Euro 2004 has begun and it’s already had a major impact as you can tell from today’s Drudge Report headline.
(It’s strange that Drudge would call it “football” rather than “soccer” but I’m not complaining. “Soccer” just sounds stupid and it has a stupid origin as well.)
I caught the opening match of the tournament which saw hosts Portugal beaten 1-2 by unfancied Greece (pix). Greece got their first goal as early as the sixth minute thanks to some horrible defending by a nervy Portugal side. Ferreira gave the ball away to Karagounis and Couto compounded that mistake by neglecting to close down the Greek player. (Couto seemed primarily concerned with protecting his naughty bits as Karagounis was taking aim.)
Portugal then began to go to pieces with their players once again displaying poor discipline and temperament in a major tournament. The Portuguese couldn’t find a way past a well-organised Greek defence and became petulant and pouty whenever decisions didn’t go their way. Costinha earned himself a yellow card in the 21st minute after a challenge on Karagounis and then stupidly wasted time confronting the writhing Greek player.
Scolari tried to change things around in the second-half by bringing on Deco and Ronaldo but things went from bad to worse. Poor Ronaldo gave away a penalty after he clumsily ran into Seitaridis in the penalty area and Basinas doubled Greece’s lead from the spot.
Ronaldo tried desperately to make amends for his error but he kept failing to find any Portuguese player whenever he crossed the ball. He did finally manage to get a consolation goal in injury time with an exquisite header but Greece ran out 2-1 winners.
