Otto's a guiding light

Incredible as that exhortation must have sounded at the time, with the doomsayers suggesting that the building site which was still Athens spelt the prospect of a calamitous Games, the transformation in civic confidence here since the 4 July has been so dramatic that the thought of a spectacular success now doesn't seem so outlandish.

Ticket sales are suddenly booming, the venues look magnificent in the sunshine and the new road and rail infrastructure has passed its first test. Since arriving on Sunday, it's taken me aback to find the city seeming so much less frazzled and frantic than usual. Even though the mass exodus of 40,000 a day escaping from Olympic madness via Piraeus harbour to the Greek islands may have something to do with that, hopefully, it's not too premature to say Athens looks to have timed its run perfectly.

Some will argue that, regardless of the Euro 2004 triumph, the city would have eventually got its act together, especially since folk here love to laugh about the ancient fine art of Athenian brinkmanship. Yet most do not believe the sharp increase in ticket sales following the triumph was a coincidence and even chief Athens organiser Gianna Angelopoulos-Daskalaki recognised the team's success as the major catalyst in this spectacular late, late show.

"They were Greece's best possible advertisement before the Olympics," she said, admitting that it therefore feels quite appropriate that Greek football should be asked to kick off the whole event tomorrow night - even before the Games are officially declared open on Friday.

The Greek women will take on the glamour USA side in Heraklio, Crete, in their first Olympic group match before the men tackle Korea in Thessaloniki, the country's second city, a couple of hours later.

Athens will watch from afar and cheer, recognising how, after Rehhagel's tour de force, a Greek Under-23 men's team, coached by an old Greek footballing record-breaker and featuring one of their new Euro 2004 heroes, could provide the perfect lift-off for them.

"It will be an incredible and emotional night in Thessaloniki," said Angelopoulos-Daskalaki. Nobody doubts it now even if few were bothered-about the Olympic football tournament here until the Euro 2004 success. All the focus then seemed to be upon Greece's main golden hopes, reigning 200m champion Kostas Kenteris and their weightlifting hero Pyrros Dimas.

Now, though, it is all different. Suddenly, people here believe the Greek men's side now really have a chance in a tournament which is expected to be dominated by Italy, who have Milan midfield star Andrea Pirlo running the show, and Argentina, who have brought Barcelona's Javier Saviola, Roberto Ayala, of Valencia, and Manchester United's new signing Gabriel Heinze along (much to Sir Alex Ferguson's irritation).

At first, the Greeks had been expected to field at least a couple of their Euro 2004 stalwarts in the Olympic squad since each team are allowed to pick some over-age players but coach Stratos Apostolakis, the former Panathinaikos defender who is the most capped Greek international, has instead given an opportunity to those who didn't quite make the Portugal squad.

The one common link between the Euro 2004 team and the youngsters is Dimitrios Papadopoulos, the 22-yearold Panathinaikos striker who played for only nine minutes in the final in Lisbon but is seen as the man who epitomises the prospects of a healthy future for Greek football.

Like his Euro 2004 colleagues, though, Papadopoulos also symbolises the idea that anything is possible for anyone at these Games. Three years ago, he was bought by Burnley for £750,000 and two seasons and only three goals later, sold for just £270,000.

The reject is now a European champion, a superstar in his homeland and was last spotted running with the Olympic torch on Sunday night.

That's the glory of the Euro 2004 boys' fairytale. Last week, GB men's hockey coach Jason Lee roared: "We are going to try to bite people on the bum. We are going to be the Greece and the Porto."

Not very elegant but we know what he meant. There's a whole swathe of Olympians here who feel that, with a touch of the determination, courage and self-belief of King Otto's troops, they can all have their day. And they're not all Greek.