Originally posted by pasion1
your kidding right? What do you want me to do, shed a tear for you? Portugal was a clear favorite to win the tournament. Hell anything less than a Semi final would have been a disaster.
Your trying to pretend you were the underdogs....wow.
In Toronto, the Portuguese were celebrating as if they were literally the best team in the world. You cant even begin to imagine the celebrations when Greece won (from many nations besides Greece too). It was almost a ferry tale ending with Spain getting a sort of Revenge (Fan who threw the Barca flag at Figo).
Hell no Portugal wasnt the underdog (playing at home too)
No, I'm not kidding, as I'm not guilty you aren't provided with good memory skills.
First of all, why are you talking to a Portuguese living in Portugal about the behaviour of some Portuguese living in Toronto? I live here; I know how the country reacted, and what was the mood before the championship. With all respect, those people don't represent our feelings towards the national team.
It is obvious to me, as I've been abroad quite a few times, that when you're living outside your country you look at stuff like home football with greater interest and passion, because they are a connection to that place you were born at... So their reaction comes as no surprise.
Were we favourites to win it?
Portugal's pre-tournament games were a disaster: draws and losses to teams with little footballing expression, conflicts between Scolari and the portuguese press (who, until some point, hated him), conflicts between Scolari and Porto staff and players. It looked like a train heading at 200Km/h towards a cliff.
If you care, search the threads before the Euro and read what I and other portuguese here had to say about our chances. It's written here. Go, Forrest, go, go.
The first game against Greece
The first game and subsequent loss came as no surprise to anyone. It seemed inevitable, the logical result of all that had happened in the months before. This loss plus the poor performance of our team did nothing but confirm and even agonize the differences between Scolari and the rest of Portugal. Favourites to win the tournament? Don't think so... Up until...
The Epic versus England
I think this was probably one of the finest games ever played and definitely one of the top 5 our national team has played. Whoever won it would be a favourite to go all the way.
Before the game chances were 50% for each side: England wasn't impressing and Portugal, despite the win versus a bleak Spain, still had everything to prove. With this game everything changed. We were playing great football and the confidence levels raised to unimaginable levels before the tournament.
Spain got a sort of Revenge (Fan who threw the Barca flag at Figo)?
There's one huge mess in your head, man. Spain's revenge? Dude, that was Barça's flag!! You know, F.C. Barcelona, from Cataluña? Word of advice: if you ever go to Barcelona and happen to tell that tale to the locals, don't end with the phrase 'ahah, that was really Spain's revenge'.
To tell you the truth, most of, if not all of Spain wanted Portugal to get the title after Spain was eliminated. That was widely publicized during the second half of the tournament.
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Mikey, I never said Greece was bad. They weren't, much on the contrary! They were fantastic. Fantastically boring, yes, but still fantastic.