A goal from Eder, at the 109 minutes of the match, was worth the European champion title to Portugal, an unprecedented title in Portuguese football, succeeding our neighbor Spain.
PORTUGAL is the Euro 2016 champion. No matter what anyone says or does, that will not change.
(photo from UEFA)
No matter what, we all (the Portuguese people) believed. It is easy to speak when things are over and we all know the end result but the reality is that even though we all have believed in the beginning, during the group phase we all doubt and at some point, we all throw the towel to the floor… except on man who had the task to lead the group and encourage a handful of great players: coach Fernando Santos!
📝 One-Minute Brief
This post celebrates Portugal’s historic UEFA Euro 2016 victory and humorously connects it to the Microsoft Integration community, explaining how the win will influence speaker bets and fun traditions at INTEGRATE 2017.
He said after the null against Austria (second match): “I only return to Portugal on the 11th, and I will be received at the party” – he was criticized/joked by everyone. I was one of those who believed that the only way for that to happen was if he was staying on holiday in France to see the other games.
Sorry for doubting you mister Fernando Santos… But we start to believe after we beat Croatia in the Round of 16… and you all know the rest of the story… we were unstoppable, tremendous efficiency, and despite a lot of criticism about him, I never saw Ronaldo playing so well for his team, and he was there when we needed him.
We are champions and the feeling is tremendously good, these are people that deserved this for many years!
But… how will this – Portugal being European Champion – affect the Integrate2017 in London, even without Saravana Kumar knowing yet?
Well, if you already attended to a BizTalk/Integrate event in London, you probably realized that sometimes we (the speakers) like to play tricks on each other… it happened in 2014 with Johan using a Canadian Hockey jersey (lost a bet against Kent), this year the revenge with a picture of Ken using a Swedish Hockey Jersey. And for that reason, I’m happy to publicly announce, again, even without Saravana Kumar knowing, we already have two confirmed speakers for Integrate2017:
- Steef-Jan Wiggers (wearing Pepe number 3 Portugal green jersey)
- and Mikael Hakansson (wearing Cristiano Ronaldo’s number 7 Portugal jersey)!
How did that happen?
Well, let’s say Portugal wasn’t the favorite team in our MVPs’ Integration WhatsApp group (Spain, Germany, or Belgium were the favorites), except for Kent Weare, who supported Portugal from day 1… So, after Croatia, even without knowing the results of Wales and Belgium and thinking we would play against Belgium, I bet with Steef-Jan Wiggers (then a Belgium supporter J) that Portugal would reach the final!
Why Pepe? Because he is a Barcelona fan and doesn’t like Pepe too much.
In the final, I had 99% support of all MVP’s with the exception of Mikael – the only one supporting French – and I had a bet with him, he gave power to Johan Hedberg to accept all the deals while he was in vacations, that if Portugal won the tournament he would have to wear the jersey your pet’s enemy: CR7 (also a Barcelona fan). He is now trying to find reasons to get away without fulfilling the bet.
In both cases, if I had lost, I would have worn the Barcelona jersey (Messi) (although he is a good player, it isn’t, by far, one of my favorite players) or used the Spain jersey in my session in London… uff, I’m safe from that! But in the end, I always believed!
Congratulations Portugal!
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finally we did it, viva portugal
Eh eh, I hope to be in London in 2017 to see them in Portuguese jerseys!
Congratulations to our Team! They may not have played the most engaging and enjoyable football, but as you said, were very very effective. They made us all very happy and proud!
I don’t know if I may have enjoyed it even more being outside of Portugal. What a party it was also here in Hamburg!
Abraço Sandro!
Dear author of this article.
Let me first congratulate you and Portugal on this tremendous achievement. Although I share contemt for Pepe (aka Pig-head) with the entitet world outside Portugal, om still happy for you.
Regering “the bet” in question, -It was called off before the game started. But, as the good sport that I am I volunteered to wear Steef-Jan’s Pepe shirt during my session (provided I’m doing one).
Regards
Mikael
Parabens Portugal!! 🙂
Wish I could be there, Sandro! If we could talk Javier into! 🙂
Hahaha, there are some sour losers among the comentaristas aqui. 🙂
Abraco!
Mauricio Feijo