Sport

Late penalty keeps Austria in tournament

Austria 1 Poland 1 AN INJURY-TIME penalty by Ivica Vastic earned co-hosts Austria a dramatic 1-1 draw with Poland in Vienna …

Fri Jun 13 2008 - 01:00

Austria 1 Poland 1AN INJURY-TIME penalty by Ivica Vastic earned co-hosts Austria a dramatic 1-1 draw with Poland in Vienna last night.

A confident Vastic showed no sign of nerves as he sent goalkeeper Artur Boruc the wrong way from the spot after Sebastian Proedl had his shirt pulled by Mariusz Lewandowski in the 93rd minute.

The 38-year-old attacking midfielder became the oldest man to score in the finals, surpassing the record held by former Portugal player Nene who was 34 when he netted against Romania in 1984.

Earlier, Brazilian-born striker Roger Guerreiro had given Poland a fortunate first-half lead.

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Guerreiro, who was only granted citizenship in April, was clearly offside when he scored his first goal for his adopted country from a 30th-minute scramble at the Ernst Happel Stadium.

Austria and Poland have one point each in Group B, with Germany on three and Croatia top on six and certain of a place in the quarter-finals.

Second place in the table will be decided next Monday when Germany play Austria and Croatia meet Poland.

The co-hosts paid the price for squandering a host of early opportunities that could have comfortably won them the game.

"We had our chances in the first 20, 30 minutes," said Austria coach Josef Hickersberger. "Whether their goal was offside or whether (our goal) was a penalty, I couldn't judge from my position.

"The performance of the team was very good once again. They played with great passion. We saw what we already knew, that Poland have a very strong team."

Poland coach Leo Beenhakker said the late penalty was a bitter pill to swallow.

"It is impossible to accept but I'm working on it," said the Dutchman. "In the first 20 minutes we started badly but after that we scored a good goal and then in the second half we were very good."

AUSTRIA:Macho, Garics, Prodl, Stranzl, Pogatetz, Leitgeb, Aufhauser (Saumel 74), Ivanschitz (Vastic 64), Korkmaz, Harnik, Linz (Kienast 64). Subs Not Used: Manninger, Ozcan, Standfest, Fuchs, Gercaliu, Katzer, Patocka, Hiden, Hoffer. Booked: Korkmaz, Prodl. Goal: Vastic 90 pen.

POLAND:Boruc, Wasilewski, Jop (Golanski 46), Bak, Zewlakow, Dudka, Lewandowski, Krzynowek, Roger (Murawski 85), Saganowski (Lobodzinski 83), Smolarek. Subs Not Used: Kowalewski, Fabianski, Wawrzyniak, Gargula, Pazdan, Zahorski, Kokoszka. Booked: Wasilewski, Krzynowek, Bak. Goal: Roger 30. Att: 51,428.

Referee:Howard Webb (England).