Greece were finally put out of their misery last night when Russia knocked the defending champions out of Euro 2008. (Every time I write the words champions and Greece in the same sentence it still feels wrong.)
I warned a week ago, if Greece approached this tournament like they did the last – with the sole objective of defending their way to the title – they would be badly exposed by teams who would be ready for them.
And that is what happened. At least it means we can draw a line under the 2004 fiasco and move on.
Meanwhile, over in the French and Italian camps, fears are mounting that Holland will field a heavily weakened side for their final group game against Romania.
UEFA have confirmed that teams who don’t play their “strongest 11” in the final games will not be on the receiving end of any punishment.
And that has put Italy and France into panic mode.
“The credibility of both the tournament and European football is at stake. If you look at the way Holland beat both Italy and France, then the match with Romania should end similarly,” the head of Italy’s FA Giancarlo Albete said.
What this gentleman – and members of the French contingent too – are failing to take into consideration is that they would have done exactly the same thing if they were in Holland’s shoes.
Can you imagine either Italy or France, with six points in the bag, even contemplating the possibility of fielding key players in a match that means nothing? Never. They would be resting their stars left, right and centre. Fact.
Of course they could be worrying for nothing. There is every chance Holland will decide to field a strong team to keep their momentum going. Alternatively, their weakened team could be enough to see off Romania comfortably.
Pointing the finger at the Dutch is an easy cop out for the two World Cup finalists. The reality is that if they are looking for someone to blame for the fact their fates are not in their own hands, they should look no further than themselves.
If they had both beaten the Romanians as was expected of them, then their clash on Tuesday would have been a winner-takes-all encounter instead of the winner-might-take-nothing match it could turn out to be.
Tonight’s games see Switzerland take their bow from the tournament and, with Portugal set to rest some stars, they may even finally achieve their first ever European Cup victory. But don’t put money on it.
The other game sees Turkey and the Czech Republic going head-to-head and this could be the first time the new rule about teams on the same points comes into play.
If the teams are drawing at the end of the game then it will go to penalties to decide who joins Portugal in the next round.
The dreaded shootout might not be everyone’s cup of tea. But it is certainly better than the system they would have used – who performed better in the last World Cup.
That would just have been silly…