The promise of substance, not style

But great football? Not tonight. The good news is, if there’s a lack of end-to-end excitement, it will be made up for in the riveting use of tactics and counter-plans.

Esepcially from the manner in which Greece play: not the football of aggression or adventure but of containment. The tactics of Otto Rehhagel demand that the players soak up pressure and grind the opposition down before finishing them off.

It has succeeded at Euro 2004 thanks to a mixture of underestimation, overconfidence and sheer weariness on the part of their opponents. Not so much, you notice, by Greeks scoring goals — there been only six in five matches.

And the goals, when they come, are not the kind to stick in the mind. Greece don’t do midfield dazzle; rather, long balls to Charisteas for a knock-down or a knock-on.

Don’t believe, though, that Greece are mindlessly defensive. Otto Rehhagel’s is a brain that plots different tactics for every match, often changing during a match. His obvious ploy is to use, and so negate, the opponents’ tactics — it’s a mirror image of sorts. Another is to do the unexpected, e.g the marking of the giant Jan Koller by the relatively diminutive Kapsis, who made up in speed and agility what he lacked in height.

Portugal, while apparently more adventurous, do not always use the attacking option and the high-stakes final offers no reason why they should. It’s easy to forget, in the blur of Ronaldo’s shimmy or the silver arc of Maniche’s Sidewinder missile strike, that Scolari’s Brazil got to the World Cup on the bedrock of defensive tactics, only to change once in Japan.

On Sunday night Portugal will be under tremendous pressure, as they were in their first match. An early goal for them could end the match as a contest: the Greeks have demonstrated just once at Euro 2004 — against Spain — that they can come back after being a goal down, that they can chase the game.

An early Greece goal, on the other hand, would open the game up. Portugal would be forced to attack and that’s when their wide men could come into their own. Especially testing the Greek ’keeper Nikopolidis, whose discomfiture with crosses was evident against the Czechs. What will concern Scolari, though, is his lack of strike power: there is no telling where the goal will come from, if at all.

One thing is sure, though: whichever team wins, however they play, whatever the scoreline, they would have deserved it. The purists can cry foul but on the night, one team has played and won. And that’s all that matters.

HOW PORTUGAL CAN SCORE

Portugal have scored in two ways at Euro 2004: through corners and crosses, and through spectacular volleys. The first could be more significant because Nikopolidis has shown vulnerability to crosses. Two of the goals have come from Ronaldo (1) in exactly the same fashion, heading in corners from Figo (7). Postiga (2) scored from a similar position, heading in a cross from Simao (3). The long-range strikes are stunning, from Rui Costa (4) against England, Nuno Gomes (5) against Spain and Maniche (6) from the edge of the area against Holland.

HOW GREECE CAN SCORE

Zagorakis (1) either goes on a run down the right (A) before crossing to Charisteas (2), or sends in a long ball (B). Charisteas can either shoot to score (C), as he did against France, or knock the ball down (D) to a teammate (3), who will score. Meanwhile Fyssas (4) rampages down the left (F), taking defenders with him.