Euro 2008 : Austria - Croatia
Stern Opening Test For Co-HostsAs co-hosts of the tournament, there is extra pressure on Austria to succeed at Euro 2008 - yet the portents are not promising for Austrian fans. Apart from the fact that they are drawn in Group B with Germany, Poland and their first opponents, Croatia, all of whom qualified impressively, Austria lack big tournament experience, competitive preparation and current form going into Sunday's opener.
In contrast, Croatia are viewed by many as potential 'dark-horse' winners of Euro 2008.It is 10 years since Austria last qualified for a major tournament - the 1998 World Cup - and their participation in Euro 2008 was secured as co-hosts rather than through a qualifying group. In fact this will be Austria's first-ever appearance in a European Championship, as they failed to qualify on every one of their previous attempts.
Their underdog status is underlined by the fact that they are by some distance the lowest-ranked team involved in Euro 2008, having slipped out of the top 100 in Fifa's official rankings following a poor run of just one win in 14 matches up to the start of this year.On the other hand Croatia, who were quarter-finalists at Euro 96 and finished third at the 1998 World Cup in France, looked a fluid and potent attacking force during their qualifying campaign,. the highlight of which was beating England convincingly home and away. However, the Croats suffered a body blow in February, when star striker Eduardo da Silva had his leg shattered playing for Arsenal at Birmingham. The Brazilian-born forward had contributed 10 goals in 12 qualifiers, and his absence is bound to be felt by Slaven Bilic's side.
He had been the attacking focal point of an adventurous 4-1-3-2 system deployed by Bilic, a departure from the more physical approach adopted in the three preceding tournaments (World Cup and Euros) when Croatia, having qualified, got no further than the group stages.
Even Austria's coach, Josef Hickersberger, only feels his team have a 40 per cent chance of beating Croatia. But although they have lost all three of their previous matches against the Croats, Hickersberger insists his side should not be written off prematurely, and says home advantage underpins his 40 percent prediction. "Croatia are a world-class team," he said, "so my prediction is very optimistic. But if we have a good day and a little bit of luck, we can beat Croatia."
Austria
Emanuel Pogatetz is expected to be available after suffering a calf injury in training, manager Hickersberger saying there was only a small chance he wouldn't be fit in time to face Croatia.But Hickersberger was forced to make a late change to his squad when goalkeeper Helge Payer suffered a blood circulation problem.
Payer was replaced by Ramazan Ozcan, but the coach was coy about whether Alex Manninger or Jurgen Macho would be his first-choice goalkeeper.He was keeping his players on their toes during the week, saying in midweek that although he had a team in his head to play against Croatia, he wanted to use the remaining training sessions for the players to show their best.
Squad:
Goalkeepers: Jurgen Macho (AEK Athens), Alex Manninger (Siena), Ramazan Ozcan (Hoffenheim).
Defenders: Gyorgy Garics (Napoli), Ronald Gercaliu (Austria Vienna), Martin Hiden (Austria Carinthia), Markus Katzer (Rapid Vienna), Jurgen Patocka (Rapid Vienna), Emanuel Pogatetz (Middlesbrough), Sebastian Proedl (Sturm Graz), Martin Stranzl (Spartak Moscow).
Midfielders: Rene Aufhauser (Salzburg), Christian Fuchs (Mattersburg), Andreas Ivanschitz (Panathinaikos), Umit Korkmaz (Rapid Vienna),Christoph Leitgeb (Salzburg), Jurgen Saeumel (Sturm Graz), Joachim Standfest (Austria Vienna), Ivica Vastic (Linz).
Strikers: Martin Harnik (Werder Bremen), Erwin Hoffer (Rapid Vienna), Roman Kienast (Ham-Kam), Roland Linz (Braga).
Croatia
Slaven Bilic has named his strongest team to face Austria, and said he will be keeping to the same formation he used in Croatia's recent friendlies against Moldova and Hungary.That suggests the team will be: Stipe Pletikosa; Vedran Corluka, Robert Kovac, Josip Simunic, Danijel Pranjic; Darijo Srna, Niko Kovac, Luka Modric, Niko Kranjcar; Mladen Petric, Ivica Olic.
