30th Avenue went wild when a crowd of elated fans flooded the streets in celebration of Greece defeating the Czech Republic in the Euro 2004 semi-finals on Thursday. In response to the impromptu celebration, police quickly closed off the thoroughfare to traffic and new pedestrians between 30th and 33rd Street, shortly after 6:00PM.

Bottle rockets, Roman candles and Blockbusters exploded, as the fans waved Greece's colors proudly, chanting "Dellas", the name of the Hellenic player who scored the winning goal in Thursday's 1-0 victory. In a town with the largest Greek population outside of Greece, the Avenue had hosted the Athens-bound relay of the Olympic Flame just one week prior.

Greece, who was a longshot by 80-1 this year, will advance to the finals to play Portugal on Sunday. It will be the first time in 40 years that a Euro final will be pitted between two first-time finalists. Knowing the NYPD, they are probably already drawing up plans for Astoria, should the underdog win their first Euro Cup . . .