Thirty years on from Austrian football’s most famous day Josef Hickersberger has history on his side when his team meet Germany in Vienna for a place in the UEFA EURO 2008™ quarter-finals, although the coach is looking elsewhere for inspiration.

Vienna memories
A 3-2 win in Cordoba in the 1978 FIFA World Cup knocked out then holders West Germany, Austria’s sole victory in ten competitive fixtures against West and the unified Germany. Much has been made of that triumph – in which Hickersberger played – in the build-up to a game that will decide second place in Group B, yet the coach said: “Too much has been said about Cordoba. For me, history is repeating itself. In 1989, we played the German Democratic Republic in Vienna in a decisive qualifier for the 1990 World Cup and won [3-0]. The names are different now, but we’re looking forward to the match.”

‘Alles oder nichts’
The front cover of the Kurier newspaper’s magazine supplement bears the simple headline “Alles oder nichts”, and for Austria the equation is equally straightforward: win or join co-hosts Switzerland in making an early exit from their own party. With the Austrians having lost 3-0 to Germany in February and being without a win against these opponents since 1986, that may look a tall order but Hickersberger is full of confidence. “We’re in excellent shape,” he said. “We’re better than we were in February and we have a decent chance. This is the biggest match of my life and it will be the biggest match of all time if we win.”

Crucial point
Ivica Vastic’s added-time penalty snatched a draw against Poland on Thursday, when Germany lost 2-1 to Croatia, and the Austria coach – missing only the suspended Sebastian Prödl – has seen enough in the first two games to be optimistic. “Germany weren’t that good against Croatia and they have problems. One or two players are injured, they’re not playing that well and we have home advantage. I’d put our chances at 40 per cent – people might think I’m pessimistic but that’s quite good. The important thing is we have a chance and if you’d told me that a year ago I’d have been more than grateful.”

‘Push the limit’
Germany coach Joachim Löw has encouraged his players to “avoid pointing the finger at each other” since that defeat by Croatia and is anticipating a positive reaction. “I promise you the team will play differently,” he said. “Thirty million people will be watching in Germany and we have to win for them and for our nation. The match against Croatia is a thing of the past. We’ll have to push to the limit because Austria have improved in the last few weeks and months. They’re a team of fighters but we will go the extra mile.”

Trio available
Marcell Jansen misses out with a shoulder problem while Bastian Schweinsteiger is suspended following his red card on Thursday, although top scorer Lukas Podolski (foot), Philipp Lahm (calf and shin) and Heiko Westermann (hand) are all poised to play, with the last-mentioned wearing a protective cast. Löw believes his side will meet expectations, adding: “A little pressure doesn’t hurt – my team will deal with that. If we play well, there’s no need to be afraid of our opponents. We’ll play our game, impose our style and show what we can do.”

Striker Marek Saganowski says coach Leo Beenhakker has a battle on his hands to raise Poland’s players for their Group B finale against Croatia after a disappointing finish against Austria.

Bleak
Poland endured serious pressure from Austria in the first 20 minutes in Vienna, with goalkeeper Artur Boruc making a number of saves to deny Josef Hickersberger’s side, before the game turned in Poland’s favour when Roger Guerreiro scored on 30 minutes. However, a stoppage-time penalty from Ivica Vastic earned the co-hosts a 1-1 draw and Poland now have a major battle on their hands to make the last 16. Leo Beenhakker’s team have one group match left, against Croatia in Klagenfurt on Monday, but Southampton FC forward Saganowski admits the mood in the camp is bleak.

Low morale
“It will be very hard to lift morale and confidence after what’s happened,” Saganowski told euro2008.com. “It will be difficult to make the quarter-finals now. We have to play Croatia and they will be high on confidence after beating Germany [2-1 to qualify for the quarter-finals as group winners]. It should be a good game but a very hard game for us. It is difficult to accept drawing a game this way. The UEFA European Championship is a big moment for the Polish nation and for the players who are here, and it’s a pity to finish the game with a penalty so late in the match. If Austria had scored in the first half when they had chances, it would have been fair enough, but it is hard to take when they score a goal in the way and at the time they did.”

In vain
The 29-year-old English-based attacker was one of three changes to the starting XI from Poland’s 2-0 opening defeat by Germany, and Saganowski contributed with the cross that set up Roger’s goal. “It was nice to play a part in the goal but it means nothing as we did not win,” he added. Poland captain Jacek Bąk sounded similarly disconsolate: “We drew the game and got a point but it feels like a defeat. We were in the lead for so long and were on our way to winning the game and giving ourselves a good chance of making the next stage, but now it’s going to be very difficult. We had a big chance to do well and go into the Croatia game with confidence, but now our confidence will be low and we have to work hard in training to get ready for Croatia.”

After watching Ivica Vastic drill in an added-time penalty to secure Austria’s first-ever UEFA European Championship point, Josef Hickersberger said he was “99.9 per cent certain” that the 38-year-old would wipe out Poland’s 1-0 lead. The striker became the oldest scorer in the history of the finals at the Ernst-Happel-Stadion, keeping the co-hosts alive in the process. Leo Beenhakker said Poland were “probably out of the tournament” but both sides could qualify for the quarter-finals by winning their final matches on Monday.

Josef Hickersberger, Austria coach
We’re all very happy that we finally managed to get the point. My team played very well, the way we intended to play. We wanted to show that we were courageous, full of energy, and that we wanted to dominate the match. We had three clear chances and should have taken the lead but unfortunately we didn’t. And, as often happens in football, we then fell behind. In the second half we were as strong as in the first but we couldn’t score, so I tried to bring on some substitutes to change things. We didn’t do it the way we wanted to, we didn’t want to score in that way really. But it’s Austria’s first-ever point in the EURO and we are pleased to have got it. We hadn’t decided that Ivica Vastic would be our penalty taker in advance but when it was awarded, it was clear that Vastic would assume the responsibility because he is the most experienced player in the team. He has played in big tournaments – he was at the 1998 [FIFA] World Cup in France – and I was 99.9 per cent certain that he would score.

Leo Beenhakker, Poland coach
If you lose 2-0, like we did against Germany, then it’s difficult to take but you can accept it; to suffer in this way is very tough to take. The only thing you can recognise is that you don’t always get what you deserve in this game. Apart from the first 21 minutes, when our players seemed to have fallen asleep, we played a great game. My players woke up after a slow start. Then we scored a goal and we deserved to win. I still feel very bad. It was the only chance to survive and stay in the tournament. I understand that Austria are excited about the result but for the moment I feel very different. I think we are very probably out of the tournament and that hurts a lot. We know we have much to learn in this tournament and that there are a lot of areas where we can improve, but this hurts a lot and it was unnecessary.