Euro 2008 - Day 2: Lack of Finishing Hurts Austria as Croatia Walks Away with a 1-0 Win
June 9th 2008 18:29
Ranked 92nd in the FIFA rankings, Austria performed admirably well against a team that defeated England during qualification. Like the Czech Republic – Switzerland confrontation, the final scoring didn't reflect the tempo of the game. The Croats scored the only goal of the match in the fourth minute on a penalty kick. For the next twenty minutes, the team in blue completely dominated the play, often benefiting from an unstable Austrian defense. After that though, Austria slowly got over its nervousness and started to play some football, going as far as completely sieging the Croats' half of the field. The five-man midfield deployed by Josef Hickersberger certainly helped in that endeavor since the Croats couldn't get through the forest of red shirts in the middle except by using long balls to Ivica Olic.
Most of Austria's repeated attacks were conceived by two of their five midfielders – the captain Andreas Ivanschitz was menacing with his long-range shots that, unfortunately, didn't hit the target, and right winger Martin Harnik consistently delivered dangerous crosses in the box during the final third of the match. Ivica Vastic's entrance at the 61st minute was a nice boost to the Austrian attack as he helped to pressure the Croatian defense with some nicely distributed balls. All this effort didn't bring the expected result, however. Despite their dangerous plays, the Austrian forwards missed the net more often than not, and the Croats walked away with all three points.
Austria should be proud of their display. Apart from defensive errors in the first half, they were pretty convincing in the second but, like Switzerland, they are desperately in need of a goalscorer. The Croats seem to have the same problem with Eduardo out of the lineup. However, they have found a hardworking striker in Ivica Olic who played his heart out yesterday.
My man of the match: Ivica Olic. The forward was a real machine, running all night long until he was substituted in the 83rd minute. He gave a lot of trouble to the Austrian defense and helped to relieve the pressure during the second half in the rare occasions where Croatia managed to clear the ball out of their territory.
Honorable mentions:
- Luka Modric. The midfielder was the real maestro of his team in attack and was impeccable in his defensive positioning. He also scored the only goal of the match.
- Martin Harnik. Although he was invisible in the first half, it wouldn't be fair to appreciate his second half effort where he completely owned the right wing of Austria's attack.
Most of Austria's repeated attacks were conceived by two of their five midfielders – the captain Andreas Ivanschitz was menacing with his long-range shots that, unfortunately, didn't hit the target, and right winger Martin Harnik consistently delivered dangerous crosses in the box during the final third of the match. Ivica Vastic's entrance at the 61st minute was a nice boost to the Austrian attack as he helped to pressure the Croatian defense with some nicely distributed balls. All this effort didn't bring the expected result, however. Despite their dangerous plays, the Austrian forwards missed the net more often than not, and the Croats walked away with all three points.
Austria should be proud of their display. Apart from defensive errors in the first half, they were pretty convincing in the second but, like Switzerland, they are desperately in need of a goalscorer. The Croats seem to have the same problem with Eduardo out of the lineup. However, they have found a hardworking striker in Ivica Olic who played his heart out yesterday.
My man of the match: Ivica Olic. The forward was a real machine, running all night long until he was substituted in the 83rd minute. He gave a lot of trouble to the Austrian defense and helped to relieve the pressure during the second half in the rare occasions where Croatia managed to clear the ball out of their territory.
Honorable mentions:
- Luka Modric. The midfielder was the real maestro of his team in attack and was impeccable in his defensive positioning. He also scored the only goal of the match.
- Martin Harnik. Although he was invisible in the first half, it wouldn't be fair to appreciate his second half effort where he completely owned the right wing of Austria's attack.
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