First four wins, last four spot

The Czech Republic completed the semifinal lineup of Euro 2004 with three goals in the second half - two from Milan Baros and the other from...

The Czech Republic completed the semifinal lineup of Euro 2004 with three goals in the second half 8211; two from Milan Baros and the other from Jan Koller 8211; to defeat Denmark 3-0 yesterday.

The final-four lineup is one of the most unusual in the history of the championships, with hosts Portugal facing the Netherlands and Greece playing the Czechs. Long gone from the tournament are defending champions France and four other powers 8211; Italy, Spain, England and Germany.

After a dismal first half in the quarterfinal at Dragao Stadium in Porto, towering 6-foot-9 striker Koller opened the scoring in the 49th on a powerful header, and then Baros exploded with two goals to give him the tournament lead with five. He has scored in every game.

8220;If somebody had told me before the tournament I would have scored five goals, I wouldn8217;t have believed them,8221; Baros said. 8220;But dreams come true and I8217;m happy, but the most important thing is that we are in the semifinals and we will play against Greece and we will have to get ready for this game.8221;

8220;We knew before the game it was going to be difficult. They played all three games in their group and they played well. I think the important thing was we scored the first goal and started to play more offensive and scored two more goals and we finished the game after maybe 70 minutes.8221;

In the 63rd, the Liverpool forward lifted the ball over 8217;keeper Thomas Soerensen as the Dane came out to challenge. Two minutes later, he left-footed a rising shot from 25-metres that Soerensen clipped with his fingertips as it sailed into the net. The victory kept the Czechs as the only team with a perfect record in the tournament 8211; four wins.

After trailing in their three group games against Germany, the Netherlands and Latvia, the Czechs got ahead in this one and stayed there. The Danes were unbeaten with two draws against Sweden and Italy and a victory over Bulgaria.

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The Netherlands faces host Portugal on Wednesday in Lisbon8217;s Jose Alvalade Stadium.

The other semifinal matchup was completed on Saturday as the Netherlands ousted Sweden on penalties 5-4. After going 0-4 in previous shootouts in major championships, the Dutch finally delivered. The Netherlands had lost three previous shootouts to Denmark, France and Italy in European Championships.

Sweden now knows the pain. The Swedes had won their only other shootout in a major championship, beating Romania in the 8217;94 World Cup. Dutch 8217;keeper Edwin van der Sar was the hero. He guessed right and dived to his left to save a spot kick from Sweden captain Olof Mellberg to keep the shootout score tied at 4-4.

Arjen Robben then stepped up and calmly beat Swedish 8217;keeper Andreas Isaksson from the spot for the 5-4 victory.