Stern Opening Test For Co-Hosts

As co-hosts of the tournament, there is extra pressure on Austria to succeed at Euro 2008 - yet the portents are not promising for Austrian fans. Apart from the fact that they are drawn in Group B with Germany, Poland and their first opponents, Croatia, all of whom qualified impressively, Austria lack big tournament experience, competitive preparation and current form going into Sunday's opener. In contrast, Croatia are viewed by many as potential 'dark-horse' winners of Euro 2008.

It is 10 years since Austria last qualified for a major tournament - the 1998 World Cup - and their participation in Euro 2008 was secured as co-hosts rather than through a qualifying group. In fact this will be Austria's first-ever appearance in a European Championship, as they failed to qualify on every one of their previous attempts. Their underdog status is underlined by the fact that they are by some distance the lowest-ranked team involved in Euro 2008, having slipped out of the top 100 in Fifa's official rankings following a poor run of just one win in 14 matches up to the start of this year.

On the other hand Croatia, who were quarter-finalists at Euro 96 and finished third at the 1998 World Cup in France, looked a fluid and potent attacking force during their qualifying campaign,. the highlight of which was beating England convincingly home and away. However, the Croats suffered a body blow in February, when star striker Eduardo da Silva had his leg shattered playing for Arsenal at Birmingham. The Brazilian-born forward had contributed 10 goals in 12 qualifiers, and his absence is bound to be felt by Slaven Bilic's side. He had been the attacking focal point of an adventurous 4-1-3-2 system deployed by Bilic, a departure from the more physical approach adopted in the three preceding tournaments (World Cup and Euros) when Croatia, having qualified, got no further than the group stages.


Hickersberger's Optimism Heavily Qualified

Even Austria's coach, Josef Hickersberger, only feels his team have a 40 per cent chance of beating Croatia. But although they have lost all three of their previous matches against the Croats, Hickersberger insists his side should not be written off prematurely, and says home advantage underpins his 40 percent prediction. "Croatia are a world-class team," he said, "so my prediction is very optimistic. But if we have a good day and a little bit of luck, we can beat Croatia."

Remarkably for a national team about to embark on the biggest event their history, Hickersberger has had to address poor discipline within his squad this week. He said some of the Austrian players lacked concentration in training, while one arrived late for a team meeting.

"The team was not as focused anymore as it was before, the attitude just wasn't right," complained the coach. "We can't afford that, even if the rainy conditions were difficult. If we are not 100 percent sharp against Croatia on Sunday, we have a huge problem."

The Austrians were held to a 1-1 draw by Nigeria in a friendly last week before thrashing Malta 5-1, but Hickersberger feels his side can get through a tough group. "We have set ourselves a big goal," he said. "We want to reach the quarter-finals and in the last days I have become more optimistic.

"We don't need to go to the betting shop to know our rivals are all favoured ahead of us. However, we have the home advantage and we have a chance of getting points. I know it was not ideal that we let Malta and Nigeria score goals but this happens to teams like Germany too. We will work on it," he added. He has been working on it for a while, struggled to achieve a balanced side that can consistently get results.


Bilic Believes

For Slaven Bilic, the challenge is somewhat different: he believes his side are capable of winning the whole tournament, but following the loss of Eduardo he has to get his players believing too. He is convinced he has the players available to improve on Croatia's Euro 96 and 04 showings, and possibly spring a surprise.

"I believe that we are strong enough to take the title," he said. "The team is both good and solid, we qualified for the Euros from one of the more difficult groups and we most notably of all beat England on two occasions during the qualifiers.

"On paper, there are the usual favourites: Germany, France and Italy. You could also include Spain and Holland. And the English too would have also been among the favourites...if they had qualified."

One of Bilic's key creative forces, Portsmouth midfielder Niko Kranjcar, claims victory on Sunday is vital. "I always say the most important thing is to win the first game. I think we've proven over the last two or three years that we really have a team that can beat anyone. If we prepare well, we're a team who can give anyone a good game. Hopefully with a bit of luck, we can go pretty far."

Bilic is looking to Kranjcar, new Spurs signing Luka Modric, and Mladen Petric to provide the midfield invention that can drive Croatia to a new level of achievement. "Our top three players should be 100 per cent inspired throughout the tournament and the rest of the team will have to be at their best too if we are to progress from our group," said the coach.

