Euro Mania!

PAULO DUARTE/AP

HOME FRONT: Portugal's Deco reacts as his side loses the opening match of Euro 2004 to Greece, at Porto's Dragao stadium.

The sporting event of the summer is now under way. sorry, Athens, but for football-crazy Europeans, not even the beloved Olympics fire the passions in the way that Euro 2004 is doing right now, with bone-deep grudge matches such as England vs. France and the Netherlands vs. Germany — and that's just in the first few days. In England, newspapers have already reached epic levels of xenophobia, likening last Sunday's game with France to Agincourt and Waterloo combined, while the white and red flag of St. George flies everywhere — from houses and cars, on clothes and in ads for everything...

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