That's from the Greek newspaper Ethnos Daily, in response to Greece's unbelievable 1-0 victory over the Czech Republic. After having become the first team in Eurocup history to defeat both the host nation (Portugal) and the reigning champions (France), the Greeks went and did the impossible again, beating the winningest team in the tournament - the Czechs had won all three games in the qualifying round, making them the only 9-point team of the tournament - to secure a trip to Sunday's final match against Portugal in what will now essentially be a re-match of the Eurocup's inaugural game.
The Greeks are deliriously happy right now, and they should be. With the world breathing down their backs about the Olympic preparations, they've gone and reminded everyone that Sport is supposed to be about something more than the timely construction of luxury accomodations for IOC officials and their corporate sponsors. Let the paint still be wet and the domes half-built; let the Olympic village be a village in the Greekest sense of the word; let there be ribbons of yellow caution tape fencing off half the city. Whether the facilities are ready or not, when the world comes to Athens next to month they will find the Greeks ready to compete. Isn't that what it's all about?
Win or lose Sunday, the Greeks have already won. I was telling my friend yesterday at the pub while we watched the game that if Greece could beat the Czechs, it would be like the Battle of Marathon; but even if they lost, it would still be Thermopylae, as their 50-1 journey from the qualifying rounds to the semifinals has been nothing short of heroic. If the football Gods decide that Portugal should be allowed to even the score with the team that humiliated them at the outset of this tournament, then so be it. But I'm hoping nevertheless that those Gods remain demented for just a little longer, so that Greece can take home a championship that it has earned against all odds.
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