Live from Euro 2004
Scolari versus Rehhagel: Glory for foreigners
Two men, two teams, one final - and four countries still involved.
Sunday's European Championship final will be unlike any other regardless of whether hosts Portugal see off giantkillers Greece in that the winning coach will become the first to lead someone else's country to glory at a major tournament.
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| Brazilian coach of the Portuguese selection Luis Felipe Scolari celebrates 30 June 2004 after the European Nations Championship semi-final football match between Portugal and The Netherlands at the Estadio Jose de Alvalade in Lisbon. Portugal won 2-1. AFP PHOTO Hrvoje POLAN |
Either Portugal's Luiz Felipe Scolari or Greece's Otto Rehhagel will enter the history books after putting their own spin on John F. Kennedy's 1961 inaugural address.
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| Greek coach Otto Rehhagel celebrates after his team beat France 1-0, 25 June 2004 during their European Nations Championship quarter-final football match between France and Greece at the Estadio Jose de Alvalade in Lisbon. AFP PHOTO Lluis GENE |
"And so, my fellow footballers. Ask not what your country can do for you -- ask what you can do for someone else's country," doesn't quite have the same ring to it as JFK's rousing call to good citizenship.
But both the Portuguese and the Greeks will overlook the mere detail of having a non-national on the touchline if they can capture their first silverware.
For Scolari, not only would he have become the first coach to land either Europe's Henri Delauney trophy or the World Cup for another country but the 55-year-old would furthermore uniquely have won both trophies with different nations.
Only former West Germany boss Helmut Schon managed to oversee wins in both competitions, winning the European Championship in 1972 and then the World Cup two years later, the task facilitated by a generation of players which included Franz Beckenbauer, Gerd Muller and Sepp Maier.
Scolari and Rehhagel are both handsomely paid overseas hired guns.
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| Greece's German head coach Otto Rehhagel celebrates, 01 july 2004 at the Dragao stadium in Porto, at the end of the Euro 2004 semi final match between Greece and Czech at the European Nations championship in Portugal. Greece won the match 1 to 0 after the extra time. AFP PHOTO ADRIAN DENNIS |
But on a stage as big as this it's not about the money.
Both Scolari and Rehhagel, 65, were controversial appointments but are now basking in adulation.
Scolari says winning the title would be even more satisfying than delivering the World Cup for Brazil.
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| Portugal head coach Luiz Felipe Scolari celebrates with Brazil and Portuguese flag after Portugal beat England, 24 June 2004 during their European Nations Championship quarter-final football match between Portugal and England at the Estadio Da Luz in Lisbon. |
"This is different, as with Brazil I was world champion. But they had already won it four times. For my CV I think this is more important as Portugal had never reached a final," he said.
If Scolari's credentials are no longer in any doubt among the Portuguese - or the Brazilians - Rehhagel has performed even greater miracles for Greece.
They have gone from strength to strength, seeing off holders France in the quarter-finals before Taianos Dellas nodded them into the final at the expense of the Czechs.
"Sometimes not always the best side wins," Rehhagel noted sardonically after beating the Czechs.
"But whatever happens we will be the real winners of Euro 2004".