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."

Ukraine must feel like they've been invited to a mugging. The first one was a poor goal to lose - bad marking and the keeper didn't look overly smart. The second goal was a wicked deflection that left Shovkovski without much of a hope.

Senna is solid in midfield while I don't think Alonso and Xavi have misplayed a pass yet. Garcia is doing what he does - flitting between midfiled and attack. Villa is a fire-plug up front.

Ukraine is seriously shell-shocked and need a quick break at the start of the second half if they are to get back into this one. They're tentative on the ball and can't match the Spanish speed and movement.

Spain is cooking here, their distribution is outstanding and they are playing with such pace that the Ukraine just can't keep up with them.

The midfield of Alonso, Senna and Xavi is dominant.

Spain is cooking here, their distribution is outstanding and they are playing with such pace that the Ukraine just can't keep up with them.

The midfield of Alonso, Senna and Xavi is dominant.