Austria - Poland ( Austria - Polonia)
Victory Now Vital – For Both Teams
After losing their opening matches in Group B, neither co-hosts Austria nor tournament debutants Poland can afford to be beaten on Thursday in their crucial second outings. If neither of last Sunday’s defeats was entirely unexpected, Austria at the hands of Croatia; Poland by the Germans, then the fighting qualities of the Austrian performance certainly surprised many.They were undone by Luka Modric's early winning penalty for Croatia – awarded for a foul by Rene Aufhauser and the fastest-ever spot-kick in the tournament – but went on to give Slaven Bilic’s side a real run for their money, and finished the game looking by some distance the more likely to score the next goal against a tired looking Croatian team.
Nevertheless, the 1-0 defeat, following Switzerland’s by a similar score 24 hours earlier, meant Austria had become the sixth host nation to lose their opening match of a European Championship tournament. Now they must strive to avoid joining Belgium (2000) as the only host country not to survive the group stage since the introduction of the knock-out rounds in 1984. Since then, seven teams have managed to survive the group stage after losing their opening match. Portugal and England were the last teams to achieve this, at Euro 2004.
Austria’s defeat by Croatia also means they have still not won a game at a major tournament since 1990, although they can take much encouragement from a spirited display that flew in the face of their recent form - a mere two wins in 16 matches, which had left morale at a low ebb going into the tournament.Referring to the penalty, coach Josef Hickersberger acknowledged: "This is the worst possible start you can have in an opening game of a tournament. After four minutes, we conceded a goal and we took some time to recover. For the first 30 minutes, the team wasn't playing well, we were nervous. But after that, we followed our tactical plan and we did it well.
We even dominated the second half."He added however, "The team is very depressed," so it is to be hoped he has managed to lift them in the meantime, because they showed, especially in the second half, that they are better than they seem to think they are. After losing his opening game in the qualifying As for Poland, they will be hoping to shrug off their opening defeat against the powerful and impressive Germans, in the same way that they bounced back after losing their first game in the qualifying tournament, eventually finishing on top of their group ahead of Portugal
Austria
Hickersberger is hopeful striker Roland Linz will have recovered from the ankle injury he suffered against Croatia, but Roman Kienast will come in should Linz not be deemed fit enough. Linz trained on Tuesday despite being told to rest by the team doctor, and Hickersberger said: "I was surprised that he did take part but he wanted to fight for his place in the starting team." Kienast, who came off the bench to play for 17 minutes against the Croats, is looking to start. “I hope I will play from the beginning but that is up to the coach," he said. "I am happy Roland was back in training.
There is no harsh competition between the two of us. I have a lot of self-belief and I try to convince the coach he should pick me because of my performances."Meanwhile, captain Andreas Ivanschitz should play despite torn ligaments in his right knee, but Umit Korkmaz is also in contention for a role in midfield.
Martin Hiden will win his 50th cap for Austria if he plays, while at 38, Ivica Vastic – who became the fourth oldest player in the history of the European Championship on Sunday – will become the oldest goalscorer ever at the tournament if he finds the back of the net.Sebastian Prodl, Jurgen Saeumel and Emanuel Pogatetz will be suspended if they receive another caution.
Poland
Roger Guerreiro is expected to take the place of injured Poland captain Maciej Zurawski (thigh), while Jakub Wawrzyniak could come in for Pawel Golanski at left-back.While Beenhakker would not confirm whether Roger would definitely start, the South American forward clearly excites his coach, who enthused: "He is great. He's amazing, he's fantastic. He sees solutions and makes choices on the field that are, well, it's Brazilian. I cannot explain it in any other way."Mariusz Lewandowski and Ebi Smolarek will be suspended if they collect another yellow card, while defender Jacek Bak, who plays his club football at Austria Vienna, will be up against team-mates Joachim Standfest and Ronald Gercaliu.
posted by Midnight Sun @ 22:09,
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