Match report: Poland 1-3 Austria
Group D: Gernot Trauner, Christoph Baumgartner and Marko Arnautovic got the goals as Austria took the points and all but ended Polish interest in the tournament. Ben Fisher reports from the Olympiastadion in Berlin …
Austria: Gernot Trauner, Christoph Baumgartner and Marco Arnautovic got the goals for Austria, but to a man Ralf Rangnick’s players were outstanding. They’re an excellent team and each and every one of their substitutes contributed to the cause as well. Here’s the group table, where three of the four teams have three points.
Full time: Poland 1-3 Austria
Austria take the three-points from a game that was must-win for both sides and Poland’s very slim chances of making the last 16 will be extinguyished if France beat the Netherlands later tonight.
It was terrific game of football, which Austria deserved to win. They’re a seriously good team and will provide no end of problems for any team in the knockout stages, shoud they make it that far.
90+3 min: Poland attack down the right and the cross is too high for Lewandowski. Grosicki gets a shot off but sends his effort wide. It’s all over in Berlin and Austria are deserved winners.
90+2 min: Austria attack down the left again and Konrad Laimer plays a weighted pass to the byline for Gregoritsch to chase. There’s too much welly on the ball, which rolls out of play despite the substitute’s best attempts to keep it in. Weirdly, it’s Austria who are playing like the team who are beind and in desperate need of two goals.
90 min: We’re deep into kitchen sink time for Poland but they’re not showing any sign of pulling a goal back. They’ll have four minutes of added time.
88 min: It’s another let-off for Poland. Schmidd plays Konrad Laimer through on goal and he takes the ball around Szczesney before rolling it towards the far corner from a tight angle. The ball takes what seems like an eternity to trundle the wrong side of the upright and roll wide. That was so close.
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85 min: Szczesney saves superbly to prevent a Stefan Posch shot from distance from arrowing into the top corner. That’s wonderful goalkeeping from the Pole.
82 min: Austria double-substitution: Romano Schmid and Michael Gregoritsch have come on for Baumgartner and Arnautovic.
Poland substitution: Kamil Grosicki on for Bartosz Slisz.
80 min: It’s bad news for Scotland whose chances of getting out of their group with two points are going up in smoke. It’s far worse news for Poland, whose slim hopes of making the last 16 will be extinguished if they lose this game and France beat the Netherlands tonight.
GOAL! Poland 1-3 Austria (Arnautovic 78pen)
Austria stretch their lead! Arnautovic sends Szczesney the wrong way, slotting the ball into the bottom right-hand corner.
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Penalty for Austria!
Sabitzer is put clean through on goal and is brought down by Szczesny, who catches him on the ankle as he dives at his feet.
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73 min: Oof! Austria go close to scoring a third as Szczesney saves well from Wimmer after good work by Baumgartner.
71 min: Some long overdue admin: Karlos Swiderski came on for Poland at the same time as Lewandowski, with strikers Buksa and Piatek making way.
69 min: That could be a massive goal for Austria and it was wonderfully taken by Baumgartner. Prass had the ball on the left flank and sent a low pass towards Arnautovic, who dummied so it ran through to Baumgartner. The RB Leipzig midfielder took a touch and slotted it past Szczesny into the corner.
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GOAL! Poland 1-2 Austria (Baumgartner 66)
Austria retake the lead! Baumgartner takes advantage of a fine Arnautovic dummy to run on to a through ball and slot it past Szczesny into the bottom right-hand corner from about 12 yards out.
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65 min: A booking I didn’t get to tell you about earlier: Jakub Muder, for a foul on Baumgartner.
64 min: Austria drill the ball into the Poland box, where Arnautovic is unable to sort his feet out and get a shot on goal. There’s an impromptu and unedifying but entertaining League Two-esque goalmouth scramble and Poland manage to hack the ball clear.
63 min: Austria substitution: Alexander Prass on for Philipp Mwene.
61 min: Zewelinski wastes the free-kick, firing the ball straight into the defensive wall. Lewandowski relieves him of the captain’s armband and wraps it around his biceps.
