Portugal v Greece: The hopes of the nation, not to mention those of UEFA and a Portuguese government that has invested about €700 million, will be riding on the backs of Figo, Rui Costa, Pauleta et al as they kick off Euro 2004 in Porto tonight against the far from mighty Greece.
As opening match opponents, Portugal could hardly have fared better since Greece should, in theory, offer an immediate chance to get both themselves and the competition off to a winning start. In practice, of course, Greece are unlikely to be pushovers, probably playing it tight in the hope that Portugal become increasingly frustrated if they fail to score early.
Greece's German coach, Otto Rehhagel, will also want to improve on the Greeks' showing at their last finals tournament, the 1994 World Cup, where they lost all three first round games against Argentina, Bulgaria and Nigeria.
For all that, only an emphatic win will be good enough for the Portuguese. Reports of tensions within the camp, prompted by speculation that Brazilian coach Felipe Scolari may sign as coach for Lisbon side Benfica, and by Figo's alleged criticism of his Brazilian-born, Portuguese-naturalised midfield team-mate Deco, all indicate that the sooner Portugal get the show on the winning road, the better.
Scolari, the man who led Brazil to World Cup glory two years ago, is likely to field a 4-2-3-1 line up, with Paris St Germain's Pauleta leading the attack and AC Milan's Rui Costa keeping Deco out of the team in a three-man midfield with Figo and Benfica's Sabrosa.
Greece, too, may feature a single striker in Atletico Madrid's Demis Nikolaidas, backed by Fiorentina's Zissis Vryzas and perhaps by Werder Bremen's Angelos Charisteas.
Italian referee Pierluigi Collina, the unofficial world number one official, should ensure the tournament gets off to a non-controversial start.
PROBABLE LINE-UPS
PORTUGAL: Ricardo; Ferreira, Couto, Andrade, Rui Jorge; Petit, Costinha; Figo, Rui Costa, Sabrosa; Pauleta.
GREECE: Nikopolidis; Dellas, Kapsis, Fyssas; Seitaridis, Giannakopoulos, Tsartas, Karagounis; Vryzas, Charisteas, Nikolaidas.