Tips : 0-1 or 0-2 exacr score :
Austria not to score @ 2.1
Croatia - Austria 1 @ 1.7 local Bookies might slightely change the ods
In contrast, Croatia are viewed by many as potential 'dark-horse' winners of Euro 2008.It is 10 years since Austria last qualified for a major tournament - the 1998 World Cup - and their participation in Euro 2008 was secured as co-hosts rather than through a qualifying group. In fact this will be Austria's first-ever appearance in a European Championship, as they failed to qualify on every one of their previous attempts.
Their underdog status is underlined by the fact that they are by some distance the lowest-ranked team involved in Euro 2008, having slipped out of the top 100 in Fifa's official rankings following a poor run of just one win in 14 matches up to the start of this year.On the other hand Croatia, who were quarter-finalists at Euro 96 and finished third at the 1998 World Cup in France, looked a fluid and potent attacking force during their qualifying campaign,. the highlight of which was beating England convincingly home and away. However, the Croats suffered a body blow in February, when star striker Eduardo da Silva had his leg shattered playing for Arsenal at Birmingham. The Brazilian-born forward had contributed 10 goals in 12 qualifiers, and his absence is bound to be felt by Slaven Bilic's side.
He had been the attacking focal point of an adventurous 4-1-3-2 system deployed by Bilic, a departure from the more physical approach adopted in the three preceding tournaments (World Cup and Euros) when Croatia, having qualified, got no further than the group stages.
Even Austria's coach, Josef Hickersberger, only feels his team have a 40 per cent chance of beating Croatia. But although they have lost all three of their previous matches against the Croats, Hickersberger insists his side should not be written off prematurely, and says home advantage underpins his 40 percent prediction. "Croatia are a world-class team," he said, "so my prediction is very optimistic. But if we have a good day and a little bit of luck, we can beat Croatia."
Austria
Emanuel Pogatetz is expected to be available after suffering a calf injury in training, manager Hickersberger saying there was only a small chance he wouldn't be fit in time to face Croatia.But Hickersberger was forced to make a late change to his squad when goalkeeper Helge Payer suffered a blood circulation problem.
Payer was replaced by Ramazan Ozcan, but the coach was coy about whether Alex Manninger or Jurgen Macho would be his first-choice goalkeeper.He was keeping his players on their toes during the week, saying in midweek that although he had a team in his head to play against Croatia, he wanted to use the remaining training sessions for the players to show their best.
Squad:
Goalkeepers: Jurgen Macho (AEK Athens), Alex Manninger (Siena), Ramazan Ozcan (Hoffenheim).
Defenders: Gyorgy Garics (Napoli), Ronald Gercaliu (Austria Vienna), Martin Hiden (Austria Carinthia), Markus Katzer (Rapid Vienna), Jurgen Patocka (Rapid Vienna), Emanuel Pogatetz (Middlesbrough), Sebastian Proedl (Sturm Graz), Martin Stranzl (Spartak Moscow).
Midfielders: Rene Aufhauser (Salzburg), Christian Fuchs (Mattersburg), Andreas Ivanschitz (Panathinaikos), Umit Korkmaz (Rapid Vienna),Christoph Leitgeb (Salzburg), Jurgen Saeumel (Sturm Graz), Joachim Standfest (Austria Vienna), Ivica Vastic (Linz).
Strikers: Martin Harnik (Werder Bremen), Erwin Hoffer (Rapid Vienna), Roman Kienast (Ham-Kam), Roland Linz (Braga).
Croatia
Slaven Bilic has named his strongest team to face Austria, and said he will be keeping to the same formation he used in Croatia's recent friendlies against Moldova and Hungary.That suggests the team will be: Stipe Pletikosa; Vedran Corluka, Robert Kovac, Josip Simunic, Danijel Pranjic; Darijo Srna, Niko Kovac, Luka Modric, Niko Kranjcar; Mladen Petric, Ivica Olic.
Tips : 0-1 or 0-2 exacr score :
Austria not to score @ 2.1
Croatia - Austria 1 @ 1.7 local Bookies might slightely change the ods
posted by Midnight Sun @ 00:59,
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