Euro2008 - Euro 2008

All or nothing for Austria boss

Hickersberger demanding victory against Poland

josef hickersberger austria

Hickersberger: Looking for three points

Josef Hickersberger is aware that his Austria side has to beat Poland in Group B on Thursday.

The co-hosts produced a spirited display in their opening match but lost 1-0 to Croatia, while Poland were beaten 2-0 by Germany.

Hickersberger realises that defeat would almost certainly eliminate Austria from the tournament and does not believe a draw would give them much chance of progressing.

However, he has backed his men to pick up three points if they play as they did against Croatia.

"For both teams it is all or nothing," said Hickersberger.

"The loser will be knocked out and a draw will not be good enough for the two teams.

"It is a victory that is required to qualify. I am expecting the players to show the same competitiveness of spirit that they showed in the second half against Croatia.

"That experience will help us to play even better."

No Hollywood football

Despite the importance of the match, Hickersberger has insisted that he will not throw caution to the wind and will stick to a pragmatic approach.

"We are not going to play 'Hollywood' style with two strikers and four attacking midfielders behind them," he said.

"The Utopians will be disappointed. One has to remember that Poland topped their qualifying group ahead of Portugal and took four points off them.

"And when one sees how well the Portuguese did in beating Turkey 2-0 (in their opening match) then that puts what the Polish achieved into perspective.

"I also thought the Poles played really well against the Germans. So we are going to try and find the right balance between attack and defence."

Austria Squad list

  • AUS 0 - 1 CRO

    Group B - Sun 8th Jun - KO 17:00

    Austria AUS 0 - 1 CRO Croatia

    • Ernst Happel Stadion
    • Vienna
  • AUS 1 - 1 POL

    Group B - Thu 12th Jun - KO 19:45

    Austria AUS 1 - 1 POL Poland

    • Ernst Happel Stadion
    • Vienna
  • AUS 0 - 1 GER

    Group B - Mon 16th Jun - KO 19:45

    Austria AUS 0 - 1 GER Germany

    • Ernst Happel Stadion
    • Vienna
Group B
Team Pl Pts
Croatia 3 9
Germany 3 6
Austria 3 1
Poland 3 1