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| February 8th 2005 |
Saint-Denis, Stade de France
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| AUSTRIA - ENGLAND |
1-3 (1-1)
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GOALS 24' 0-1 Gary Lineker
37' 1-1 Bruno Pezzey
69' 1-2 Tom Lawton
84' 1-3 Steve Bloomer
REFEREE Sergio Gonella (Italy)
ATTENDANCE 75,000
YELLOW CARDS Krankl, Happel (AUT) - Robson, Crompton (ENG)
RED CARDS Sesta (AUT)
AUSTRIA (Coach: Hugo Meisl, system 4-2-4)
1 Rudi Hiden
3 Karl Sesta
5 Bruno Pezzey
6 Ernst Happel
4 Gerhard Hanappi
8 Herbert Prohaska (-73)
7 Ernst Ocwirk (captain)
11 Friedrich Gschweidl (-53)
9 Hans Krankl
10 Matthias Sindelar
14 Karl Koller (-65)
Substitutes:
13 Josef Bican (+53)
20 Alfred Körner (+65)
16 Josef Smistik (+73)
ENGLAND (Coach: Alf Ramsey, system 4-4-2)
1 Gordon Banks
2 Bob Crompton
5 Tony Adams
6 Bobby Moore (captain)
3 Roger Byrne
7 Stanley Matthews (-87)
8 Duncan Edwards
16 Bryan Robson
10 Bobby Charlton
14 Tom Lawton
9 Gary Lineker (-77)
Substitutes:
20 Steve Bloomer (+77)
21 David Beckham (+87)
MATCHREPORT
Hugo Meisl, the Austrian coach, had surprisingly left Josef Bican, one of
his favourites in earlier days, out of his starting line-up and chose Rudi
Hiden over Walter Zeman and Friedl Koncilia in goal. He decided to play with
no less than 4 strikers. The English manager Alf Ramsey didn't take Jack
Charlton as Bobby Moore's partner, but Tony Adams. From supertrio Lawton,
Lineker and Bloomer the latter had to be satisfied with a place on the
bench. Austria, who had proclaimed themselves as one of the favourites for
the title, aimed at tripping the mighty English. But after 90 very
interesting minutes they knew their limits.
In the beautiful Stade de France a fascinating match unfolded with two teams
willing to attack. For England, Duncan Edwards excelled in midfield and he
succeeded in keeping Ernst "Clockwork" Ocwirk out of match for most of the
time. Ocwirk had to defend and hardly found time to support his attack. The
Austrian skipper wasn't exactly the person to have himself dominated and the
match-up with Edwards was one of the brilliant ones in this match. The others
were the battles between Pezzey and Lawton on one, and Adams and Sindelar on
the other end. And above all, it was a hard fight. Sergio Gonella, once
referee in the 1978 final, had to show yellow cards and booked Krankl,
Happel and Robson already during the first stages. And Happel was lucky to
escape with that. His challenge on Matthews, who was well away from him, could
have caused him a harder punishment. In the second half Bob Crompton was
cautioned too for a foul on Sindelar.
England were the team with the better start and they took the lead in the
24th minute. Lawton broke through the defence, shot straight at Hiden. The
ball trickled on the line and Lineker was there, earlier than Sesta, to tap
it in. It was a well deserved lead for Ramsey's men, they had been close to
scoring twice before. Bobby Charlton, who played on the left in midfield,
had missed the goal just inches with a blasting shot and Lineker had gone
close with a quick effort that saw Hiden saving well. The only time Austria
had seriously threatened was when Krankl beat Byrne and fired towards
Banks's domain. The goalkeeper held on.
Austria was lured into a 1-on-1 game. Not their beloved style of play,
especially Happel who was not so quick had a tough time against Lineker who
dragged the man from Vienna all over the pitch. This caused space for
English midfielders to take advantage of, very welcome to players like
Robson and Charlton. Herbert Prohaska, the stylish midfielder with an open
eye for the combination, was forced to defend and that was not his type of
play. Chances came for Lawton (Hiden again made a fine save) and Edwards,
who shot it just wide from the top of the box.
The equalizer, in the 37th minute, came as a surprise. Koller took a free
kick at the sideline, Pezzey arose above all English defenders and headed it
past Gordon Banks. England had been the better until that moment, but the
goal introduced the best period in the game for Austria. Banks had to show
all his capabilities to keep Krankl from scoring and when Sindelar headed
the ball to the far corner Banks came up with a save that recalled memories
from his famous save on Pelé's header in 1970. When the teams headed for the
dressing rooms at half-time the world had seen an interesting match and
nobody who could foresee how this would end.
Immediately after the break drama for Austria. Lineker, on the edge of
off-side, broke through and Sesta saw no other possibility than pulling his
jersey. Gonella quickly calculated 1 (Happel) + 1 (Sesta) and came up with
the answer: red card for Sesta. With Sesta off Austria had to go back and
defend, still Meisl persisted in playing with 4 up front. It didn't work.
They were taught a lesson how to play positionally and how to do it with
great suitability. With Edwards orchestrating everything, Matthews and
Charlton kept the flanks and the chances just had to come. Robson steamed up
through the middle time after time forcing Ocwirk to act as a defender and
leaving Edwards to Sindelar. Austria, short of ballwinners, were chasing
England but couldn´t find the ball. Lawton tested Hiden once more, the
goalkeeper was up to it, Adams headed over the bar and Edwards rattled the
post. But it was nothing more than stay off execution. Matthews for the first
time tricked the versatile Hanappi, sent the ball sharp into the box and
there was Lawton to finish it off: 2-1 to England. England even increased the
speed and kept the pressure on Austria. Meisl had already taken Gschweidl
and Koller off and had sent Bican and Körner into the match, now he replaced
Prohaska with Smistik who was more of a defensive player. But it was of no
avail. Bloomer, who had come on for Lineker with 15 minutes to go,
decided the match. It was Bobby Charlton this time who supplied the cross,
Bloomer arrived earlier than Pezzey and only had to touch the ball: 3-1.
Minutes from time, England had secured their first 3 points.
Austria had tried whatever they could, but in vain. England had been the
better team. The sending-off of Sesta cost Austria dear. And
furthermore, none of their defenders had really convinced, maybe apart from
Hanappi who had kept Matthews at bay. Meisl had to come up with something
new for the next match against Sweden to bring back the self-belief into his
squad. England cherished their win, the tabloids had seen the future All
Time World Champion. Ramsey however warned everyone that this was only just
beginning, and that tough tasks were lying ahead for his team. Still, England
had done a fine job and had to be considered a candidate for silverware.
At the end of this week, Germany and Turkey step in for the last match of
the first round. It will be a home match for Germany in München though many
Turkish spectators are expected in the stadium as well. Still, Germany are
the huge favourites for this match. Still Helmut Schön, who was preferred to
Sepp Herberger only by a narrow margin for the manager's post at The
Mannschaft, has to make a few hard decisions: will Sepp Maier play in goal
or Oliver Kahn? Beckenbauer will captain the side, but will he play in
midfield or in defence? And who will be the man of the left? Rahn or
Klinsmann, or Uwe Seeler? At the same time, what to expect from Turkey? An
underdog certainly, they will rely very much on the players who did so well
in 2002: Rüstü, Alpay, Tugay and Hakan Sükür. Add dangerous strikers like
Lefter and Metin and ... who knows? Experience this game next Friday on
Planet World Cup.
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