chelsea keeper recovered
in time after being caught off his line, while Angelos Charisteas was only just
caught offside.
Then came the silver goal through Dellas, who only made a handful of
appearances during his time at Bramall Lane from 1997-99.
His point-blank header was saved by Cech, but he was not to be denied a second
time as a corner was floated over by substitute Vasilios Tsiartis.
Unbelievable - but true.
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