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By Carlos Pontes LISBON, June 30 - Ecstatic Portugal fans partied
from China to the Azores on Wednesday to celebrate the 2-1 win
over the Netherlands that put their team in the Euro 2004 final. Screaming fans draped in the national colours of green and
red poured into Lisbon's wide Liberty Avenue. Daredevils clambered high up the base of the capital's
signature statue of statesman Marques de Pombal to wave flags,
shouting, "Portugal! Portugal!" "I was suffering a lot, especially right at the end, but it
was worth it," said overjoyed Fernando Tavares, a national flag
wrapped around his neck. "Right now, I'm going to party and I'm going to skip work
tomorrow. Since I'm a public employee I can justify not going
in, because Portugal won." Portugal will play their first major final on Sunday against
the winner of Thursday's semi-final match between surprise
package Greece and the highly-fancied Czech Republic. Midfielders Cristiano Ronaldo and Maniche scored for
Portugal while the Netherlands got a consolation after an
unlucky own goal by defender Jorge Andrade. HONKING CARS Caravans of honking cars jammed with fans shut down traffic
in the whitewashed centres of towns in the rolling Alentejo,
Portugal's main agricultural region. Flags were waved from balconies over cobblestoned streets
filled with cheering fans on the Atlantic islands of Madeira and
the remote Azores, radio stations reported. Portugal Prime Minister Jose Manuel Durao Barroso, named to
head the European Commission this week, told the Lusa news
agency, "The final? As I've said before, the sky's the limit." On the other side of the world, thousands of cheering
supporters thronged streets in Dili, the capital of the former
Portuguese colony of East Timor, just before dawn on Thursday,
the Lusa news agency reported. Hundreds of sleepless Portuguese defied high winds and rain
kicked up by Typhoon Mindulle to crowd bars in Macau, a one-time
Portuguese enclave on China's coast, to watch the win on TV and
celebrate, Lusa said. "There is no argument about our win. Only Portugal scored
goals," said Fernando Silva, a computer technician, as he strode
up Lisbon's Liberty Avenue. "I'm more and more certain that Portugal are going to be
European champions."
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