The major flop by the Austrian national team in their second international friendly match of the year prior to the UEFA European Football Championship™ 2008 took on a historical dimension. The 4-3 (1-3) defeat by the Netherlands was a negative landmark. The last time the Austrian squad had lost a match after taking a 3-0 lead dated back 50 years: Then the Yugoslav team also achieved a 4-3 victory after being 3-0 down, and also in Vienna. With just 10 weeks to go to the kick-off of the UEFA EURO 2008™, when the Austrians will play Croatia, this defeat by the UEFA European champions 1988 hurt the Austrians much more than the fiasco against the “Yugos” 50 years ago.

Austrian national coach Josef Hickersberger said after the truly dramatic football evening at Ernst Happel Stadium: “I am terribly disappointed, because I feel the negative effect on the team”. In their first friendly in the UEFA EURO year against Germany (3-0 defeat) on February 6, his team had produced a great performance for one hour, but failed to score. The team again played very well against the Netherlands, and scored three goals through captain Andreas Ivanschitz (6th) and Sebastian Proedl (18th, 35th), who will play with Werder Bremen from next season. But then the Austrian squad fell apart.

Jan Huntelaar (37th) scored before halftime, and after the break Johnny Heitinga (67th), Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink (82nd) and Huntelaar again (87th) managed to turn the match around in front of 40,500 spectators. By the end the Austrians were helping their guests to score with numerous mistakes.

Everybody was disappointed, as the wished for success, which for one hour seemed on the cards, had not been achieved. Hickersberger compared his players to a groggy boxer. “In the second half of the match we were on the ropes and could not get our fists up to defend ourselves”. But the head coach of the Austrian Football Association, ÖFB, fended off pessimism, although his team had failed to win any of their last four matches. “I see possible progress, which has also been registered abroad”, he said. The Lower Austrian maintained that the discussion whether his players were not fit enough and so their performance deteriorated towards the end, was inappropriate. He gave other reasons for the deterioration. “We have a problem with the match economy”, “Hicke” explained, “The players cannot plan properly their mental and physical strength to cover the full 90 minutes.” The Austrians indeed have a very young team. The professionals who were in the starting line-up against the Dutch had, for an A team, an unusually low average age of 22.7 years.

Martin Harnik, the 20-year-old offensive player with Werder Bremen, was not at all interested in the age, however: “Contrary to the match against Germany we used our chances and scored three goals from the first three opportunities. Frustration reigns, however. I would rather lead 1-0 and play badly than be up 3-0 and lose in the end.” Emanuel Pogatetz, one of the oldest Austrian players at 25, who plays with Middlesbrough, named fitness deficits: “We deteriorated physically in the second half and could no longer run as we did in the first 45 minutes.”

Hickersberger’s comment that the team’s positive development had been registered abroad did not hold true for the Netherlands. The Dutch media criticised their team strongly, despite the victory, and did not show restraint with disparaging remarks about the Austrians. “A hard confrontation with reality. It was embarrassing that the team showed so many weaknesses against what is possibly the weakest European Championship participant. The Dutch team were made to look foolish in an inexplicable way by a C category opponent. The final score was not determined by a strong performance from the Netherlands but rather by the weakness of the opponents”, the Dutch newspaper De Volkskraant commented. The Allgemeen Dagblad also analysed cynically: “When Oranje became more aggressive it became clear how weak the Austrians really are. If the ‘Elftal’ were trying to keep expectations for the European Championship low, they have achieved their aim.”

The match was judged differently in Croatia. The Croats had lost 3-0 to the Netherlands in Split in February and are the first opponents of the Austrians at the UEFA European Football Championship™ 2008. Poland and Germany complete group B. Despite the 4-3 defeat, Austria had shown that they are hard to beat. This performance would be a warning for the Croat team, the media in Zagreb and Split maintained.

Hickersberger has only two matches left to find his best team before the beginning of the UEFA European Football Championship™. Austria will meet Nigeria in Graz on May 27, and the final preparation match will be against Malta on May 30, also in Graz. The coach is facing the task of strengthening the balance of the team. Last year the defence was quite stable, without any high defeats. After that Hickersberger put priority on a bolder attack, which was realised against Germany and the Netherlands, but at the expense of seven goals against within 180 minutes. Hickersberger and his players must still work on the right balance.