Bitter evening
Austria vs. Turkey – LIVE from 9pm
The dream of history is over - Austria has been eliminated by Turkey in the round of 16 of Euro 2024! 97 days later, Team Red-White-Red were unable to build on their performance from the 6:1 test match victory in Vienna on March 26 and must therefore continue to wait for their first knockout win since 1954 ...
Team boss Ralf Rangnick had formed his men in the usual 4-3-2-1 and, in contrast to the last - 3-2 win - preliminary round match against the Netherlands, rotated Phillipp Mwene for Alexander Prass, Kevin Danso for Max Wöber, Konrad Laimer for Florian Grillitsch and Christoph Baumgartner for Patrick Wimmer into the starting eleven.
Turkey coach Vincenzo Montella also changed his team for the round of 16 against Austria, with Orkun Kökçü and Abdülkerim Bardakcı coming in for the suspended Hakan Çalhanoğlu and Samet Akaydin, as well as Kaan Ayhan for Salih Özcan.
A bang after less than a minute of play
As is almost customary in Austria matches, the game kicked off with a real bang: However, and this was unusual, Patrick Pentz's goal rattled after less than a minute had been played. After a corner kick from the right, Baumgartner unfortunately deflected the ball over Stefan Posch and Pentz to the advancing Turkey defender Merih Demiral - and he had no problem scoring from less than five meters to make it 1:0.
Incidentally, this was the earliest goal conceded by Austria since Jürgen Nöldner also scored in the first minute for the GDR in October 1965 - also, eerily enough, in Leipzig ...
The Austrians were not broken
The goal was certainly a bitter shock for Team Red-White-Red, but the Austrians were not broken by it. The thousands of Austria fans in the stands of Leipzig's Red Bull Arena were screaming for a goal as early as the third minute, but Baumgartner's shot from 15 meters out landed just wide of the Turkish goal, which was guarded by Mert Günok.
Two minutes later, the ÖFB team's next good move came when a Schmid corner from the left bounced past friend and foe through the sixteen - and Baumgartner was just prevented from finishing by Demiral at the second post. The ÖFB attacker then came to a halt, but was able to continue after brief treatment.
Open spaces were in short supply for Austria
The next 25 minutes or so then clearly belonged to Austria, who - as has always been the case since Rangnick took over as team boss - focused on attacking early, winning the ball early and switching quickly. However, things became even more difficult against the Turks, who had already focused on strong defending and counter-attacking from the kick-off, when they went 1-0 up. The "Ay-Yıldızlılar" mostly played a 5-3-2 against the ball - free spaces, which the agile Baumgartner in particular could have used, were in short supply.
All too often, Austria's attacking efforts failed due to inaccurate final or even penultimate passes - the Turks also knew how to protect their penalty area and goal. Despite Sabitzer and Co.'s visual superiority, the Montella side, who were beaten 6-1 in March, were often at their wit's end in or around the penalty area.
Team boss Rangnick sent Laimer a note
So much so that team boss Rangnick sent a note to Laimer on the pitch to demand a change in attack (Sabitzer more in the center). However, there was nothing more than a long-range shot from Baumgartner in 45.+1 minutes until half-time from an Austrian point of view.
Red-White-Red set off some offensive fireworks
Rangnick reacted again at the break and brought on Michael Gregoritsch and Prass for Romano Schmid and Mwene - with two real strikers on the pitch, in addition to "Gregerl" also Arnautovic, who was now withdrawn a little, the massive Turkey defense should now be cracked.
And indeed, the red-white-red team now at least started to produce some attacking fireworks: Firstly, substitute Gregoritsch (47th - after Baumgartner cross, 50th - after high Posch pass) and then Arnautovic (51st - Günok saved in extremis in 1-on-1) and Laimer (54th - after solo run just off target) could/must have made it 1:1, but failed.
Turks scored their second goal out of nowhere
"If you don't take your chances and score the goals, you'll end up scoring them yourself" - as the old footballing adage goes, that's what happened to the Austrians. In the middle of their strong pressure phase, the Turks scored their second goal of the evening out of nowhere: And again it was Demiral who netted after a corner from Arda Güler, got to the ball between Austria's defensive backs Danso and Philipp Lienhart and gave Pentz no chance from point-blank range (59').
Gregoritsch scored for a much-vaunted 1:2
The ÖFB team were now shaky and their self-confidence seemed to be down in the face of the two-goal deficit. Rangnick had to react - and he did, bringing on Grillitsch for Laimer and Wöber for Lienhart in a double substitution (65') - and just one minute later, the red-white-red world looked better again: After a Sabitzer corner, the ball came to Gregoritsch via Posch and he shot in for a much-acclaimed 1-2 (66').
Unrewarded powerplay from the Austrians
With just under half an hour left on the clock, Austria now put on a kind of power play, trying time and time again to score the long-awaited equalizer via corners, crosses and the odd shot from distance. But it was jinxed: Gregoritsch (68th/header), Grillitsch (74th/distance shot) and Baumgartner twice with headers (84th, 86th) failed either because of goalkeeper Günok or their accuracy, while Altay Bayındır snatched the ball away from Stefan Posch just before he attempted a volley (92nd).
In the end, it was all a waste of time - and Austria were knocked out of the last 16 of Euro 2024 - partly because a header from the 1.80-metre tall Baumgartner after a high cross from the left was stopped by Turkey goalkeeper Günok with a physically seemingly impossible save (94').
The result:
Austria - Turkey 1:2 (0:1)
Stadion Leipzig, 40,000 spectators, referee Soares Dias (POR)
Goals: 0:1 (1.) Demiral, 0:2 (59.) Demiral, 1:2 (66.) Gregoritsch
Yellow cards: Lienhart, Schmid or Yüksek, Köck
Austria: Pentz - Posch, Danso, Lienhart (65. Wöber), Mwene (46. Prass) - Seiwald, Laimer (65. Grillitsch) - Schmid (46. Gregoritsch), Baumgartner, Sabitzer - Arnautovic
Turkey: Günok - Müldür, Bardakci, Demiral, Kadioglu - Yüksek (58. Özcan), Ayhan - Yilmaz, Kökcü (83. Kahveci), Yildiz (78. Aktürkoglu) - Güler (78. Yokuslu)
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