(Preview: I am proud to admit that I like a feel-good football story from time to time. At the end of the day, I am still a football romantic at heart. The world of football had almost made many cynics out of us these days with ridiculous footballers' salaries, the stories which appear in the tabloids, football scandals, takeovers and so on. But thank goodness, there are times when we hear of feel-good stories to make us still realise at the end of the day, it's still all about the beautiful game and there are people who live for it. One example is the Iraqi national team's fairytale run to the Asian Cup final last year which they eventually won over the favourites Saudi Arabia, and it's amazing for a country which has been torn apart by war. On the European scale of things, there had been miracles before on the past European Championships. I know what's for sure, I had always love to root for an underdog in a tournament. In the final of the three-part series of past European Championship winners in the unofficial football focus series, Euro 2008 special.)
At the end of the day, I always love fairytale-like footballing stories. Teams which beat all the odds and emerge victorious. I think it began from my days as a young girl where Cinderella is my most favourite fairytale. Although I know life is not as rosy as Cinderella had experienced at the end of the day in the real world as I grew older, I still smiled whenever I read feel-good stories in the newspapers. In the world of sport, it can be kind of rare at times.
Until I lived through the time when Greece surprisingly beat hosts Portugal to win the 2004 European Championships, my father mentioned of the time when Denmark used to be there (and to think that originally, they were never meant to be in the 1992 version). I was surprised. Denmark? Being a football fan, I had always knew Denmark was never on the radar in terms of national teams which are way up there in world football. Until a read-up on Wikipedia clearing all my doubts. If Hans Christian Andersen has to be one of Denmark's greatest cultural exports (The Little Mermaid is one of his famous works and there is a statue of the mermaid in the capital Copenhagen), the class of 1992 in the European Championship which was held in Sweden at that time was almost something born out of a fairytale book.
To imagine the Danes were never meant to be in Sweden in the beginning. They were second behind Yugoslavia in the qualifying round which meant that they didn't qualify. Then the news of a civil war has erupted in Yugoslavia. As a result, the Yugoslavian national team had to withdraw and at the 11th hour - Denmark was being drafted in. So the Danes entered the tournament, with victory the last thing on the players' minds. Given, the Danish national team is still in the shadow of the class of 1984 where players like Michael Laudrup, Morten Olsen, Jesper Olsen, Jan Molby. Back in the 1984 World Cup in France, they lost to Spain on penalties in the semi-finals. That was the best result for Denmark until then.
It began with a goaless draw with the English in their opening match, before a crucial win over France which followed by a defeat to hosts Sweden...finally, beating the Dutch on penalties in the semi-finals. Their opponent in the final is Germany. Initially, it was tough for the Danes. The Germans were all over the pitch. But the Danes prevailed. And history has been made.
So it was not a surprise the Danes back home were celebrating wildly from results out of Sweden and when the winning Danish national team returned home with the trophy, more than one million turned up to receive the squad. What a fairytale, coming from a country which produced people like Hans Christian Andersen.
What happened four years ago in Portugal is something Greece will never forget. They were the outsiders from the start. It didn't helped at that time when the 2002 World Cup finalist Germany was being knocked out of the group stages, drawing twice (even a goaless draw with Latvia) and losing to the Czech Republic (which eventually led to Rudi Voller resigning from his post as the national coach). A very low, low era in German football (but we all know how the Mannschaft has become since the 2006 World Cup in their country). England (as usual), out of the tournament...on penalties in the quarter-final match against hosts Portugal. At least England is better than Germany at that time. Up till the quarter-finals.
So the Greeks entered the final after beating the Czech Republic. About everyone is expecting Portgual to win in front of their home fans. They were the favourites. But Greece has other ideas, with coach German Otto Rehhagel at the helm. Playing football the Tetutonic way (or so this is what I read back then in the newspapers terms of Greece's fairytale win). Rehhagel became a hero in his adopted country and he was even being nicknamed as 'King Otto'.
I almost couldn't believe it, when reading of how the Greece national team was being received after emerging victorious in Lisbon (Portgual's capital and the venue of the final). Who will have thought of all national teams, it's Greece?
Miracles do happen, didn't they? It's only when you believe it's possible to make it becoming a reality.
Thanks to the Wikipedia entries of the two tournaments when Denmark and Portugal won in those editions, and also the BBC article which I did adapted for this entry in terms of Denmark's road to the final. Though out of those two countries, Greece will be making the trip to Austria and Switzerland (still with coach Rehhagel) only, at least now I can imagine back of the times when Denmark used to be the country before Greece to defy all odds and emerge as winners. I was only in kindergarden then, by the way (and so I can be excused of not knowing what happened in the summer of 1992).
