18 years since Greece won Euro 2004.
Here is Billy Blanks from Tanzania who remembers the starting XI and pronounces the names of the players perfectly.
He’s never been to Greece.
18 years have passed since July 4, 2004, when the Greek National Team brought the whole country to the streets, completing the magical journey on the courts of Portugal by winning the Euro.
The calendar read July 4, 2004. Thodoris Zagorakis together with the rest of the children were lifting the trophy and Greece was in heaven! The unrepeatable course in the Portuguese fields was completed with an epic!
This was the conquest of Euro 2004 by the Greek National Team exactly 18 years ago today.
All of Greece took to the streets to celebrate a sensational success that had never happened before. Our national team was European Champion, winning the final in Portugal with 1-0, with Otto Rehhagel’s players winning!
A journey that had started on June 12, again against Portugal in the opening match of the competition, but in Dragao, Porto. No one could have imagined that the 2-1 winning debut for the blue and white would be the beginning of this beautiful fairy tale.
However, the National team believed it and with the 1-1 against Spain and the… sweet defeat with 2-1 against Russia, they qualified for the Final 8.
Knocking out France 1-0 and then the Czech Republic by the same score line in the semi-finals, the legendary achievement was now one game away from becoming a reality.
The clock ticked into the 57th minute in Da Luz’s final. Basinas executes the corner, Charisteas in the heart of the Portuguese area rises in the air and with a strong header sends the ball into the net, sending all of Greece into ecstasy.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BDnpW7yg_IY
This is a moment that will remain forever in all gold letters in history. The final whistle brought tears of joy.
On the playing field from the players, the technical team and the people of the mission, on the blue and white platform of the Lisbon stadium, in every corner of Greece and the Greek diaspora.
The saga was a fact! Greece was European champion!
READ MORE: Otto Rehhagel sings “Happy Birthday” on 18th anniversary of Greece’s Euro 2004 win (VIDEO)
