Scolari Puts Portugal in Unfamiliar Territory
This comes as hard news to Europe, which considers itself both curator and connoisseur of the global game, but the 2004 European Soccer Championship is being dominated by a balding, paunchy Brazilian almost old enough to be Wayne Rooney’s grandfather.
With apologies to Milan Baros, the Czech forward who leads all scorers with five goals, and Urs Meier, the Swiss referee who disallowed England’s potential quarterfinal-winning goal, no man has made more of an impact at Euro 2004 than Luiz Felipe Scolari, the 55-year-old coach who on Wednesday delivered Portugal to its first appearance in a major tournament final.
By virtue of its 2-1 semifinal victory over the Netherlands in Lisbon, Portugal will face the Czech Republic or Greece in Sunday’s championship final, a historic departure for the notorious Iberian underachiever.
How historic?
John Motson, chronicling the event for BBC television, responded to the final whistle by breathlessly telling viewers, “Five-hundred years ago, the explorer Vasco de Gama discovered a new world from these parts. And now Portugal are in uncharted territory in their football history -- their first major final!”
Like De Gama, Scolari had to travel a great expanse of water to get the job done.
Two years ago to the day, Scolari directed his native Brazil to the 2002 World Cup. It was Brazil’s fifth World Cup title, but the first to be considered a surprise.
The Brazilians had struggled just to qualify for the tournament. They arrived in Asia widely expected to spin out no later than the quarterfinals. Skeptics said Scolari’s team might lead the tournament in fouls committed, but nothing more.
On June 30, 2002, Scolari watched Ronaldo hoist the golden trophy after scoring both goals in a 2-0 victory over Germany.
Twenty-four months later, Scolari watched another Ronaldo, 19-year-old Cristiano Ronaldo, hoist the remnants of Portugal’s so-called “golden generation” into a Euro final that had been anticipated for so long, many forgot it was still a possibility.
The “golden generation” of Luis Figo and Rui Costa and Fernando Couto, which created such optimism in Portugal by winning the 1989 and 1991 youth world championships, was just olden by the time Euro 2004 kicked off. The team looked as tired as the hype in an opening 2-1 loss to Greece at Porto, and the country was sick of the disappointment.
Between 1991 and 2004, Portugal failed to qualify for the 1994 and 1998 World Cups and was ousted in the first round in 2002. The record at the European Championship was moderately better: failed to qualify in 1992, lost in the quarterfinals in 1996, eliminated in the semifinals in 2000.
These Portuguese get their last chance in 2004, on home soil, and with an unwanted foreigner as coach, the team is 0-1 after supposedly being handed a gift assignment in Greece.
Scolari responded by shaking up his lineup. He benched five starters, including Rui Costa and Couto, replaced 75% of his backline, brought on Ronaldo and playmaking midfielder Deco, a naturalized Brazilian essentially recruited by Scolari for the national team.
Scolari and Deco, the boys from Brazil, dealt with controversy from the outset. Figo, the Portuguese captain, clashed with Scolari over Deco’s inclusion on the roster, even as Deco was helping Porto win the European Champions League club title. Scolari, ever the pragmatist, deferred to Figo’s wishes for all of 45 minutes. Once Portugal’s veterans fell behind Greece, Rui Costa was on the bench and Deco on the field to start the second half.
Scolari’s retooled lineup did not yield another goal in group play, recording a 2-0 victory over Russia before beating rival Spain for the first time since 1981, while staring elimination in the face, 1-0.
In the quarterfinal against England, Portugal was pushed to the brink again, down, 1-0, late in the second half when Scolari, preferring heresy to defeat, benched Figo.
Figo couldn’t believe it. Neither could most of the country. If looks could kill, Figo’s withering glare would have sent off Scolari right there.
And then, Figo’s replacement, Helder Postiga, headed in the equalizing goal, sending Portugal into extra time and then to a shootout, where Portugal prevailed, 6-5.
Scolari was punching all the right buttons, even at the expense of pushing Figo’s. Between the quarterfinal and semifinal, Scolari took pains during his media briefings to defuse the Figo controversy, urging the team and the nation to pull together for the unprecedented opportunity the match against the Dutch represented.
Figo responded with his best performance of the tournament, hitting the goalpost in the first half and pressuring the Dutch defense with dangerous runs throughout the match.
Deco and Ronaldo combined on the game’s first goal, Deco serving the corner that Ronaldo headed into the Dutch net in the 26th minute. Ronaldo caught the Netherlands’ defense off-guard with the second goal, quick-kicking a corner on the ground to Maniche, who was driving the ball in off the far post before the Dutch could figure out what was happening.
Scolari was back in the final, with his second team in as many major tournaments, bidding to become the first coach to win both the World Cup and the European Championship.
Portuguese soccer officials, beside themselves, immediately agreed to extend Scolari’s contract through the 2006 World Cup. This kind of success, so long in coming, is a powerful, addictive thing. So what if it had to be imported from Brazil?
In Portugal today, they are calling it, simply, good business.
