WARSAW, Poland | As the four surviving teams gear up for their moment of truth at Euro 2012, the lesson from the losing quarterfinalists is clear: Don’t “park the bus.”

The phrase, widely attributed to Jose Mourinho during the Portuguese coach’s time at Chelsea, is a swipe at teams who play a defensive game by putting 10 or even all 11 players behind the ball. The image is of players arriving at the stadium on the team bus, and then leaving it parked in front of their goal.

It doesn’t work. At least not at this year’s European Championship.

Spain coach Vicente del Bosque says “these types of games, in this type of competition, are always very tense.”