58 min: Poland win a free-kick a few yards outside the Austria penalty area, well left of centre. There’s a break in play as Gernot Trauner can get treatment for an injury that forces him off. He’s replaced by Kevin Danso.
There’s also a Polish double-substitution: Robert Lewandowski and somebody else whose identity I will reveal as soon as I know it, come on.
56 min: The ref plays advantage after an Autrian foul, allowing Nicola Zalewski to gallop upfield for Poland. Patrick Wimmer gets back to foul him and is booked. Free-kick for the Poles, wide on the left. Zalewski sends the ball into the Austrian penalty area and it’s cleared.
53 min: Austria charge forward with Baumgartner on the ball, driving at the defence. He’s fouled by Bartosz Slisz, who gets booked for his trouble. Sabitzer wastes the free-kick, sending the ball sailing wide from about 35 yards. I don’t think he was trying to score, it was just a freakishly overhit delivery into the box. If anything, Clive, he’s struck it too well.
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51 min: Patrick Wimmer wins a corner for Austria and takes it himself. His outswinger is met by Stefan Posch, who sends a powerful header straight into the gloves of Szczesny from about 12 yards out.
47 min: I’m a little puzzled by Austria’s decision to replace Florian Grillitsch, but on ITV co-comms, Andros Townsend points out that for all his quality, he did give the ball away quite a lot in the opening 45 minutes.
To hear far less astute punditry from a member of the Townsend family, you could tune in to see what Andros’s old man Troy had to say about England and other matters on last night’s Football Weekly Daily podcast.
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Second-half: Poland 1-1 Austria
46 min: Poland get the ball rolling in what is a must-win game for both teams. Each manager has made a change: Patrick |Wimmer is on for Austria, while Brighton’s Jakub Moder is on for Poland. Florian Grillitsch and Jakub Piotrowski make way.
An email: “Having previously been not all that interested, I’m now totally invested in this game after Sean McNulty’s pre-match email,” writes Simon McMahon. “Can both these teams just settle for a point now, please? We need a modern day Disgrace of Gijón.”
Poland 1-1 Austria
Half-time: A very entertaining 45 minutes draws to a close with the sides level. Austria roared out of the traps and threatened to overwhelm Poland after going ahead through Gernot Trauner’s excellent header. But having ridden their luck a little, the Poles finally got a foothold in the game and equalised through Kryzsztof Piatek’s composed finish. The game is very finely poised ahead of what could be a thrilling second half.
45+1 min: Stefan Posch catches Bartosz Slisz in the face with a trailing arm and the Polish midfielder goes down. He gets a free-kick and Piotr Zielinski bends the ball around the wall, forcing a good save out of Pentz. It’s half-time.
44 min: Florian Grillitsch, who has been very impressive in Austria’s midfield, tries to thread a ball between two defenders to put Sabitzer through on goal. His pass is intercepted.
42 min: Sabitzer drifts in from the left, picks up a pass and tries to pull a shot from distance inside the left upright. The ball whistles narrowly wide but I think Szczesny had it covered anyway.
40 min: Arnautovic takes a quick free-kick, playing the ball 30 yards upfield along the deck, trying to slip Konrad Laimer in behind. The striker’s delivery is a mite to heavy and the ball rolls out of play.
38 min: Austria break upfield with Baumgartner on the ball and options to his right and left. He chooses the latter, sliding in Marcel Sabitzer, who chops inside. His shot is blocked at close range by Szczesny, who’d rushed to the edge of his six-yard box.
35 min: Now then. Let’s see how Austria cope with that setback. They have a throw-in halfway inside the Poland half and Philipp Mwene cheekily steals about 10 yards before throwing the ball in the direction of Arnautovic.
32 min: I’m not entirely sure Poland deserve that equaliser, but they’ll certainly take it! It started with a deep cross towards the far post from Zielinski, which sparked a panic in the Austrian defence. One pull-back and a blocked Jan Bednarek shot later, the ball arrived at the feet of Piatek, who took his touch and slid the ball into the bottom corner.
GOAL! Poland 1-1 Austria (Piatek 30)
Poland equalise! Kryzsztof Piatek shows great composure as the ball ricochets towards his feet after a teammate’s shot was blocked, taking a touch before placing it past Patrick Pentz in the Austria goal.
