Who would have thought (and you would have gotten 100 to 1 odds before the tournament) that Greece - which had never won a game in a major international competition (and didn't even score a goal in World Cup 1994, their only appearance in the World Cup) would win the Euro 2004 Championship today by defeating the host, Portugal 1-0.
A great deal of the credit should clearly go to Otto Rehhagel, the German coach of the Greek team. Rehhagel coached FC Kaiserslautern, the team for the town in which I lived in Germany, including the critical 1996-97 seasons and 1997-98. Kaiserslautern had been relegated to the second division for the 96-97 season. Rehhagel led them to win the second division, and, upon promotion to the 1st division the following season, to win the championship in that division as well. I'd love to be in my old neighborhood of Astoria tonight!
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