Austria 0-1 Croatia

Conventional wisdom would have had an early goal for Croatia offering up the platform for a resounding win. Conversely the Austrians would have been expected to fold given the form guide going into the tournament. As it was the early penalty kick turned into a curse for Croatia and a blessing for Austria.

The early goal (a dead-cert penalty decision) seemed to dull Croatia’s appetite for the game as they failed to string passes together in any meaningful way. Without Ivica Olic the Croatian attack would have been completely anemic with Petric utterly anonymous.

With Croatia showing little ambition to increase their early lead the Austrian’s slowly settled into the game, grew in confidence and from the 30th minute onwards they dominated large chunks of the match.

Croatia allowed Austria far too much space in midfield as time and time again the co-hosts were allowed time to look up and to pick out their targets. Modric and Srna were particularly culpable as Austria regularly found Martin Harnik on the right side with raking crossfield passes.

Substitutions by Croatia’s manager Slaven Bilic failed to turn the ever increasing tide of Austrian attacks while each change rung by opposite number Josef Hickersberger upped the pressure on the Croatian defence.

In the end Croatia played poorly but still took three points; for Austria a glorious loss.

Three games gone and no surprises - so far.


Germany 2-0 Poland

After an early goal in the first game of the day, we could have had two in the first five minutes of this one. The first chance fell to Poland after Lehmann chose to try and gather a cross under pressure rather than punching clear. The fumble dropped awkwardly to Jacek Krzynówek who shot over from just outside of the box.

Only a couple of minutes later Klose caught the Polish back four flat-footed and square and was left with a clear run on goal. Rather than shooting Klose opted to pass to Gomez who in arriving late had to stretch to make contact.  It made for a weak connection  and the ball rolled agonizingly past the post.

Both incidents were to be harbingers as the first half progressed. Krzynówek was the central focus of most of the Polish attacks, while Klose again beat a stagnant Polish defensive line to find himself one-on-one with Boruc.

Once more Klose opted to pass but this time it was Lukas Podolski who was in support and he potted the chance. By half time it could well have been 3-1 as Germans continued to press with purposeful play and although Poland continued to look shaky under pressure they still carved out a great chance for Zurawski.

Half time substitute Roger Guerreiro helped Poland to their best period of pressure in the first twenty minutes of the second half but after Podolski scored with twenty minutes left a German win was never in doubt.

Podolski produced the best individual performance of the tournament so far and it was not just down to his two goals. Starting on the left side of midfield Podolski worked hard getting up and down the park and was a constant irritant to Poland.

Germany will be happy with the result and satisfied with the performance. Poland can take something away from this game as well. The defence and midfield settled down after a wobbly start but they look to have same problem as a number of other countries at his tournament – no one to finish at the business end.




Comment of the Day

In my Spain preview I included this comment - "Spain’s soft spot might be in midfield and that in turn may put the centre of defence under stress and strain. In midfield tidy passing types pervade but they may turn out to be lightweight over potentially three weeks of competition. Ball possession may not be a problem but moving the ball quickly to the strikers could be".

Writing in The Times Gabriele Marcotti provided his thoughts on the Spanish dilemma and in the process he included some memorable alliteration.

"Cesc Fabregas may be the best foreign midfielder not named Michael in the Premier League, but it holds little stock with Luis Aragones, the Spain manager. His place with Spain is in serious jeopardy which, frankly, seems extraordinary until you look at the midfielders at Aragones' disposal. For whatever reason, Spain excels at producing pint-sized pass-happy pixies: Xavi, David Silva and Andres Iniesta are all in the same mould, creative little fellas who can pass the ball to death. The problem is, you can only fit so many of them in your team.

Already Aragones is having to deploy Iniesta and Silva wide, despite the fact that both are probably more suited to a central role. And while deploying Xavi and Cesc together in the middle is a sexy idea, Spain need at least one holding midfielder, otherwise they'll be steamrollered. And that spot goes to Marcos Senna. Which means that Aragones has two options: he can either go with a 4-5-1 formation (but that would mean leaving out the in-form David Villa) or he can make a difficult choice between Xavi and Cesc. And, in that case, Xavi would be favored by a mile. It's debatable that he's a better player, less debatable is that he's more experienced and plays his football in Spain which means that, if things go horribly wrong, Xavi's exclusion is likely to haunt Aragones for far longer."

