Admit it. Who, apart from the dedicated country folk of those involved, would have picked out the Czech Republic, Holland, Greece and Portugal as the Euro 2004 semi-finalists? Few amateur pundits would have selected these four teams ahead of the likes of France, Spain, Italy, Germany and England. But in the next few days, these teams will not only do battle for a place in the final but one of them will be crowned European Champions 2004.

So what happened to all the big guns? Why does the line-up for the Euro 2004 semi-finals look more like an upset? While nothing should be taken away from the four teams remaining, questions are being asked as to why the five countries with the richest domestic leagues in European soccer are all out of Euro 2004.

One popular theory doing the rounds centers on the fact that the players featuring in the surviving teams are drawn from clubs all across the continent, where they have spent seasons learning their trade in a number of leagues, testing themselves against opposition of different mentalities and honing their own physical and mental skills in other environments.

There's no place like home

When looking at the big teams that crashed of Euro 2004, especially Germany and Italy, they all drew their squads almost entirely from within their domestic leagues. The exceptions were few. Germany featured Didi Hamann who plays his football in England with Liverpool; England players David Beckham and Owen Hargreaves were the only ones working abroad and Fernando Morientes, on loan at Monaco and alleged to be on his way to London to become a Chelsea player, was the one man who had to be summoned from abroad by Spain.

But this explanation that insularity has been the downfall loses credibility when you look at the all-conquering France team of the last few years. World Cup winners and European Champions, the France team of 1998-2002 was a collection of supremely talented individuals who had been moulded by the well-organized French training scheme during international get-togethers at home but played their club soccer all over the world. Unparalleled success came from a group of players cast to the four winds. But then unfathomable disappointment came from the same players in the same situation in 2004.

World rankings off the scale

So why is it that, of the four semi-finalists, only Holland features in FIFA's top 10 of the world's best soccer nations, being the third best European nation at number five overall? Does the world game's governing body really have it so wrong? After the loss to 35th placed Greece and the subsequent quarter-final elimination, how can France be second only to Brazil? How is it possible that Spain, ranked the third best team on the planet, fail to even get past the group stage, a fate shared by the tenth-placed Italians?

Maybe the expectations were too generous for some of the big teams. Italy floundered at the last World Cup and it was widely considered to be a mistake to give Giovanni Trapattoni a second chance at Euro 2004 after dragging the Azzurri into such a base outfit. England too, as number 13 in the world, was entering the tournament with a familiar shroud of hype over them. Sven Goran Eriksson's team wilted in the gaze of real quality when they lost to Brazil in the quarter-final in Japan in 2002 and qualified for Euro 2004 without flying colors.

Germany's elimination from Portugal was less mysterious. After surprising everyone including themselves, the Germans reached the last World Cup final and were awarded eighth in the world rankings. It was always unlikely that Rudi Völler could repeat that feat with the current set of players.

Natural skill and team work

Could it be, heaven forbid, that it's really just down to talent and hard work? Do the nations that previously held the mantle of "big" really have such a dearth in natural ability and lack training schemes disciplined enough to push them to the top of the game? When you eliminate the other possible reasons, this could just be it.

From the expressions of despair on the faces of Beckham, Henry, Raul et al, it can hardly be a lack of passion or love for their country. It may be true that the Czechs and the Portuguese show immense pride and raise their performances accordingly when pulling on their countries' shirts but performances from some losing sides suggest that is the case there also.

Tired legs just don't kick it

The excuse of tired legs after gruelling domestic seasons and involvement in club competitions which finish almost back-to-back with the start of major international tournaments once held sway. Looking at England's shattered midfield against Portugal, and most of the French team expiring visibly against Greece, this could once again be a justification for tiredness leading to failure - until you consider the Italians and Germans play fewer league games than most of Europe in Serie A and the Bundesliga respectively and that many players in the big teams didn't feature in the latter stages of the major club cup competitions.

Also, the Portugal team is built on the backbone provided by Portuguese league, cup and Champions League winners, Porto, a club which featured the still motivated and perky Deco, Ricardo Carvalho, Maniche and Costinha in a huge amount of games last season.

The tide has turned and no-one is really sure why. But a new order is emerging headed by a group of talented and well-drilled teams which can only be good for the game. Now the teams formerly known as "big" know what they need to do and who to beat to be competitive -- with soccer the ultimate winner.