GROUP B/Austria 0 Croatia 1:THE FOURTH-MINUTE penalty with which Croatia beat the co-hosts was the earliest to be awarded in the history of European Championship finals, but Slaven Bilic's players then found themselves trapped in a match that must have felt endless.
There was a great deal to intrigue the watching Fabio Capello as he prepared for World Cup qualifiers with the side that stopped England from reaching this tournament.
Austria got over an opening in which limitations of technique were savagely exposed to take the match to Croatia. They must curse the initial nervousness that saw Rene Aufhauser bundle into Ivica Olic. Luka Modric, who will be with Tottenham next season, slotted the spot-kick straight down the middle as Jurgen Macho dived to his right.
That sense of Croatian superiority had a brief life. In the closing seconds it was no shock to see the substitute Roman Kienast heading just wide for Austria. While endeavour would have merited an equaliser, the upheaval they caused did not lead to clean openings. Bilic, indeed, viewed this as an awkward fixture that has been negotiated and is now best forgotten. Capello will prefer to linger over it. At the risk of sounding as if coarse English endeavour will suffice, it was the case that Croatia were ruffled and even overpowered here. Capello's side will flounder once more if they are as gullible as they were under his predecessor, Steve McClaren, but the pace established by Austria did take its toll.
Bilic did admit that he had to put Croatian pop music on in the dressing-room afterwards and remind his men that they should be pleased. He agreed that his team had retreated to its own penalty area for the last half-hour. It was, in Bilic's mind, the value of the result, rather than tiredness, that made Croatia conservative. Their goalkeeper, Stipe Pletikosa, named man of the match, was in regular action but no marvels were forced from him.
Croatia should be more settled when they take on Germany. Even last night their path could have been smoothed.
It might have been pity that inclined the referee, Pieter Vink, to decide against cutting Austria to 10 men. Emmanuel Pogatetz, already booked for dissent at the penalty, could not cope when Darijo Srna released Olic after 29 minutes and responded with repeated manhandling of the striker. This was professional fouling, yet there was no second caution for the Middlesbrough defender.
It hardly seemed to matter at that stage, so clumsy and inferior did Austria appear. As McClaren had in Zagreb, Josef Hickersberger opted for a three-man defence. The intention, presumably, is to cut off the supply to Croatia's strikers and stifle the opposition with superior numbers in midfield. There was also a promise of width, but it took a while before a stodgy Austria could illustrate that fact.
The host nation raised their tempo and a neat cross freed Martin Harnik five minutes before half-time and had to be thumped behind. Austria also caused disquiet when winning headers in the goalmouth, even if they were not directed satisfactorily. It sufficed to stir the home support and to subdue the large numbers of Croats in the crowd.
Bilic was compelled to take steps to solidify his team. With Portsmouth's Niko Kranjcar removed, Danijel Pranjic pushed up into his wide midfield spot, Josip Simunic went out to left-back and Dario Knezevic was introduced at centre-half.
While there may be better showings ahead, Bilic must be alarmed to have witnessed Croatia so ill at ease as they were here yesterday.
AUSTRIA: Macho, Prodl, Stranzl, Pogatetz, Aufhauser, Saumel (Vastic 61), Standfest, Gercaliu (Korkmaz 69), Ivanschitz, Harnik, Linz (Kienast 73).
CROATIA: Pletikosa, Corluka, Robert Kovac, Simunic, Pranjic, Srna, Nico Kovac, Modric, Kranjcar (Knezevic 61), Olic (Vukojevic 82), Petric (Budan 72).
Referee: Pieter Vink (Holland).