Group B

Austria
Austria has never played in the Euro Championships Finals.  


How they qualified
It was an epic struggle that was played out in the soccer boardrooms, conference centres and bars of Europe. Along the way Russia, Hungary, four Nordic countries, Croatia and Bosnia,
Greece and Turkey, Scotland and Ireland were all outmanouvered and eventually beaten by a unprecedented and overpowering display of power point presentations, computer animations, and scenic views of very large snow capped mountains.


The Coach
Josef Hickersberger is in charge of the national team for a second time having helped Austria to Italia ’90. However, a shock 1-0 loss to the Faroe Islands in Euro ’92 qualifying brought his first spell to an abrupt end. This was the Faroe Islands first win in a competitive competition and the two countries have been drawn together in World Cup 2010 World Cup qualifying.


Key Players
Former Sunderland and Chelsea goalkeeper Jurgen Macho looks set to start for Austria. Macho moved to Rapid Vienna for a short spell after leaving Stamford Bridge and then switched to Kaiserlautern in Germany before settling at AEK Athens last summer. Captain Andreas Ivanschitz is another Greek based player and is on a two year loan with Panathinaikos and generally plays in an attacking midfield role.


Great Euro Memory
The announcement on December 12, 2002 by then UEFA President Lennart Johannsen  that Austria and Switzerland would stage the tournament.


Synopsis
Austria’s performances on the international stage have been so bad that at one point some fans raised a petition calling for the team to default and allow another country to take their place.

(Remenbering their success in 1992 after entering through the backdoor the Danes were excited at that prospect but nothing came of it.)

Unusually for a host nation expectations are at rock bottom. It is certainly a long way from the iconic Austrian side of the early 30s or even the team of Hans Krankl that went to the 78 and 82 World Cups. One win would be better than expected for this Austrian side.


Coming Up in World Cup Qualifying
In Group 7 together with France, Romania, Serbia, Lithuania and Faroe Islands.



Croatia
Croatia previously qualified for the 1996 and 2004 finals and made it to the quarter finals in 1996 before losing 2-1 to the eventual tournament winners Germany.


How they qualified
As every English supporter can tell you Croatia won Group E with a game to spare and five points better than runners-up Russia. Eduardo da Silva was the man that led the scoring for Croatia with ten goals – only three behind David Healy of Northern Ireland who led all scorers with thirteen. Mladen Petric was next with seven goals.


The Coach
Charismatic coach Slaven Bilic was in charge of the Under-21 side before stepping up to the senior team two summers ago. Bilic was member of the 1996 Euro side and also played two years later in the team that finished third at the World Cup in France.

As a player he plied his trade in Germany and in England with West Ham and Everton. A successful Euro 08 will only fuel the speculation that a managerial move to a Premiership team will come sooner rather than later.  


Key Players
The team is extremely well balanced although playmaker Luka Modric has received most of the attention to date.  Modric has already signed for Tottenham Hotspur a next season he will play in the Premiership.

Croatia must get over the loss of top striker Eduardo da Silva who had his leg horrifically broken earlier this year while playing for Arsenal in the Premiership. Borussia Dortmund striker Mladen Pertric might pick up the slack.

Ivica Olic is more than capable of scoring goals as is Parma striker Igor Budan who enjoyed a good run of form towards the end of the Serie A season. The midfield is another area of strength with Niko Kranjcar a recognizable name to followers of the Premiership. The Kovac brothers Niko and Robert provide years of top class experience to the team both in defence and midfield.


Great Euro Memory
After beating Turkey 1-0 in their very first finals game in 1996, Croatia followed the result up with an emphatic 3-0 shellacking of reigning champions Denmark. All three goals came in the second half with a double from Davor #### and he also set up the other for Zvonimir Boban.


Synopsis
Croatia is considered to be a dark horse and one of the leading second tier contenders after the likes of France, Italy, and Germany. If there is a weakness in the side it may be in goal with Spartak Moscow keeper Stipe Pletikosa.


Coming Up in World Cup Qualifying
Will meet England once again as well as Ukraine, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Andorra in Group 6.


Part One - History and background

Part Two – Portugal and the Czech Republic

Part Three - Switzerland and Turkey


Part 5 coming up on Sunday - Germany  and Poland.

Predictions Part 10 - June 6