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Bruckner choreographs a waltz in Vienna
by Steffen Potter
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Austrian celebrate a famous victory
in Vienna (¿Getty Images)
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Austria's players gave credit to new coach Karel Bruckner
after the Czech led them to a shock 3-1 win against France on Saturday,
with captain Andreas Ivanschitz saying: "We played cleverly after
taking the lead, something we have not done in the past."
Surprise victory
Not much was expected of the UEFA EURO 2008T co-hosts despite an encouraging
2-2 friendly draw against world champions Italy in Nice in Bruckner's
first game in charge, following his appointment as Josef Hickersberger's
replacement. However, goals from Marc Janko and Rene Aufhauser and an
Ivanschitz penalty gave them a surprise victory in their opening 2010
FIFA World Cup qualifying Group 7 game.
'Even better'
"This was really good work by us," said the 68-year-old Bruckner,
who coached the Czech Republic from 2001 until the end of their UEFA EURO
2008T campaign. "Our performance was even better than in the 2-2
against Italy. Our opponents were very strong which is why we had to work
so hard." He added that he had not changed much since taking over,
saying: "I just continued Hickersberger's work."
Different style
Ivanschitz was not entirely sure of that. "I think we are playing
differently now," said 24-year-old midfielder Ivanschitz. "We
are less attack-minded now. We are defending more deeply and are not giving
the opposition much room to play in. This can lead to another team becoming
desperate, as could be seen against France. They gave up after they went
3-1 down."
Clever game
However, the goals Austria scored owed more to set-piece nous than counterattacking.
Janko scored from an Ivanschitz free-kick and Aufhauser pounced on a loose
ball after another. "The set-pieces were probably decisive,"
continued Ivanschitz. "We know that this is a big strength of ours,
but we played cleverly after taking the lead, something we had not done
in the past."
'One swallow'
"We got a real lift from EURO and today had the luck which we were
lacking then," added Aufhauser. "We have played a lot of good
games here [in Vienna] in the past, and ended up being 20 or 30 minutes
short of a good result." Austria face Lithuania in their next qualifier
on Wednesday with Bruckner warning: "One swallow does not make a
summer. This is going to be hard work again."
UEFA.com,
7 September 2008
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