The Netherlands have been losing penalty shootouts for more than half of Arjen Robben's life but the 20-year-old midfielder ended the jinx on Saturday to send his country into the Euro 2004 semi-finals.
When the quarter-final against Sweden ended 0-0 after extra time the Dutch nation could have been forgiven for thinking "oh no, not again" as the teams prepared for a shootout.
After winning the 1988 European Championship their side went out of the next three editions on shoot-outs and also lost the 1998 World Cup semi-final to Brazil in the same way.
They took the early initiative on Saturday when Zlatan Ibrahimovic blazed Sweden's third penalty over the bar.
But the demons came back when Philip Cocu's effort hit the post. Cocu was one of the players who failed in the 1998 World Cup semi-final and he looked devastated as he trudged back to where his team mates stood with linked arms.
It went to sudden death and Dutch keeper Edwin van der Sar brilliantly saved from Olof Mellberg. Robben then dispatched his shot into the net to take his country into a semi-final against Portugal on Wednesday with a 5-4 win.
The Dutch fans, so used to heartbreak, exploded with joy - in their last three European championship shoot-outs their team had missed five out of 14 attempts.
"It was the moment of my life in such a big tournament but I was very confident and thought I would score," Robben said.
"It's over now but it was very exciting and now it's one big party," Robben said. "Finally we won a penalty shootout. Today we fought until the end, stayed positive and finally we won."
Dutch coach Dick Advocaat, well aware of the previous problems, had prepared for the moment.
"I think we can do our job in the regular 90 minutes, but if necessary there is list of five players for the shootout," he said before the game.
"The list has existed since the second leg (of the qualifying playoff) against Scotland and we have given some extra attention to penalties."
One person glad not to be on the pitch was captain Frank de Boer who was substituted, injured, in the first half.
He failed with one attempt during normal time and another in the shootout against Italy in the Euro 2000 semi-final defeat.
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