Off the pitch
Wenger the best man for France - Deschamps
Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger is the only person up to coaching France says World Cup and Euro 2000 winning captain Didier Deschamps.
"There is only one person up to the job: Arsene Wenger," said Deschamps, who ruled himself out of taking on the post having committed himself to his position at Monaco.
"He is intelligent, he has charisma, he knows how to handle people and he has experience at the highest level.
"But it is up to the ones who take that decision to decide for themselves,"
Portugal burns with patriotism
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| Portuguese fans cheer their national team during the Portugal vs Lithuania friendly football game 05 June 2004 in Setubal, South of Lisbon. Portugal will play Greece next 12 June in the opening match of the Euro 2004. AFP PHOTO FRANCOIS XAVIER MARIT |
Portugal was burning with patriotic fervor on the eve of Sunday's final as fans relish the prospect that the hosts will defeat upstart Greece and win their first-ever major football title.
The red and green national flag hangs from apartment windows, store fronts, fishing boats, the back seat of cars, subway doors and the top of buses in an unprecedented show of support for the national squad.
One of the nation's biggest supermarket chains, Modelo Continente, said it has sold over one million flags, more than double the 400,000 it had estimated it would sell before the tournament began on June 12.
Eusebio pleads for early goal
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| l'ancien international français de football Just Fontaine (D) plaisante avec l'ancien joueur du Benfica de Lisbonne, le Portugais Ferreira Eusebio, le 17 mars 2003 à Toulouse, à l'occasion de la treizième "table de Justo", repas où sont conviés les anciennes gloires du football mondial des quarante dernières années pour fêter le record mythique de treize buts marqués par Fontaine lors de la coupe du monde de 1958 en Suède. AFP PHOTO PASCAL PAVANI |
Former Portugal striker Eusebio on Saturday said he hoped to see his compatriots go for the jugular in Sunday's Euro 2004 final against Greece.
Noting that the Greeks are a disciplined unit which is hard to break down and which beat the Portuguese in the opening match of the event, Eusebio, top scorer at the 1966 World Cup, said getting off to a flier was vital.
"The final needs an early goal," he said.
Brazilians cheer on Portugal
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| Portuguese fans celebrate, 30 June 2004 outside the Estadio Jose de Alvalade in Lisbon after the European Nations championship semi-final football match between Portugal and The Netherlands. Portugal won 2-1. |
When Portugal face Greece in the Euro 2004 final on Sunday, the thousands of Brazilians who have moved to the country in search of a better life will be amongst the host nation's most fervent fans.
After each Portuguese victory, Brazilian supporters wearing the green and yellow national colours of their national flag danced samba as they joined in the wild street celebrations which swept the country.
"On Sunday we will be there again to encourage Portugal. A win will be as much a victory for Brazilians as for the Portuguese," said 34-year-old Brazilian Silvia Serra.
More than 5,300 stopped at borders
Border guards in Portugal have turned back more than 5,300 foreigners caught trying to enter the country illegally since full border checks were reintroduced in May for Euro 2004.
More than 70 percent of those who were turned away were stopped at border points in the more sparsely populated southern provinces of Alentejo and Algarve, said a border police spokesman.
The vast majority of those turned away were people traveling without valid documents or with fake documents, the spokesman said.
Most were Moroccans, Brazilians, Romanians and Pakistanis, he said.
Players need more rest claims Beckenbauer
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| German football legend Franz Beckenbauer addresses a press conference on the Football World Cup 2006, hosted by Germany, in Basel 02 June 2004, ahead of a pre-Euro-2004 friendly match between Switzerland and Germany. |
World and European football bodies UEFA and FIFA must act to ensure top stars do not turn up at tournaments suffering from burnout after mammoth domestic seasons, says German legend Franz Beckenbauer.
"It's not right that players come to international events already tired from 50 or 60 top level matches with their clubs and we must do something about this," said Beckenbauer, chairman of the 2006 World Cup organising committee.
"Players are playing too many games and they are simply too tired. We've got to change something, although I don't exactly know what," he added.
Home win to cost supermarket 500,000 euros
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| Portuguese players celebrate next to Dutch midfielder Rafael Van Der Vaart (L) , 30 June 2004 at the Alvalade stadium in Lisbon, at the end of the Euro 2004 semi final football match between Portugal and The Netherlands at the European Nations championship in Portugal. Portugal won the match 2 to 1 and will play the final game of the competition. AFP PHOTO FRANCOIS XAVIER MARIT |
If Portugal makes history and wins the final against Greece on Sunday, one of the nation's biggest supermarket chains will dole out 500,000 euros (608,000 dollars) to fans who bought large screen televisions and other items ahead of the tournament.
Feira Nova, a unit of number two retailer Jeronimo Martins, promised to refund any money spent by customers on electronics goods between May 10 and June 10 if Portugal won the tournament.
Sales of the 95 items included in the campaign, which included cameras, DVD players and refrigerators, soared 200 percent during the one-month campaign.
Football fever among Portuguese women
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| Portuguese supporters celebrate, 30 June 2004 near the Alvalade stadium in Lisbon, at the end of the Euro 2004 semi final football match between Portugal and The Netherlands at the European Nations championship in Portugal. Portugal won the match 2 to 1 and will play the final game of the competition. AFP PHOTO MLADEN ANTONOV |
Portuguese women have been swept up in the football fever which is sweeping the nation before Sunday's final, inspired by a team which is on the brink of a first major title.
Thousands of women, many wearing the red and green colours of the national flag, have screamed, cried and prayed like any ardent football fan.
The number of women watching matches is up 42 percent from Euro 2000 while
women made up nearly half, or 45 percent, of fans who watched the three Portugal matches.
"I was swept up by the euphoria surrounding the team. My husband and my kids got me into football," said one woman.
Bonus for Greek players under negotiation
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| Greek players and staff members celebtrate their victory 01 July 2004 at Dragao stadium in Porto during the Euro 2004 semi final football match between Greece and Czech Republic at the European Nations Championship in Portugal. AFP PHOTO Hrvoje POLAN |
Greek football officials in Portugal are still negotiating with the players about the final size of the bonus after their surprising qualification for the Euro 2004 final.
"The bonus was under negotiation before the Euro started, and will maybe remain so even after the final," said a Federation spokesman.
The Greek government, which has pledged a separate 1-million-euro bonus, also doesn't rule out an increase.
Aegean Airlines, Greece's biggest private airline, offered the squad unlimited business class tickets to every destination until the 2006 World Cup.
Greek PM to attend final amid frenzy
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| Greek Prime Minister Costas Caramanlis gives a press conference near the Swiss resort of Burgenstock, where the Cyprus reunification conference was held, 31 March 2004. AFP PHOTO / ATTILA KISBENEDEK |
Greek Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis will lead a pack of around 6,000 Greek fans travelling to Portugal to support the team in Sunday's final against the hosts.
Karamanlis along with a fleet of up to 60 planes will be chartered to carry the fans to Lisbon. They will join as many as 10,000 Greek supporters already in Portugal.
Organisers for the Olympic Games in Athens in August added the football team's success boosted their own confidence.
"The players and the coach served as the best ambassadors for the cause of the Olympics," said chief organiser Gianna Angelopoulos-Daskalaki.