Austria

Proof once again that it isn’t just the eyes of Europe that are glued (well, kind of, unless it’s Greece vs. Russia, which we watched out of politeness) to the current tournament being played out in Austria and Switzerland, we bring you news and opinion this fine morning from around the world.

Du Guodong, the editor of China View, brings us news that Leo Beenhakker has refused to step down as national coach of Poland following his team’s frankly lacklustre performance at Euro 2008. His extended contract saw his job safe until 2010, but that was signed before the tournament, and rumours abound that he might be receiving a Polish equivalent of a P45 before long.

The blog of The World Game, Australian-based sports show, reports that Italian coach Donadoni is expecting the Netherlands to do the Azzurri a favour and defeat Romania tonight, allowing his side to go through. They report that Donadoni has said if he was to put himself in a Dutch player’s boots, he wouldn’t want to be asked to lose against Romania, just to prevent Italy or France going through, going as far as to say he would be ‘humiliated’.

Sulmaan Ahmad, from Goal.com, holds a different view however. He reckons that Donadoni is going to make ‘wholesale changes’ to his side tonight, which could gift the French an easy ride through to the next round. This replay of the World Cup final revolves around the result in the other game, but literally any outcome is still possible, including a penalty shootout. Sulmaan thinks the ‘bragging rights’ for this one are too big to see a dull 0-0 played out, so roll on the goalfest!

Read the small print! 2010! 10, I said!

Ok, so we’ve said it before, but Michael Ballack is proving himself to be the best German player at Euro 2008. Mark Lawrenson on the BBC mentioned his ‘lack of performance’ at the last game, which prompted me to fire off a quick email pointing him in the direction of the Castrol Index, with a PS giving him the address of a baker I know who makes lovely humble pies. In the shape of hats.

Tonight’s game against Austria, at least at the 75 minute mark, *once again* sees Ballack covering the most ground of all the German players. Doing a more than passable impression of the Energiser Bunny, he just keeps on going!

Stats powered by http://www.castrolindex.com

Other than BOTH managers having been sent to the stands, with Joachim Low and Josef Hickersberger appearing to have a bit of a row, there is very little of note in the first half of this German vs Austria match - other than very tense football, and two teams battling out a grim game that could spell disaster for the pre tournament favourites if the Austrians were to snatch a lucky break. It seems unlikely though, and as this statistical picture from the CPI shows, there has been very little to shout about from either side as of yet.

Whether Austria can lift themselves in front of their home crowd… Only time will tell!

Captain Marvel (aka Michael Ballack) - as his nickname in the German dressing room most certainly isn’t - has certainly proved his worth to the team by excelling himself in the two games that his national side have played so far. Maybe not grabbing the headlines like Podolski for finding the back of the net, Ballack has done some stellar work in the midfield, especially against Croatia where, despite the loss, he ran further and faster than anyone else. In fact, as the CPI boys have pointed out, in tonight’s opponents Austria, no player has broken the 30km/h barrier so he should easily be the fastest man on the pitch.

Austria, though, have a shooting machine in the form of Andreas Ivanschitz who has had seven shots so far in the two games played, outstripping his team mates by three. None of them have found their way across the line yet, but it’s surely only a matter of time. And looking at his heat map, he’s trying his luck mostly from the right corner of the penalty area – so if Joachim Löw wants his players to clamp down on him, then that’s the area they need to look out for.

Stats powered by http://www.castrolindex.com

101 Great Goals has a great write up of yesterday’s matches, compete with links to video highlights of both games. They write about the epic Croatian victory over the much-fancied German side, saying they ‘threatened’ and ‘frustrated’ before they went ahead. They also reckon the Austrians ‘absolutely battered’ the Polish lines in the opening salvo, and were unlucky to go down, but the final score was a fair result.

The Guardian has a daily podcast from James Richardson and friends in Vienna with reactions to the games as they happen, quite handy if you can’t get to a TV, or missed a game, and the irreverent slant they take is a refreshing change to usual analysis. Well worth a listen.

For those of you on the move and up there with your mobile technology, NoShape has come up with a handy little application for your phone. Mobile Football does exactly what it says on the tin, puts football…on your mobile. Download it from the NoSpace site, and have results, a calendar and info about the towns and stadiums where the games are being played.

Revealed yesterday by Brooks (amongst a host of others), any Austrian player that scores in the tournament is being offered a lifetime supply of beer from a Viennese brewer. Step up to the penalty spot one Ivica Vastic who calmly belted it past Boruc, and as the Austria Football Blog puts it became one ‘lucky player’. We’re sure it was the thought of national pride that was going through his mind as he approached the ball, not the free booze. Probably.

‘Yes! Free beer!’

Aside from the three outstanding early chances that were resolutely saved by the mighty Artur Boruc (he of Celtic), the Austrian team in this match delivered very, very little in the way of attacking force.

And the brave (lucky) penalty decision from Englishman Howard Webb changed things. Poland didn’t heed the warning for the pushing and shoving, so probably deserved to have the decision go against them.

A quick look at the defences’ heat maps shows why this game wasn’t a classic. Only one flank out of the four available was utilised, and that was the Austrian left. As we have stressed already a few times on these pages, rampaging full backs seem to be the key, and if you don’t have them, the game is as good as over, both as a spectacle and as a chance of three points for the team lacking the forward-thinking players.

Stats provided by the Castrol Index. Thanks fellas.

A quick look at the stats after an hour of the Austria vs Poland game shows that the fastes and most industrious players on the pitch are all defence-minded players. Does this show, then that noth attacks are sharing the work, or just that the defenders are turning on the pace and covering the distance to keep this one at 0-1? Aufhauser at 28.51km/h and 7746m covered after 60 mins takes both plaudits for the co-hosts, whilst Jop was the fastest Pole before he was subbed, with Dudka, just as he was against the Germans, the hardest working with 7900m covered.

Compare the workload of the attacks, who actually *do* appear to have shared out the work load amongst themselves. Football - it’s a funny old game.

We love our stats, we do, and they’re provided by the lovely gents (and ladies) at Castrol Performance Index