Ecstatic Portugal fans partied the night away last night as football?s nearly men finally took centre stage as they blasted their way into the finals of the Euro 2004.

Packed in bars across the breadth of Bermuda the traditionally pessimistic Portuguese saw their team finally overcome their cup bogey with a thrilling 2-1 defeat of Holland.

Portugal, defeated in the 1984 and 2000 European Championship semis and in the last four at the 1966 World Cup, face the Czechs or Greeks on Sunday in Lisbon.

Above the noise of exultant exiled Azoreans in the Vasco de Gama Club in Reid Street chartered accountant Joe Barbosa said: ?It?s anybody?s game in the final.?

Earlier he had watched with nervous compatriots as his team edged ahead then missed chance after chance to bury the Dutch and then let them back into it with an own goal which was met with a silence punctuated with a few groans.

Unbridled joy greeted the final whistle and a small child was held aloft as fans sung ?Ole, Ole Ole? and then joined in with the national anthem.

Clad in the Portuguese colours from top to toe a grinning Joseph Robello rang friends and family on his mobile on the steps of the Reid Street venue.

The 34-year-old was born in Bermuda but the result still meant the world to him.

He said: ?It means everything, it?s my heritage. I am going all over the place to party. We are going to win it. We want Greece because they beat us in the first round.?

Bermudians joined in with the fun as drivers tooted their approval at they drove past.

Azorean landscaper Antonio Feleja said: ?It?s my country, my blood, everything is coming alive.?