Greeks wildly celebrated their shock 2-1 win over Euro 2004 hosts Portugal on Saturday as turning a golden page in their soccer history and a good omen for the Athens Olympic Games in August.
"I'm in seventh heaven. This has been a brilliant page in Greek football history. A golden page," said Efthimis Matsis, 70, a pensioner at his local cafe.
Greece's victory in the tournament's opening game at last wiped out memories of a national team that failed to score a goal in three matches at their last appearance in a major tournament, the World Cup in the United States 10 years ago.
"I didn't expect it. Nobody did. This morning I discussed the match with my friends at our usual cafe and we all agreed that if we just drew that would be a great victory," Matsis said.
Greek Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis sent an immediate congratulatory telegram to the team and fans poured on to Athens streets from cafes and bars where many watched the match on television.
In the final minutes of the game, waiters stopped serving drinks and food, joining fans in fixing their eyes on television screens.
Young men paraded around the main Syntagma Square with Greek flags draped over their shoulders as cars circled the square with horns blowing.
Mobile phone networks were stretched to capacity as congratulatory messages were flashed from friend to friend throughout the country.
George Anagnostopoulos, a painter and owner of a gallery in the city's main tourist district of Plaka said his worries that this August's Olympic Games would not set off a tourist boom had lifted.
"No matter what else happens in the tournament from now on, the win today is going to be a big positive for the success of the Games," he said. "It is going to make people more interested in the success of Greek athletes at the Games and just raise the mood in general."
Greece has withstood a barrage of international criticism about the Games because of delays in preparations.
Konstantinos Vanos, creative director of an advertising agency, agreed the Games had received a big boost.
"This has to be a good omen for the Olympics. We needed it and we got it through the boys today. The mood of the whole nation is going to be lifted. "
