Euro 2008 Preview : Austria
While stranger things have happen in Football more then like Austria will enjoy this experience and bow out gracefully after three game.
Highlites of Austria 4-3 loss to Holland in a friendly. Hey they had a 3-0 lead before crashing back down to earth.
By far the weakest team in this tournament as they 101st Fifa ranking would suggest. Austria will attempt to slow the game down almost to a crawl if they expect to get anything in the group stages.
Austria will not be winning many games with offensive flare which will place even more pressure on a back line that should be facing one way traffic throughout most of the tournament.
That back line will be lead by Middlebrough’s restless defender Emanuel Pogatetz who will need to do some yeoman’s work if he is going to keep the likes of Miroslav Klose and Luka Modrić at bay.
The midfield will be manned by veterans René Aufhauser and 38 year old Ivica Vastic. They will help guide the next generation of Austrian football players Andreas Ivanschitz who applies his trade at Greek club Panathinaikos and 20 year old Martin Harnik who is on the books at Werder Bremen.
Key Player – Roland Linz
The Sporting Braga player is considered one of the best players currently not playing for one of the big three clubs in Portugal. His 10 goals finished tied for 3rd in the league. If someone in the midfield can give Linz the service in front of goal he is able to take care of the rest. Big tournament for the player as Linz will look to catch the eye of bigger clubs in Europe.
Group B Outlook
Playing at home will give Austria a boost but they are woeful lacking in talent. Playing with emotion alone can only take you so far and in this case it won’t take them far enough to reach the knockout stages.
Prediction 4th in Group B