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29 min: “Can’t imagine I’ll be the only Wales fan watching Poland and thinking ‘this could be us’,” writes Jonny Bull. “And that includes getting the absolute runaround here, especially on our current form.”
28 min: Piotr Zielinski tries another shot from outside the Austria penalty area but it cannons off the head of a defender.
26 min: Poland are being completely overrun in midfield and keep giving the ball away any time they do get possession. On their bench, Robert Lewandowski is deep in conversation with his manager and other members of the team’s coaching staff.
23 min: Austria continue their onslaught, with Mark Arnautovic bringing a smart save out of Szczesny after pouncing on a Baumgartner ball in behind the Polish defence. Offside.
19 min: Wojciech Szczesny dashes out of his penalty area to hack clear, just about preventing Christoph Baumgartner from getting to a terrific Florian Grillitsch pass floated down the middle.
20 min: Jakub Piotrowski sends an excellent ball across the face of the Austria goal but there’s nobody in a white shirt present to divert home. Nicola Zalewski collects the ball, cuts in from the right nad shooits well wide.
17 min: Piotr Zielinski takes Polandd’s first shot in anger but it’s blocked by Philipp Mwene in the penalty area. The ball hits his hand and Ziekinski gives it the full Freddie Flintoff with his appeal for a spot-kick but Mwene’s arm was tucked in by his chest when he handled the ball.
15 min: Austria are showing no inclination to do “an England” and are going all-out for a second goal rather than sitting back and inviting Poland on to them. They’re getting forward in numbers and only keeping two defenders back when they have the ball.
13 min: It was an excellent goal from Austria – a precision cross from the left and a terrific header that went in at the top left-hand corner of Szczesny’s goal. Trauner had to contort his body and lean backwards to steer it on target, but did so with aplomb.
10 min: Poland have been completely overwhelmed in the opening 10 minutes and are undone by a long throw. The ball is flung towards the Austrian centre-half Trauner, who fails to win it but remains in position to lean backwards and nod home from eight yards when the clipped cross comes in from Philipp Muene near the byline.
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GOAL! Poland 0-1 Austria (Trauner 9)
Austria lead! It’s been coming and Gernot Trauner heads Austria into the lead.
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8 min: Posch plays the ball long up the right flank to Arnautovic, who chests it down with his back to goal. He holds the ball up and wins a free-kick off Gernot Trauner.
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6 min: Austria have started at a heck of lick, like greyhounds sprinting out of the traps. Poland are struggling to cope with their early intensity.
5 min: Arnautovic and Sabitzer combine again and the latter crosses towards the former from the left. His delivery beats the defender but Arnautovic wasn’t expecting it to and is unable to capitalise.
3 min: Sabitzer plays the ball out wide towards Marko Arnautivic on the right flank but his pass is wayward. The ball skids out for a throew-in.
2 min: Austrian full-back Stefan Posch tests Wojciech Szczesny with an early long-range effort. The Polish goalkeeper is equal to the task.
1 min: Austria get forward and Marcel Sabitzer tries to pull the ball back into the Poland penalty area from the byline. He fails to pick out a teammate.
Poland v Austria is go ...
1 min: The game kicks off with a thick cloud of smoke hanging over proceedings, presumably the result of some Uefa-approved or unsanctioned pre-match pyrotechnics. Austria get the ball rolling, their players wearing red shirts. Poland’s are in white.
Not long now: Referee Umut Meler and his team of match officials lead out the teams as I try to get my head around Sean McNulty’s email about Scotland’ potentially getting through to the knockout stages with two points. That would be a magnificent achievement. I wonder if anyone’s told Steve Clarke …
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An email: If Poland v Austria ends in a draw, Scotland can qualify from their group with a mere two points,” writes Sean McNulty. “If the following also happens: Spain beat Albania in their final group game, and Italy beat Croatia. France beat Poland in their final group game, and the Netherlands beat Austria. And Scotland draw their final game against Hungary. If all the above comes to pass, I wouldn’t rule out the sudden arrival of a Germany-obliterating asteroid.”
