They may have missed out on their primary goal at the European Under-21 Championship but there will be no shortage of incentive for Portugal and Italy as they meet at the Goffert Stadion in Nijmegen with a place in next year's Olympic Games at stake.
Both sides failed to reach the semi-finals having finished third in their groups, with neither able to recover from taking only one point from their first two fixtures. Although Portugal overwhelmed Israel 4-0 in their concluding Group A fixture and Italy defeated the Czech Republic 3-1, their four-point totals kept them out of the top two.Normally that would have spelt the end of their campaigns but a reprieve was provided by England's progress to the last four; as Stuart Pearce's team will not compete in Beijing, Portugal and Italy have another chance to keep their Olympic ambitions alive.
It is an opportunity both are determined to grasp, although history is on Italy's side. The most successful Olympic football team having taken part in 14 tournaments, the Azzurrini were bronze medallists in Athens three years ago and have also won seven of their eleven competitive U21 matches against Portugal.
Coach Pierluigi Casiraghi treats such statistics with disdain, however, saying: "I don't care about the past. This is a special game, a kind of final. It is not followed by another match, it is not a group game and like all finals it will be decisive on its own, so it is useless to look at statistics. It will depend entirely on what happens during the game.
"Portugal are a completely different team to those we have played so far; they have a lot of quality and are technically and physically very strong," continued Casiraghi, who is likely to have captain Giorgio Chiellini and Luca Cigarini available after both shook off knocks.
"They have skilful players like Moutinho and Nani and strong midfielders in Veloso and Fernandes so we're quite well matched. We'll study them thoroughly as always but we have our style and some special players. We have to play independently from our opponents, because our players will always keep their own qualities."
Portugal coach Jose Couceiro has also studied the opposition in depth and believes his charges can use what has long been considered a traditionally Italian approach against its inventors. "Tactical preparation has improved on our part and many in Portugal may call it a lack of ambition," he said. "Well, that's what Italians have always done, they have studied the game since they were young. They know that there are moments when you don't take risks and just control the game. It will be a very even contest."
Portugal have played in only three Olympics, although two of those participations came in 1996 and 2004, and they finished fourth in the former competition - their best performance to date.
"I've protected the players by saying publicly that we wanted to reach the semi-finals and the Olympics," added Couceiro, who is set to risk Nani and Ricardo Vaz Te despite niggling injuries. "But they knew that we wanted much more. Unfortunately we couldn't reach that goal and now we have this new objective, qualifying for Beijing. We will do our best to get there."
[U21 Euro 2007 Championship Finals Schedule]
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