Twenty minutes into their Euro 2000 campaign Portugal looked to be in trouble. Two down to England in Eindhoven, their challenge was in danger of stalling before it even got started.

But from the moment Luis Figo smashed the ball past David Seaman from 25 yards Humberto Coelho's men have not looked back and it will now be a major shock if they are not playing in the semi-final in Brussels on Wednesday night.

There is no chance that they will underestimate Turkey, after all they have already created one shock by beating the co-hosts Belgium in their own back yard.

But the fact that Portugal's second string hammered the Germans 3-0 on Tuesday night suggests that they may at last be ready to fulfil their potential.

The current crop of players is arguably the strongest in the country's history. Having enjoyed success at youth level together they have suffered repeated disappointments since becoming full internationals.

Four years ago, at this same stage, they were expected to beat the Czech Republic but they froze on the day and lost 1-0.

Now they are four years older and four years wiser and they have players used to playing at the highest level. Luis Figo is arguably the best player in Europe and with the support of Joao Pinto, Rui Costa and the rest he is ready to show it on the biggest stage.

Figo suffered Champions' League heartache with Barcelona this season, losing out in the semi-final to Valencia and he does not want another disappointment.

Coelho's biggest decision will surround what to do with hat-trick hero Sergio Conceicao. He had been used as a substitute in the opening matches but the Lazio man presented an impressive argument for inclusion from the start of the quarter-final.

Turkish fans are guaranteed to out-number the Portuguese in the Amsterdam ArenA and the party to celebrate reaching the final stages of a major tournament for the first time has not properly stopped.

It is all a far cry from the second match when Turkey were disappointing against Sweden and with one point from two games there were calls for coach Mustafa Denizli to quit.

Two goals from Hakan Sukur against Belgium changed all that and now the team is guaranteed a memorable welcome when they return home to Istanbul but they hope that will not be for another four days at least.

They may have scraped into the championships with an away goals defeat of the Republic of Ireland but now they are in with the big boys.

On a night of many heroes, keeper Rustu Recber excelled in Brussels and he will have to be at his best again against as side that has scored seven goals so far.

Hard-working midfielders Suat, Ogun and Tayfur will ensure the talented Portuguese do not enjoy the space that England and Germany gave them.

But Italy showed that a good side will make plenty of chances against them in the space of 90 minutes.

Portugal are at last looking like a very good side and that is why they should have the class to send the Turks home.