Euro 2008: Austria 0-1 Croatia (Match Report and Video)

June 8th, 2008

Today the Austrians were wearing red tops, white shorts and red and white socks, while Croatia were wearing all blue.

Croatia go into this game missing several key players, including Arsenal’s Eduardo, while Austria seem to have a pretty full squad.

Once the game kicked off, it soon became apparent this was going to be a thriller, both teams attacking well. But it was in just the second minute when Austria conceded a silly penalty, carelessly running in when there was no real need. The Austrian defender just clipped the Croatian striker, but paid the price for it, as new Tottenham Hotspur signing Luka Modric slotted home from the spot. A shade lucky, as it was right down the middle of the goal, but Croatia won’t complain!

After that it was pretty one way traffic for fifteen minutes or so, Austria putting relentless pressure on the Croatian defense, pounding shot after shot and playing in cross after cross, while Croatia were struggling to create any real momentum or force. Unfortunately for Austria though, they couldn’t quite convert their efforts into a goal, although the Croatian manager, Slaven Bili?, seemed extremely relieved when Croatia started dominating play, almost exactly reproducing the actions of the Austrians, forcing the Austrian goalkeeper, Vedran Runje, to make some fantastic saves, including a one on one.

Into the second half, and neither teams made any substitution. Austria have obviously had a rollocking during the half time period, and are playing very offensively. They are pounding shot after shot at the Croatian goalie, Pletikosa, who dealt with the shots very effectively and made several key saves throughout the second half, including a save from a brilliant shot, where the ball was curving towards the far side of the goal.

As the half went on, Austria became more and more fierce, while the Croatian defenders got more and more panicky. The general script for the last ten minutes was ‘Austria play it in, Croatia play it out, Austria play it in’, and Austria look more and more like scoring, but cannot get through the wall of Croatian players.

Unfortunately for Austria, the final whistle goes, and it was certainly very unlucky for Austria, as from their second half performance they definitely deserved to win the game, although you can’t help thinking if it were not for that silly penalty Austria would have had a better outcome.

Final score:
Austria 0 – 1 Croatia

Watch the GOAL:

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