When Portugal started the Euro 2016 journey, people dismissed the team and even prophesised that the team will not go far during the tournament.
The team moved on, slow but sure, struggling but steady until it qualified for the finals. Still people did not want to believe that the team would win the Euro 2016 finals against the legendary France.
If there people who doubted this team’s capability to win the finals were the football gamblers who opted to bet for France as they knew that the team would trample over Portugal like an elephant trampling over a thicket.
But they were in for a rude shock for on Sunday night, during the Euro 2016 finals, Portugal, for the first time in a decade won the title. This was its first major championship. Christiano Ronaldo, the best player and the brightest of the team left the game in the 25th minute and the team did not lose hope but played on.
“We said that with or without Ronaldo we had to win. We had to win it for him,” said Pepe, the Portugal defender.
France was confident to take the title. Some football analysts say that the overconfidence of France was their greatest undoing. France was playing on their home field and on the soil they won the 1998 World Cup and they strongly believed that history was going to repeat itself but it worked against them. Portugal disappointed them by beating them 1:0 during an extra time on the 109th minute through Eder who swooped through the middle to fire a low shot that went past France goalkeeper Lloris Hugo.
Kenyans who are now watching football not because of the fun of the game but because of the money they have placed for bet are both celebrating and mourning. The few who had bet for Portugal are smiling and those who had massively placed a bet for France are mourning.