Euro 2008 LIVEBLOG: Austria vs Poland

GROUP B	June 12, 2045 CET, Vienna (Austria)
Austria 1 VS Poland 1 Vastic (pen) 90+   Roger 30′

Thanks to everyone for reading and commenting. One of the co-hosts finally earns a point and sets up a big Austria vs Germany clash in the next round of Group B games. An Austrian win over their old rivals there will put Germany out.

Brilliant. BBC are showing a Group B table in which Poland have three points. In reality Austria and Poland have a point each. Germany have three. Croatia have six and are through to the quarters.

FULL-TIME Austria 1-1 Poland.

90+’ Vastic becomes the oldest ever scorer in Euro history at 38 years old. And when he retires, he’s got that lifetime supply of free beer.

Vastic steps up…. and scores!!!

- pushing and shoving in the box and Prodl wins a pen.

PENALTY!!! to Austria!!!!

90′ “There will be a minimum of three minutes of added time.”

87′ Boruc off his line fast to claim a dangerous (ish) looking through ball

84′ Another Polish sub. Roger off, Murawski on. Attacking mid for d-mid. The shop is officially shut.

82′ Polish sub: Saganowski (striker) off Lobodzinski (d-mid) on. Beenhakers’s intentions pretty obvious.

78′ Roger tries the Zidane style pirouette (or the Djimi Traore, if you prefer) but doesn’t quite get away with it. Nice try though.

77′ Vastic cross and Boruc makes his first mistake in 77 minutes by not cleanly taking the cross. Defender cleans up for him though. Which doesn’t make Boruc and his defence even by the way. Not by a long shot.

75′ Vastic shoots a free kick from distance. Gets plenty of height on it, but that’s about the politest thing you can say about that shot.

73′ Hickersberger changes Aufhauser for Saumel. D-mid for d-mid. Way to chase the game Hickersberger.

72′ Prodl gets a yellow. He’ll miss the game against Germany now.

69′ Roger tries to take a cross down on his shoulder. Doesn’t work though.

64′ Good skills from Vastic to nearly set Korkmaz free. Not quite though. Is it just me or is there a depressing inevitability about all this. Co-hosts play well and lose. This will be the fourth time in a row.

63′ Linz off (can’t argue with that) Kienast on for Austria. Ivanschitz off and 38 year old Vastic is the other sub. Ivanschitz has disappointed again.

62′ Macho saves with his feet and then his fists. Another Polish goal and Austria are done.

60′ Kryznowek knew he was offside but couldn’t resist hammering it into the back of the net. He gets a yellow for his effort.

56′ Poland applying some pressure now. I don’t see any Austrians getting that free lifetime supply of Ottokringer beer right now.

53′ Korkmaz with a great diagonal ball to the far post, but the resulting header from Harnik was tame.

52′ Roger proves his Brazilian-ness with a quick trick. Pointless but pretty.

50′ Absolute beaut of a chipped pass from Roger to Smolarek. Left foot of course. Smolarek drew a save out of Macho, followed by a brief tangle in the box before the ball was cleared.

47′ Ivanschitz takes a dive in the box and gets nothing for it. Arguably deserved a yellow. There was contact, but a long long time between contact and Ivanschitz collapsing.

45′ second half underway. Let’s see if Austria can recover some momentum.

Sub for Poland. Jop (the Polish defender who looks – and plays – like Kojak) is off. Golanski is his replacement.

HALF-TIME Austria unlucky to be losing. But as Gary Lineker has just said on the big screen in front of me “you’ve got to take your chances.”

45′ SO CLOSE! Stranzl nearly meets a cross at the far post with his head. But it’s just over him. This half is over too. The whistle’s gone.

44′ Ivanschitz with a free kick on the right sand of the box. But plays a hospital pass intended for Aufhauser instead.

43′ Rough foul on Garics. He’s looked more Brazilian than Roger today, very Cafu-like down the right.

39′ I love Pogatez’s passion when defending. But when he gets the ball he just doesn’t look like a footballer. He looks like someone who won a competition.

36′ Roger with a couple of flicks and Krzynowek with a shot at Macho. Suddenly Poland have control of the game.

Macho just got a hand to Saganowski’s shot and directed it straight to Roger. Neither co-hosts have had any luck at Euro 2008.

Roger tapped home from a Saganowski shot. Touch of offside about it maybe. Horrible horrible luck for Austria, who’d looked like the only team capable of scoring.

30′ GOAL! Guerreirowksi puts Poland 1-0 up.

28′ Poland slow things down and get severely whisteled by the Vienna crowd.

I wasn’t too psyched about LiveBlogging this one. And it’s still hard work with the names and all. But great game so far.

25′ Roger looks classy, but all one foot. Does he even know he has a right foot?

23′ Was that Stranzl down the left? (think it was Korkmaz now) He nutmegged a Polish defender on his way to getting a poor cross in.

21′ Garic receives a great high ball and advances on Boruc, but the Polish keeper comes out and saves again. Unbelievable stuff from Boruc.

You know how Ottokringer brewery have said they’ll give free beer for life to any Austrian player who scores? Maybe Boruc is being sponsored by a rival beer company to make sure that doesn’t happen.

- Seems Poland have gone with the insane offside trap plan again. Austria breaking through, but can’t get past Boruc. Celtic fans will be proud.

15′ Boruc saves again! That was two on one, but Leitgib’s shot was blocked by the keeper.

13′ Hanik gets another shot at goal after good wing play from Korkmaz. Boruc saved with his legs.

11′ Polish defender takes a strike to the danglies. Not sure who it was, but whoever has the highest voice, that’s your man.

10′ Harnik latches onto an AWFUL Polish backpass. Boruc gets touch to Harnik’s shot and deflects it wide. Poland won’t last long if they keep that up.

9′ Is Ivanschitz going to shoot? He’s about two miles away. He does you know. On target, but – predictably- took ages to get there. Boruc catches easily.

8′ Austria fouled on the break but Howard Webb has never heard of playing advantage

5′ Korkmaz dribbles in the area, but goes backwards. Results is an eventual Ivanschitz shot. First of the game.

Hard to get excited about the Puma identikits the two teams are wearing.

2′ Pogatez taken down by Zaganoski. Got to like Pogatez. He dishes it out but he takes it like a man.

(he also looks quite a lot like Christopher Ecclestone)

0′ – kickoff

Hickenberger has runga few changes, giving Korkmaz a start after he impressed from the bench against Croatia. Austria can smell German blood (metaphorically of course.)

Quality national anthem singing too.

Ernst Happel looks packed.

Majic Zurawski is out, so Roger gets a start. Looking forward to seeing some Brazilian flair.

Lineups:

Austria – 4-4-2 – Macho; Garics, Prodl, Stranzl, Pogatez; Lietgeb,Aufhauser, Ivanschitz, Korkmaz; Harnik, Linz

Poland – 4-3-1-2 – Boruc; Wasilewski, Jop, Bak, Zewlakow; Dudka, Lewandowski, Krzynowek; Roger Guierrero(ski); Saganowski, Smolarek

Wow. Group B just got interesting. Hats off to Croatia for a big win.