B3: Austria 0 - 1 Germany - 16/06/08

[BlackNess]

Schweini must start against Portugal, Ricardo still has some nightmares ..... I hope Schweini rapes him again.

Lahm MOTM, absolutely the best LB in the tournament, he didn't commit a single mistake.

[Trim]

Yayyy! We're through.

Brilliant freekick from Ballack! Top class.

MotM Philipp Lahm.

[Trim]

The official Man of the Match is Michael Ballack.

euro2008.uefa.com - Fanzone

[RunX]

Great Match For Ballack And Lahm !

[jec1]

Ballack with the goal of the tournament.

[Trim]

Originally Posted by jec1

Ballack with the goal of the tournament.

We started the match really well. Full attack and pressure on the Austrians. Three fantastic chances. Gomez looked like an amateur once again, that ball Klose send him was easier to score than miss.

Jens Lehmann made no mistakes throughout the game.

The defence was much stronger and much secure today, even though there were some 'panic' moments. Philipp Lahm was awesome, Mertesacker like a rock (he didn't commit a foul yet again, right?).

Ballack was very much better today, then in the two previous matches. Frings was quite good aswell.

Podolski looked very good and refreshened again. Launched a good shot.

We didn't have a good second half, even though our goal came in the second half. We were kinda passive, the Austrians had the match under control.

We were good on counter-attacks though, could have scored another goal at least.

But, anyway, a win is a win, and we're through. Bring on Portugal!

[NJ10]

I think Germany will need to up their game against Portugal, the disappointing thing for me is the lack of width that they possess. Fritz doesnt really get down the flank, and without Schweinsteiger in the side there werent enough crosses coming in for me, although Lahm does his bit, he is fantastic isnt he?

Gomez, thought he was absolutely shocking, everything about his game was absolutely awful. Hard to believe he has such a great record for VfB, and I think he will find himself benched in the QF- which is a shame cos he promised a lot going into this tournament.

Thought the German defence was a lot better with Arne Friedrich in it, i know the Austrian attack is powderpuff to say the least but the two M's at the back dealt with everything easily, and Lehmann was untroubled. i was very impressed by Ballack & Frings together, i wouldnt mind Liverpool having a look at Frings instead of Barry.

Oh yeah...Oliver Neuville?! I thought he was dead!!!

[kyan]

I was disappointed with the game, I thought Germany would bounce back from Croatia with a good performance and it wasn't really, just average.

If Austria knew how to finish they probably would have made the game much more interesting, got in some dangerous positions only to waste it. But even so they've done themselves proud considering the barracking they were getting before the tournament. A 1-0 defeat as their worst result is hardly anything to be ashamed of.

Gomez... it's hard to believe he plays professional football based on these 3 matches, but his asking price must be dropping lol, still he's a young player and his time will probably come in future.

Great goal from Ballack, not goal of the tournament for me, but certainly a cracker.

[Vargas_4]

Originally Posted by Trim

We started the match really well. Full attack and pressure on the Austrians. Three fantastic chances. Gomez looked like an amateur once again, that ball Klose send him was easier to score than miss.

Jens Lehmann made no mistakes throughout the game.

The defence was much stronger and much secure today, even though there were some 'panic' moments. Philipp Lahm was awesome, Mertesacker like a rock (he didn't commit a foul yet again, right?).

Ballack was very much better today, then in the two previous matches. Frings was quite good aswell.

Podolski looked very good and refreshened again. Launched a good shot.

We didn't have a good second half, even though our goal came in the second half. We were kinda passive, the Austrians had the match under control.

We were good on counter-attacks though, could have scored another goal at least.

But, anyway, a win is a win, and we're through. Bring on Portugal!

As someone said, we could have won 3-0. But no. We aren't taking our chances.

And that's REALLY bad since we're facing Portugal now. I mean. We have to have players that can make the chances count.

This is so fucking frustrating. Where the FUCK is Super Mario? How can he be missing and under-performing so much? Jeez.

Anyways, I'm glad that we are now in the knock-out stages. But we have to do some MASSIVE attitude changes.

We're not gonna get far if we keep this up.

By the way, agreed on your match analysis. I felt that Podolski was more of a threat than Gomez and Klose. Which is bad for them both, considering Poldi was on the left.

Ballack finally appeared. Let's see how long he keeps it up against Portugal. Great goal, by the way.

Anyways, we have a lot of work to do.

[Sven]

Ballack scoring first free kick of tourniment?

What a goal, from a friking gifted player.

[hk_on99]

Originally Posted by __-SNAKE-__

I agree that the team needs some major improvements but truth be told the only thing that was good tonight about Germany was the defense. Like I said, Friedrich, Mertesacker and Lahm were the best players on the field, with Lahm taking the MOTM IMO. Gomez should be sent home, its not too far from Austia till Stuttgart. the disorganised part of the team in definitley the midfield, they should start with Schweini and Hitlzsperger.

Seriously? I thought the defense was far from solid. Yes, Lahm and Mertesacker had big games, but I thought that if someone like Ruud were in that box, the scoreline could be very different.

[Buddha14]

Originally Posted by Trim

We started the match really well. Full attack and pressure on the Austrians. Three fantastic chances. Gomez looked like an amateur once again, that ball Klose send him was easier to score than miss.

The ball did take a slight bobble but yeah he should of put it away its a simple tap in

[Trim]

Austria Bit Off More Than They Could Chew - Ballack

Germany captain Michael Ballack has blasted the Austrian press and players for their tough talk in the build-up to a match they ended up losing 1-0, being eliminated from Euro 2008 in the process...

