Imo Greece won 04 just by taking all the teams by surprise with their "duh, we'll just friggin cement the way to our goal and take the rare counter attack" tactic. In an age when most teams play fast, offensive football, their tactic standed out like a bum in a 5 star hotel. I think Greece kinda did something like Denmark in 92, but then again Denmark won their cup in a much, much better style. Greece's failure to qualify to the current WC is the aftermath of other teams cracking their game style, and discovering weak points.

As for "every team has the same chances in a cup"... nope. Not every team. There are no miracles in football, and if a team goes far in a tourney it's because they have skilled players, good coach and are perfectly fit both physically and mentally. There are exceptions ofc, but these are rare cases.

Name one. Name one true miracle that happened in the history of football.

And i'm not talking about a weaker team beating a better team, like, for example, FC Kopenhagen beating Barcelona 3-0, because such matches are purely dependant on a series of factors like the disposition of the day, mental/physical state of players, tactics choosen, place in which the game is played (home vs away), coach etc.

I mean, like, Norther Irish team of Linfield winning the Champions League. Or Singapore winning World Cup. That's a miracle, and things like that don't happen.

Man a tourney is just one game after the other. What you describe above with team Z is almost exactly what happened to Greece in last EC. Denmark won 92 although they weren't even quailified (they traveled from holidays to EC....). Germany won 1954 although they lost their first game versus later final enemy 3-8. Manchester won the CL 99 with 2 goals in the 2 last minutes. Liverpool won versus AC in CL final last year, although they already lay back 0-3. FC St. Pauli beat the German League Winner of two years ago in quarter final of the national cup...they are not even payed players, they are normal guys. And man you say there are no miracles in soccer? Man thats crap.

Cya,
Absti

Ok man if you think so..

I just recommend watch more soccer.

Bye,
Absti

btw. the final of 54 is here even known as "miracle of Bern"..just concerning your "there are no miracles" theory.