The sun fell on the split ring of the Olympiastadion and tens of thousands of Austrians sang a cappella I Am From Austria, in front of the team of his team who joined the choir hugging on the grass. Accompanied by the voice of the king of Alpine pop, Rainhard Fendrich, which echoed through the speakers in a ritual of national communion, the kind of deep vibration that Austria produced with the beautiful victory over the Netherlands and the consequent obtaining of first place in group D, Against all odds. France and the Netherlands, the two powers, fall to second and third place in the quadrant, with the punishment that this entails. Now the Dutch run the risk of facing Spain.
2
Bart Verbruggen, Virgil van Dijk, Nathan Aké, Lutsharel Geertruida, Stefan de Vrij, Joey Veerman, Tijjani Reijnders, Jerdy Schouten, Memphis Depay, Cody Gakpo, Donyell Malen, Xavi Simons (Joey Veerman, min. 34), Micky van de Ven (Nathan Aké, min. 64), Georginio Wijnaldum (Tijjani Reijnders, min. 64) and Wout Weghorst (Donyell Malen, min. 71)
3
Patrick Pentz, Stefan Posch, Philipp Lienhart, Alexander Prass, Max Wöber, Nicolas Seiwald, Marcel Sabitzer, Patrick Wimmer, Florian Grillitsch, Romano Schmid, Marko Arnautovic, Christoph Baumgartner (Philipp Lienhart, min. 61), Konrad Laimer (Patrick Wimmer, min. 62), Leopold Querfeld (Florian Grillitsch, min. 63), Michael Gregoritsch (Marko Arnautovic, min. 77) and Andreas Weimann (Romano Schmid, min. 91)
Goals
0-1 min. 5: Malen. 1-1 min. 46: Gakpo. 1-2 min. 58: Roman Schmid. 2-2 min. 74: Depay. 2-3 min. 79: M. Sabitzer
Referee Ivan Kruzliak
Yellow cards
Stefan Posch (min. 31), Patrick Wimmer (min. 32), Leopold Querfeld (min. 93)
Football replaced the ancient pagan festivals of the summer solstice. Now the Germanic tribes travel around the continent celebrating themselves with the excuse of the Euro Cup. This Tuesday, in the middle of the heat wave, Austrians and Dutch flocked to the stone altars of the Olympic stadium in Berlin, intoxicated with beer, singing, shaking the subway cars, happy to dress up as carrots, or as field marshals of the Holy Empire, for example, and forgetting about themselves, their job, their studies, their public service, their family duty. On the grass, at the bottom of the enormous stone crater, the teams of the Netherlands and Austria debated with the respectable objective of avoiding Spain in the round of 16.
Ronald Koeman ordered his team to wait in ambush for the Austrians to make a mistake, and then punish them with some cleverness from Memphis Depay, with Malen’s speed in space, or with Gakpo’s little things. In the other quarter, Ralf Rangnik ordered the Dutch to press hard in their own half, with bravery and discipline, and if instead they were the ones who suffered from the high pressure, he told them to throw long balls to divide the ball in the middle and press again far from their goal. Rangnik’s plan worked better. Basically, because in the heat of those situations of sought-after narrowness, when the spaces were reduced, Grillitsch offered himself with more desire and found more partners and with more clarity in Arnautovic and Sabitzer, while his counterparts in the orange midfield, Reinjdeers and Veerman, disappeared every time they felt the breath of their rivals. Sometimes it all comes down to a question of courage.
Sabitzer often says it: “What transformed Austria is the aggressiveness with which we defended towards the ball every time we lost it.” Dispossessed of the ball and never recovering it in time, the Dutch reacted to contact with the opponent with deadly perplexity. That’s how they were going when the handsome Lienhart came out of his area and connected in the middle with Arnautovic, who in turn left the zone. nine and opened Sabitzer. From the outside, Sabitzer, who acted as a midfielder but has the spirit of a midfielder, crossed low to the penalty spot and Malen scored an own goal. Koeman did not delay: after half an hour he removed the newbie Veerman and put on Xavi Simons, a young man who was anxious but daring with the ball. The match was balanced. Koeman snorted. His players left the locker room with more spirit after the break. In the first play of the second half, Geertruida stole the ball from Grillitsch and the counterattack launched by Simons ended in a goal for Gakpo and in the confirmation that the handsome Lienhart is good with the ball but soft in direct defensive actions.
The party completely collapsed. The substitutions contributed to this. But in the stress and exhaustion that came with the passage of time, the Austrian organization prevailed, a team more articulated around players who understood each other better. The 2-1 was a sample: Sabitzer tricked his full-back, put in the low cross, Arnautovic dragged the center backs and Schmid caught Aké asleep at the far post before pushing into the net. “We did not take responsibility for each of us following our man,” Koeman lamented, at the end of the match. “We defended very, very badly”
The acrobatic response of Depay, author of the 2-2 score, exalted the two fans, satisfied with the trip to Berlin, but did not appease the Austrian players. Rangnik’s company is ambitious. Shortly before the end of regulation time, Baumbartner filtered a pass that Sabitzer was able to read with an unmarking and an irrevocable goal. “The team has put all its trust in me and that has given me freedom,” said the MVP. Thanks to him, Austria qualifies first in the group and will face Turkey or the Czech Republic in the round of 16.
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