"We won't reach the quarter-finals just by keeping it tight at the back. We need our three magicians Modric, Kranjcar and Petric to make things happen. These strikers are the best we have, not including Eduardo da Silva, whose absence is obviously a severe blow because the whole team played better when he was with us. However, he didn't take us to Euro 2008 on his own and we must make do without him. I've faith in the players who are here and we are convinced they will start firing on all cylinders at a crunch time. They are top-level strikers who score regularly for their clubs so it's not time to sound alarm bells, but we have to improve."

Croatia were less than impressive in beating Moldova 1-0 last week, then drawing 1-1 with Hungary on Saturday, and Bilic knows things will need to improve the moment the tournament gets underway. "We have been a threat to our rivals far too rarely, we have to be more aggressive," he said. "We defend as a team and we have to attack as a team too, meaning that our midfield must carve out more supply routes to the strikers.


FORM GUIDE

Austria

The Austrians had a morale-boosting 5-1 win over Malta in their final friendly before Euro 2008, with goals from Rene Aufhauser, Roland Linz (2), Ivica Vastic and Martin Harnik. It was only Austria's second victory in 16 matches.

Prior to that they drew 1-1 with Nigeria when Roman Kienast put them ahead on 13 minutes, only for Kalu Uche to equalise for Nigeria six minutes later.

Previously, Holland stunned Austria by coming back from a 3-0 deficit to win 4-3 in a thrilling friendly at the end of March. The Austrians looked sure to notch a famous victory over Marco van Basten's side when they went three up inside the opening 36 minutes through Ivan Ivanschitz and Sebastian Prodl (two). But Klaas Huntelaar pulled one back before the break, and Johnny Heitinga, Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink and Huntelaar again left Austria shell-shocked and beaten.


Croatia

Niko Kovac scored at either ends as Croatia were held to a 1-1 draw by Hungary in their last match before Euro 2008.

Kovac had also headed the only goal of the game as Croatia beat Moldova 1-0 in their penultimate fixture. leading up to Euro 2008.

In their Euro 2008 qualifying campaign, Croatia's results were:

06/09/06 v Russia (A) 0 - 0
07/10/06 v Andorra (H) 7 - 0
11/10/06 v England (H) 2 - 0
15/11/06 v Israel (A) 4 - 3
24/03/07 v FYR Macedonia (H) 2 - 1
02/06/07 v Estonia (A) 1 - 0
06/06/07 v Russia (H) 0 - 0
08/09/07 v Estonia (H) 2 - 0
12/09/07 v Andorra (A) 6 - 0
13/10/07 v Israel (H) 1 - 0
17/11/07 v FYR Macedonia (A) 0 - 2
21/11/07 v England (A) 3 - 2


TEAM NEWS

Austria

Emanuel Pogatetz is expected to be available after suffering a calf injury in training, manager Hickersberger saying there was only a small chance he wouldn't be fit in time to face Croatia.

But Hickersberger was forced to make a late change to his squad when goalkeeper Helge Payer suffered a blood circulation problem. Payer was replaced by Ramazan Ozcan, but the coach was coy about whether Alex Manninger or Jurgen Macho would be his first-choice goalkeeper.

He was keeping his players on their toes during the week, saying in midweek that although he had a team in his head to play against Croatia, he wanted to use the remaining training sessions for the players to show their best.

Squad:

Goalkeepers: Jurgen Macho (AEK Athens), Alex Manninger (Siena), Ramazan Ozcan (Hoffenheim).

Defenders: Gyorgy Garics (Napoli), Ronald Gercaliu (Austria Vienna), Martin Hiden (Austria Carinthia), Markus Katzer (Rapid Vienna), Jurgen Patocka (Rapid Vienna), Emanuel Pogatetz (Middlesbrough), Sebastian Proedl (Sturm Graz), Martin Stranzl (Spartak Moscow).

Midfielders: Rene Aufhauser (Salzburg), Christian Fuchs (Mattersburg), Andreas Ivanschitz (Panathinaikos), Umit Korkmaz (Rapid Vienna),Christoph Leitgeb (Salzburg), Jurgen Saeumel (Sturm Graz), Joachim Standfest (Austria Vienna), Ivica Vastic (Linz).

Strikers: Martin Harnik (Werder Bremen), Erwin Hoffer (Rapid Vienna), Roman Kienast (Ham-Kam), Roland Linz (Braga).


Croatia

Slaven Bilic has named his strongest team to face Austria, and said he will be keeping to the same formation he used in Croatia's recent friendlies against Moldova and Hungary.

That suggests the team will be:
Stipe Pletikosa; Vedran Corluka, Robert Kovac, Josip Simunic, Danijel Pranjic; Darijo Srna, Niko Kovac, Luka Modric, Niko Kranjcar; Mladen Petric, Ivica Olic.

