Poles rue late penalty

Source: Agencies  |   2008-6-14  |     NEWSPAPER EDITION

WHEN the referee pointed to the penalty spot at Ernst Happel Stadium, just maybe he was pointing Austria to a path that could end with a quarterfinal spot at the European Championship.

The tournament co-host was trailing Poland by a goal on Thursday when English official Howard Webb awarded a spotkick for Mariusz Lewandowski's pull on Sebastian Proedl. Substitute Ivica Vastic stepped up for Austria's first ever European Championship goal to earn a 1-1 draw so vital that no one supporting the home team cared about the way the it was scored.

Roger Guerreiro had put the Poles ahead in the 30th minute.

"We didn't succeed the way we wanted to, but through the penalty we secured a draw that was the first point for Austria in a European Championship," coach Josef Hickersberger said.

That point means that Austria has a chance of reaching the quarterfinals if it can eke out a win on Monday against neighbor Germany.

Webb ruled that midfielder Mariusz Lewandowski pulled on Sebastian Proedl's shirt and awarded Austria a penalty that Ivica Vastic calmly dispatched to earn Austria a draw and a precious point.

The decision left the Poles feeling like they got robbed.

"There's the usual wrestling we see the last five years in football, and then, I don't know why, but probably at that moment the referee sees something that nobody saw and probably he wants to show that he is a big boy, and that he had the guts to do it," a furious Poland coach Leo Beenhakker said.

"If you lose a game and it goes to the other guys and they score two goals, it's tough but you can expect it, but sometimes you don't get what you deserve. This hurts a lot more than the first match."

Poland lost its opening game 0-2 to longtime rival Germany.

UEFA said yesterday that Webb had acted entirely correctly.

"You saw that the freekick was taken twice. There was a lot of wrestling in the area and that's probably why, since he was confronted with the problem during the match, that he finally took that decision," UEFA spokesman William Gaillard said. "He was certainly within the laws of the game."