Early penalty proves enough for Croatia

Source: Agencies  |   2008-6-9  |     ONLINE EDITION

AN EARLY Luka Modric penalty and some committed late defending proved enough for Croatia to beat co-hosts Austria 1-0 and get their Euro 2008 Group B campaign off to a winning start yesterday.

Croatia were worth their win against a team placed 92nd in FIFA's world rankings to set the pace, before group rivals Germany and Poland met in Klagenfurt later on Sunday (1845 GMT).

Austria's disjointed efforts in the first hour betrayed a two-year lack of competitive action but they came to life in the latter stages.

In a rousing finale that had the 51,428 crowd roaring, they laid siege to the Croatian area but though a combination of misplaced passes and desperate defending rarely threatened goalkeeper Stipe Pletikosa, controversially named man of the match by UEFA.

"I am not entirely happy with the performance in the second half but we were very good in the opening period and should have led by a bigger margin at halftime," said Croatia coach Slaven Bilic.


'GETTING BETTER'

Austria coach Josef Hickersberger took heart from the second-half display by the 80-1 tournament outsiders: "The last 30 minutes showed that Austrian football is getting better," he said.

"For their effort and passion the team deserved to come away with more than a defeat."

The game had begun in a great atmosphere as Croatia's 20,000 fans outsung the home supporters but the die was cast while they were all settling back into their seats after the anthems.

Ivica Olic was chasing a hopeful ball towards the byline when he was clumsily and unnecessarily brought down by Rene Aufhauser, allowing Modric to convert from the spot with four minutes on the clock.

The goal immediately settled the Croatians, whose neat-passing midfielders began coolly knocking the ball around.

Mladen Petric, unmarked in the area, should have doubled the lead late in the half after a deep cross from Vedran Corluka but blasted wide.