Bilic added that, "The mood is excellent, but the nerves are increasing – a positive nervousness. Be sure we'll give everything we can; we'll be a top team. We'll be better than Austria as we're capable of controlling the match. Like in Formula 1, a good start is so important in the first game. All the best to women, but football is the most beautiful thing in the world."

Squad:

Goalkeepers: Stipe Pletikosa (Spartak Moscow), Vedran Runje (Lens), Mario Galinovic (Panathinaikos).

Defenders: Vedran Corluka (Manchester City), Dario Simic (Milan), Robert Kovac (Borussia Dortmund), Josip Simunic (Hertha Berlin), Dario Knezevic (Livorno), Hrvoje Vejic (Tomsk).

Midfielders: Danijel Pranjic (Heerenveen), Nikola Pokrivac (Monaco), Niko Kovac (Salzburg), Luka Modric (Dinamo Zagreb), Jerko Leko (Monaco), Ognjen Vukojevic (Dinamo Zagreb), Darijo Srna (Shakhtar Donetsk), Niko Kranjcar (Portsmouth), Ivan Rakitic (Schalke).

Strikers: Mladen Petric (Borussia Dortmund), Ivica Olic (Hamburg), Igor Budan (Parma), Ivan Klasnic (Werder Bremen), Nikola Kalinic (Hajduk Split).


PLAYERS TO WATCH

Austria

Sporting Braga striker Roland Linz is said to be a summer target for Premier League clubs West Ham, Middlesbrough, Newcastle and Fulham. He will be leading the Austrian attack as he was last week against Malta when he scored twice and was watched by representatives of up to five English clubs. Linz, 26, scored 11 league goals for Sporting and will be hoping to impress would-be suitors during the tournament.

A spokesman for his agency was quoted as saying: "There has been interest in Roland from the Premiership and a number of clubs were watching him again at the Malta game. But he is focused on the Euros at the moment and we will see what happens after the tournament."

Linz's international team-mate, Martin Harnik, is another one to watch, a highly promising young forward who will turn 21 during the tournament. He has made a name for himself with Werder Bremen and also scored on his international debut as a substitute against the Czech Republic last August.


Croatia

Midfielder Luka Modric starred for Croatia against England in the qualification campaign and has now agreed to join Tottenham in a £15.8million deal from Dinamo Zagreb. Before arriving at White Hart Lane, though, Modric wants to make a big impact at Euro 2008. He is seen as the natural successor to Croatian hero Robert Prosinecki and has been compared by some with the great Johan Cruyff, often deployed in the middle of the pitch, but with the freedom to make the sort of penetrative forward runs that unhinged Steve McClaren's England.

Modric said: "That game with England at Wembley was not that important to us in terms of needing the points. But we wanted to show all the footballing world that Croatia have a very, very good team. We did our best in that game to demonstrate that. I was sorry for England - but in every game we want to be successful and we want to do well at the European Championships. In our qualification group to reach the finals, we played some very good football and won against some strong teams. I believe Croatia have the qualities to come in the first two in this summer's finals. That is the first goal and after that we will see what happens."

Croatia manager Bilic commented: "Tottenham is perfect for Luka. It is better for him than, for example, going to Chelsea. Chelsea could have bought him, Lionel Messi and Ronaldinho and then Luka could have ended up on the bench."

In the absence of Eduardo, Modric will have additional responsibility - from central midfield he will be expected to dictate the tempo of the match, but will need strikers to convert the chances he create.

Another of Bilic's squad, Niko Kranjcar, is already established in the Premier League at Portsmouth, with whom he won the FA Cup last month. He is being linked with a possible move to Arsenal, although he insists he is happy at Fratton Park. Kranjcar is expected to provide the creativity in harness with Modric and Mladen Petric.


PREDICTION

Austria legend Hans Krankl suggested that the country's fans needed to be "realistic" about their team's chances. Krankl said getting past the group stage would be a "great, great success." That put their prospects into sharp perspective, and although Greece upset the odds in sensational style four years ago when surprising many by winning Euro 2004, few are expecting Austria to cause a similar shock, even on home turf. The backing of the crowd will be vital to the team, but as the weakest (lowest-ranked) team in the competition without as yet a settled side, Croatia - one of the world's top 13 teams - look the likelier winners. The Croats looked slick and inventive in qualifying, and although expectations are high, which can be a problem, and Eduardo is missing, which is a burden, they should ease past the co-hosts.

Austria 0-2 Croatia