Germany aside, semifinalists are underdogs of war

PARIS: England has never managed it, despite a world title, Italy hasn't achieved it for 40 years and the Azzurri's wait continues, as does Spain's - for now.

Whereas Europe's "Big three" of Germany, Italy, France have regularly picked off World Cup honors, where the European Championships are concerned the glory has in contrast been spread around with nine different winners suggesting smaller nations are punching above their weight.

Inspired by Dutch, Danish and Greek wins in the past two decades the likes of Portugal and the Dutch themselved arrived for Euro 2008 looking to show that you don't need a big population to finish top of the heap.