Euro 2008 LiveBlog: Austria vs Croatia

June 8th, 1800 CET, Vienna (Austria)

Group B

Austria		vs		Croatia
		0-1	Modric (pen) 4′

Huge effort, and rumours of “worst host team ever” look wide of the mark. Those who petitioned to have Austria withdraw should go and support someone else. Poor Aufhauser must feel like shit after giving away that penalty, silly silly tackle. Croatia looked classy for the first 20 or so, but spent much of the rest of the game defending. Luck isn’t with the co-hosts is it?

Thanks to everyone for reading and commenting. Some great discussions in the comments.

Up next it’s Germany vs Poland, with Chris Iandoing the LiveBlogging honours.

FULL-TIME 1-0 to Croatia, but Austria have plenty to be proud.

90+ OHHH! Kienast gets his head to a cross, but just agonizingly wide.

90′ 3 minutes of addded time. Kovac N doing some bump n grind dancing with Jurgen Macho.

89′ Predictions of this game lacking strikers on either side look correct. If not for the pen, hard to see where a goal would come from.

88′ Srna wins a tackle and tries to rally his team mates with some shouting and clapping.

86′ Great low shot to the corner from Korkmaz, Pletikosa dives and pushes away.

85′ Srna goes down, but can’t resist adding an extra flourish to his fall.

84′ Replay of possible handball. Maybe, maybe not. I’d say maybe not.

83′ Kienast manages to turn but there’s a wall of Croatian defenders to block his shot. A shout for handball but ref ignores. Very Groundhog Day.

82′ There’s that bit of skill from Modric. Everyone see that? Nice.

80′ Ivanschitz gets a tame shot at Pletikosa. Lots of shots from Austria, but not much threat of a goal.

79′ And Vastic arrives late but heads straight at Pletikosa. This feels very similar to Austria 0-1 Czech Republic: Hosts in red Puma jersey chasing a game they don’t really deserve to be losing.

78′ Aufhauser nearly got the ball to Kienast just outside the box, but it won’t quite land right. Come on Austria! They deserve an equalizer here.

76′ Korkmas got through 2 defenders and won the free kick on the left hand side of the box. Austria looking lively.

73′ Harnik gets down the right and crosses and has Pletikosa in trouble, but keeper gets it away.

72′ Croatia have brought on Budan.
Linz off, Kienast on for Austria.

71′ Does anyone else get the feeling there’ll be a lot of effort but no goals from Austria in the last 20 minutes? They just don’t have anyone who looks like scoring.

70′ Ivanschitz with a left footed strike. Close, but no cigar.

68′ Well, I”l say this for Prodl’s challenge on Olic: he did very well to grab him from that far away.

65′ What did Modric do down the left there? Looked like he dragged it back and took off at the same time. Think we’re all in agreement that he’s class now. I like the description by Rob that he “lazily controls” the midfield. - not that he’s lazy, more that he always looks like he’s got time.

63′ Intersteing seeing that Aufhauser header in slow motion. Looked like he was underwater.

60′ Average age on the field just went up. Austrian bring off Saumel for 38 year old Vastic. Impressive to play - outfield - in a tournament at that age. Croatia bring off Kranjcar (been quiet) foir Knezevic (I think)

59′ Modric lost the ball with a poor pass, then won it back to put in a better pass. Hard not to like this guy.

55′ Harnkik causing a bit more trouble down the right flank for Austria, but can’t quite make anything of it.

- I think in the preview I referred to Ivanschitz as Austria’s only midfield threat. But I like the look of Saumel. I know he plays for Sturm Graz, but anyone know if he’s line up for a big move or anything?

51′ Standfest header prevents Petric getting another crack at the left footed volley he seems determined to score today.

50′ Booking for Kovac R for a tackle that was all legs.

45′ Second half underway (sorry for delay, computer crashed, no idea why)

HALF-TIME Well, Austria go in 1-0 down but with nothing to be ashamed of. Modric’s penalty is all that separates the teams right now.

45′ Two mins of added time.

41′ Really beautiful left footed cross from Saumel is met by Standfest at the far post. Standfest couldn’t get over it enough to keep it down though.