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Seven changes across both teams
Robert Lewandowski is only fit for the Poland bench but Pawel Dawidowicz is back in the team after recovering from injury. The Hellas Verona defender became the subject of much derision for a preposterously theatrical dive he made to win a penalty against Turkey in Poland’s final warm-up game ahead of this competition.
Other Poland changes: Bartosz Slisz and Jakub Pitrowski also come into the midfield, and in terrible news for those of us tasked with typing minute-by-minute reports of Poland games, Krzysztof Piatek is up front alongside Adam Buksa. Sebastian Szymanski, Bartosz Salamon and Kacper Urbanski drop to the bench.
Marko Arnautovic is back in Austria’s starting line-up after playing the final half-hour against France, while Gernot Traumner and Philipp Lienhart also start. Kevin Danso, Max Wober and Michael Gregoritsch make way.
Today’s match officials
Referee: Halil Umut Meler
Referee’s assistants: Alper Ulusoy and Emre Eyisoy
Fourth official: Rade Obrenovic
Video assiistant referee: Paolo Valeri
How things stand in Group D: If either of these teams are beaten and the Netherlands and France draw tonight, the loser here cannot qualify for the knockout stages.
If Poland lose and France beat the Dutch, then Lewandowski and chums are out. If Austria lose and the Netherlands win, then Ralf Rangnick’s side are eliminated with a game still to play.
Poland: Robert Lewandowski is ready to hand Poland a major boost by returning to action against Austria, with Wojciech Szczesny adamant their record goalscorer’s mere presence on the pitch will strike fear into their opponents. Ben Fisher reports from Berlin …
Robert Lewandowski: In a team line-up boasting more Zs than a good night’s sleep, the name of Poland’s star striker is conspicuous by its absence. Despite pre-match reports to the contrary from the team HQ, Robert Lewandowski is only fit enough for the bench. Adam Buksa and Kryzsztof Piatek start up front in Michal Probierz’s side.
Poland v Austria line-ups
Poland: Szczesny, Bednarek, Dawidowicz, Kiwior, Frankowski, Zielinski, Slisz, Piotrowski, Zalewski, Buksa, Piatek.
Subs: Salamon, Walukiewicz, Swiderski, Moder, Lewandowski, Grosicki, Skorupski, Romanchuk, Puchacz, Damian Szymanski, Bereszynski, Sebastian Szymanski, Bulka, Skoras, Urbanski.
Austria: Pentz, Posch, Trauner, Lienhart, Mwene, Seiwald, Grillitsch, Laimer, Baumgartner, Sabitzer, Arnautovic.
Subs: Lindner, Wober, Danso, Prass, Gregoritsch, Hedl, Querfeld, Kainz, Schmid, Daniliuc, Seidl, Wimmer, Weimann, Entrup, Grull.
Slovakia 1-2 Ukraine
Group E: Mykola Shaparenko and Roman Yarmachuk got the goals as Ukraine came from behind to beat Slovakia with two second-half strikes.
Early team news
Poland are ready to welcome back Robert Lewandowski after their talismanic striker was forced to sit out their opener against the Netherlands with a thigh injury he picked up in their final warm-up game before the tournament. Karol Swiderski could start alongside Lewandowski, having come off the bench in the second half of Poland’s game against the Netherlands.
Marko Arnautovic could start up front for Austria, having come as a sub for Michael Gregoritsch an hour into Austria’s defeat at the hands of France. Ralf Rangnick played Marcel Sabitzer in an unfamiliar position on the left side of midfield in that game and the Borussia Dortmund player may be handed that role again. Should he move inside to a more central position, Patrick Wimmer could play on the wing.
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Group D: Poland v Austria
After losing their opening games, Poland and Austria meet at the Berlin’s Olympiastadion knowing that another defeat would almost certainly end of any chance they have of progressing to the knockout stages of this competition.
Poland began their campaign by losing by the odd goal in three against the Netherlands, while Austria were hugely impressive in their defeat at the hands of Euro 2024 favourites France. Although both teams lost, their head coaches, Michal Probierz and Ralf Rangnick, will have seen enough from their teams to feel confident of coming out on top of this crucial encounter.
Kick-off in Berlin is at 5pm (BST) but we’ll have team news and build-up in the meantime.
