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PREVIEW: Euro 2008 Group B, Austria vs Croatia

June 8th, 2008 | By: Daryl | 3 Comments »

Austria

Croatia

Sunay, June 8th, 18:00 kickoff CET
Vienna, Austria - Travel to Vienna

THE BIG PICTURE

The unfancied co-hosts begin their brave effort to avoid a national disaster. But they’re up against Slaven Bilic’s England-conquering Croatian team. Best of luck to both teams, though Austria probably need it more.

AUSTRIA

Three Key Players:
Andreas Ivanschitz - attacking mid, best player by some distance, known as the Austrian Beckham
Rene Aufhauser - defensive mid, reliable and experienced (the Austrian Makelele?)
Sebastian Prödl - 20 year old defender who’s a huge threat from set pieces

Austria squad
Austria Team Profile

Team News: Hickersberger has told keepers Alex Manninger and Jurgen Macho which of them is starting, but he won’t tell us.

Austria blogger j is pretty sure he’s gone with Macho though.

Triviatastic: Ferdinand Porsche (of flashy expensive car fame) was Austrian.

Visit j at the Austria Euro 2008 Team Blog for more.

Buy an Austria jersey from the USA or UK.

CROATIA

Three Key Players:
Vedran Corluka - pacy fullback who bombs forward Cafu-style
Luka Modric - left/central attacking mid, skinny but superskilled (and now property of Spurs)
Nikola Kalinic - 20 year old striker likened Davor Suker no less (may not start, but will likely come off the bench)

Croatia squad
Croatia Team Profile

Team News: Vedran Corluka has shaken off an injury. Mladen Petric and Ivica Olic are expected to start up front.

Triviatastic: Back when Croatian city Dubrovnik was an independent state, it was the first country to officially recognize the existence of the United States as a nation.

Visit Mario at the Croatia Euro 2008 Team Blog for more.

Buy a Croatia jersey from the USA or UK

BIG BATTLES

Lack of strikers vs Lack of strikers - When Croatia lost Eduardo to a broken leg, they lost their most reliable goalscorer. Austria don’t have a reliable goalscorer.

Andreas Ivanschitz vs Niko Kovac - Austria’s only real midfield threat vs Croatia’s only real defensive minded mid.

Dario Sjrna & Vedran Corluka vs Emmanuel Pogatez - Sjrna and Corluka will combine down Croatia’s right, Austria’s left back will try and stop them.

Bet on Euro 2008 here.

LIVEBLOG

Click here to follow the Austria vs Croatia LiveBlog.

Tags: Austria, Croatia, Euro 2008 Game Previews, Euro 2008 News, Group B

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Comments

By Ian Rose | June 8th, 2008 at 8:13 am

I just can’t see Austria scoring, but if Croatia can’t find a decent target man, a scoreless draw is not outside of imagination. I have to expect, though, that Bilic will find a way: 1-0 to Croatia.

By Chris | June 8th, 2008 at 8:18 am

Who needs a targetman when you’ve got Modric?

By j | June 8th, 2008 at 8:41 am

This will obviously require a titanic effort by Austria to gain a point much less not be devastated at home. The weather looked to have an impact earlier but that seems to have cleared up. For Austria to be successful they must slow the match down and control Croatia midfield which is obviously easier said then done.

Ian - I have to agree with you regarding Austria’s offensive chances. Don’t you think cutting Stefan Maierhofer from the squad was a mistake? He is quite a scoring threat and obviously a strong point in set pieces with his 6′8 height advantage.

Posted from Bulgaria