40′ Ooh1 Austria have come to life. Young Harnik (looks quick) almost squared it across goal to Linz there, Pletikosa had to put in some work.

37′ Croatia nearly get through on the counter. But it’s getting towards HT and still only 1-0. I feared a horrible Austrian collapse after that first goal, but it hasn’t happened.

34′ Petric with a great chance but goes for a spectacular left footed volley and fires it over. Could have taken a touch - or about five - instead, he was in a lot of space.

32′ Linz brought down near the touchline and tries a quick free kick. Accidentally kicked it twice though - once with standing foot and again with kicking foot. Think that says a lot about Austria’s anxiousness.

- Pogatez also took a kick at Olic, who then rolled around a bit tioo much like a salmon out of water. I’d say he deserved a second yellow, but the ref didn’t want to send him off. Any other player would get a yellow for that.

28′ Pogatez! What you doing? He got nutmegged by Olic on the byline, and so did what Pogatez does best and grabbed some shirt. Bad move since he was already booked for arguing about the penalty.

26′ Kovac (R) with a two footed challenge. Got all ball, so in that sense it was good. But you can’t go in with two feet (what was he doing?) Prodl gets a header away when the free kick comes in, but just wide.

24′ Pranjic slices cross from the left. Looked like one of my tee shots from the one and only time I played golf.

23′ Aufhauser with a low shot, but he accidentally hit it in slow motion. Not his day.

20′ Austrian striker Linz’s role seems to be: watch while your teammates kick the ball straight to Pletikosa.

18′ Prodl strike one with his left foot from who-knows-how-far out. Was always going wide, but close enough to be impressive. Prodl was part of the Austrian team that did well at the U-20 World Cup.

17′ Hickersberger checking his watch. Plenty time to go Josef. Not sure if that’s good news for not.

- That Modric goal - and his general performance so far - is good news for Chris and his Draft XI.

13′ Olic got his head to a cross but it flashed wide. Pogatez had a handful of Olic’s shirt again. Is he trying to swap shirts early?

11′ So the Modric goal is a good start for

10′ I’d like to see another replay of the penalty call actually. Was furiously typing when it happened so only saw it once. Was it a good call or not?

- This is pretty much the doomsday scenario for Austria. Let’s see how they respond. Let’s hope they go for it.

- Modric made that goal byu beating the fullback on the left and slipping it to Olic. But rubbish challenge from Aufhauser.

4′ Modric puts it straight up the middle. 1-0 Croatia.

2′ PENALTY. Olic went down under challenge from Pogatez Aufhauser

1′ Pogatez tries to rip Olic’s shirt off.

0′ Kickoff. The austria part of Swissautria is underway.

Croatia looks like a 4-4-2, but I don’t see Srna, Modric and Kranjcar doing too much defensive work in midfield

Austria going 3 at the back, wing backs, two d-mid and Ivanschitz as the attacking mid. It’s all about Ivanschitz.

Austrian national anthem not quite as stirring. Hickersberger’s giving it a good sing though.

You need a deep voice to sing the Croatian national anthem.

Teams out, national anthems belting out.

20 minutes to kick off. Phrase of the day on the BBC: “We all know how they got here, don’t we, ” when talking about Croatia.

I’m a little torn here. As a (slightly depressed) England fan, I’d like to see Croatia do well. Since Russia and Croatia qualified ahead of us, if either of them win the tournament then England can claim third place. That’s how it works, right?

More realistically, I just like the attitude of the Craotain team. Lots of patriotism (Fiery Madness) but also lots of attacking football. Looking forward to seeing Modric.

On the other hand, I feel for Austria. Seems like everything’s against them and they’ve hosted a tournament at the worst possible time in the history of the team. I don’t want to see Austria become the Derby County of the European Championships.

Starting lineups:

Austria: Macho, Standfest, Stranzl, Pogatetz, Aufhauser, Linz, Ivanschitz, Gercaliu, Proedl, Saeumel, Harnik.

Croatia: Pletikosa, Simunic, R Kovac, Corluka, N Kovac, Srna, Modric, Olic, Kranjcar, Petric, Pranjic.

Read our preview here or visit the Austria and Croatia team blogs for all kinds of info. But read fast, kick off in 30 minutes.

45 minutes ’til kick off in Vienna.