Without Irish interest (again) in the Euros I was hoping to see the team that thrilled & charmed me most, over the course of the competition, be the one left standing with the cup when the dust finally settled. That, for me, was the Czechs - and ’twas with much bitterness that I greeted their tragic defeat.

In hindsight I’m more inclined to think “Fair play to the Greeks”. They may have won “ugly - from an idealised “beautiful game” perspective - but you can’t (four years on) help but admire the doggedness, superb organisation, team ethic and resilience that allowed them to pull it off.

The real “ugliness” was the “It’s not fair!” moaning and groaning that came from some corners of international football’s head table. There are few things less becoming than a sense of entitlement.

Big Phil Scolari (I think it was) had the grace to admit that it was up to the so-called “flair” teams to find a way to counter this flawlessly executed Greek strategy. And this after Portugal had lost (at home) in the final - when it would have been easy to reach for the sour grapes

The funny/scary (depending on how you see it) thing is that, though the system remains pretty much the same, they’ve possibly got an even better team this time. They finished miles ahead of 2nd place Turkey at the top of their qualifying group (10 wins, I draw, 1 defeat).

You never know…