Howrah News Service -  Latest news and headlines on Howrah,West Bengal and World: Austria have a mountain to climb

Austria have a mountain to climb
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SportsDesk on 07 June, 2008 02:26:10
 
By Eric Willemsen
Stegersbasch, Austria
June 7: Austria and Croatia open their European Championship campaigns on
Sunday with completely different expectations.
Surviving the group stage would be a miraculous success for Austria, while
Croatia are an outside favorite for the title after convincingly qualifying with
a win at England in its final match.
Austria qualified automatically because it is co-hosting the tournament with
Switzerland.
"I don’t think it was a disadvantage to play only friendlies for 2 years,"
Austria coach Josef Hickersberger said on Friday. "We choose some top-draw
opponents and therefore lost many times. That created the same pressure on us
like in competitive matches. We are ready for Croatia," said the coach.
Croatia is ready to spoil Austria’s opening party at the sold-out Ernst
Happel Stadium in Vienna. "I believe in my team," Croatia coach Slaven Bilic
said. "We will try to impose our (attacking) style of play and win the game."
Austria and Croatia share Group B with Germany and Poland, who meet on Sunday
in Klagenfurt.
Croatia has a flawless record against Austria, winning all three previous
matches. But Austria will try to put history aside when it competes at its first
ever European Championship and first major event since the 1998 World Cup.
"Based on the home advantage, I rate our chances on Sunday at 40 percent,"
Hickersberger said. "Croatia is a world-class team, so my prediction is very
optimistic."
In their current 23-man squads, Austria and Croatia have no injury worries but
both teams lost some players due to injuries prior to the tournament.
"Their coach is a gentleman," Bilic said of Hickersberger. "And I think he
believes that they have more than a 40 percent chance. ... Thinking about it, 40
percent is not that bad."
Austria faced little problems in replacing goalkeeper Helge Payer because it
has Juergen Macho and Alexander Manninger, although Hickersberger is yet to
announce who will start.
Croatia, however, was still struggling to compensate for the absence of Eduardo
da Silva, who scored 10 of Croatia’s 28 goals in qualifying.
No Croatia forward has scored a goal in an international match since the
Arsenal striker was forced out of the squad by a reckless tackle in February.
— AP