Austria forward Martin Harnik defiantly declared that his side would make Germany "s*** their pants", while assistant Andreas Herzog responded in similar fashion to mention of the Mannschaft's far superior world ranking, saying, "they can shove that up their a***".

The local press were equally enthusiastic, superimposing Ballack's head onto a naked body and encouraging Austria coach Josef Hickersberger to 'rip their trousers off', with a faux plane ticket for Ballack's journey home even printed inside the magazine.

So when the rivals met, with Germany needing to avoid defeat and Austria knowing only a win would do in order to progress to the quarterfinals, it was the most successful country in the history of the competition who emerged victorious over the co-hosts.

Germany picked up their third Euro crown in 1996, then failed to record a win or qualify from the group stages in 2000 and 2004.

Ballack has blasted the Austrians for their disrespectful behaviour leading into the game: "A lot was said before the match.

"The Austrians bit off more than they could chew. Listening to them it was like they had been world champions three times over," he jibed, with Germany of course having done exactly that.

“There was a lot riding on the game tonight. It was very difficult and the team showed great fight. It was just the difficult game we expected” Ballack said.

Reflecting on the close call that has seen the pre-tournament favourites edge out of their group by the odd goal, Ballack said: “We brought ourselves into this situation with the loss to Croatia. It was clear that it wasn’t going to be easy, but the important thing was that we showed fight.

“We have set ourselves high targets and we still have them. But we will now have to face a very, very strong team."

Defender Philipp Lahm - Germany’s best player on the night -was pleased with the win, but vowed that better was still to come from Germany.

“You have to find the right mixture. We were disciplined and organised and made it 1-0 at just the right time,” he explained.

“We worked ourselves some security in the first half and then risked more in the second half. Overall though we can improve.”

Germany now face Portugal in the quarterfinals.

Goal.com - Euro 2008 - Austria Bit Off More Than They Could Chew - Ballack

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We Have To Be Quick, Insists Flick

Germany assistant Hansi Flick was satisfied with his side's 1-0 win over Austria, but admitted improvements need to be made, with Portugal waiting in the quarterfinals...

Following their loss to Croatia, Germany could not lose this game if they were to progress. It being against Austria - the least established team in the tournament - did not prove to be quite the blessing it looked like on paper, as the co-hosts, who had to win to qualify, played out of their skin, but were ultimately found lacking in quality.

Michael Ballack hit home the only goal of the game from a free-kick early in the second half and Austria, for all their decent half-chances, rarely tested Jens Lehmann in the Germany goal.

With both managers sent to the stands in the first half after arguing with the fourth official, Germany assistant Hansi Flick spoke to Euro2008.com after the game.

"We knew the match would be very difficult. But I'm very happy with the performance – we wanted to get to the quarter-finals and we've done that," insisted Flick.

"We showed the right attitude from the first to the last minute, we fought hard and that was the focus. We wanted to show a different attitude from the game against Croatia and we managed to do that, although we recognise we have a lot of things to work on.

"We were very satisfied overall. Our defence was very well positioned and there were a number of situations they handled well."

He did, however, admit there was room for improvement: "In attack, we have to run more and have to be quicker – after we'd scored there were occasions when we could have benefited from quick breaks," he explained. "There were chances where we could have scored on the break, so we need to work on that."

The coach also tipped his hat to Group A winners Portugal, who Germany now face in the quarterfinals. Luiz Felipe Scolari's men have been one of the most promising teams of the tournament, but rested players in a dead rubber against Switzerland that they lost 2-0, and how that affects matters remains to be seen.

"Portugal obviously have outstanding individuals and during the first three matches they've played really well as a team," he admitted.

""We have less time to recover and Portugal were able to rest some of their players [against Switzerland last night], so perhaps they have us at a disadvantage in terms of physical fitness. But I think our attitude will make up for that."

Goal.com - Euro 2008 - We Have To Be Quick, Insists Flick

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Podolski and Lahm stand out

Germany are through to the quarter-final after the win over Austria. bundesliga.de takes a close look at the German eleven.

Jens Lehmann: Kept a clean sheet and made no mistake, but had little to do.

Arne Friedrich: Had to deal with Korkmaz at right back and did well, but offered little in attack.

Per Mertesacker: Had problems in his positional play before the break, but showed an improvement in the second half.

Christoph Metzelder: Still not at his best in several situations, but clever in one-on-one duels.

Philipp Lahm: One of the best German players. He had several good moments going forward.

Clemens Fritz: A lot of running, but little effectiveness. Had a lot of problems on the right side of midfield.

Torsten Frings: Did well in defence and fought hard, but with some poor passes as well.

Michael Ballack: The captain had an evening to forget in the first 47 minutes. Then he blasted home a stunning free-kick to give Germany the much-needed goal.

Lukas Podolski: One of the best Germans on the left side of midfield, even if he didn't score this time. Was pushed up front with 30 minutes left.

Mario Gomez: Missed an empty net from two metres out after four minutes and offered little afterwards. Was substituted on the hour mark, and rightly so.

Miroslav Klose: Klose again had good moments in setting up team-mates, but he doesn't look like a goal-getter at the moment.

Thomas Hitzlsperger: Helped to stabilise the defence in the last 30 minutes and did well.

Oliver Neuville: Came on for Podolski with seven minutes left and almost scored.

Tim Borowski: Came on for Fritz in injury time.

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