LIVE BLOG: Euro 2008 Croatia vs. Austria

Euro 2008...time for the first-ever MHA Live Blog.

This game pits heavy underdog, but home country, Austria vs. my beloved goats, Croatia.

Enjoy!!!

Pre-game: You have to love the international style entrances, with the kids involved. One complaint I have is that with that tunnel so small, the kids are forced to drag the flags on the floor before getting on the field.

2nd minute: First corner kick for Croatia goes without consequence.

4th minute: PK!!! Somewhat of a questionable call, but that is a foul anywhere else on the field. Pogatetz gets a caution on the foul of Ivica Olic as well. As much as it was a questionable PK call, I can't see that being a Yellow card.

4th minute: PK Goal scored by young guy Luka Modric on a strike right up the middle. 1-0 Croatia and just a dream start for the Goats, but a nightmare for the Austrians whose fans are probably still asking for the team to not play this tourney. This is the quickest goal scored from a PK in the history of Euro Championships.

8th minute: Pletikosa with a save on a Saumel shot from about 30 yards. The Croatian goalie is generally pretty solid and he showed it with his first save there.

13th minute: Gercaliu with a foul on Srna leads to a dangerous free kick opportunity from the right wing for Croatia. Free kick slides past goal but nobody from Croatia is there to tap it in. Croatia controlling the game early on as expected.

14th minute: Another good chance on a corner kick for Croatia, but it is cleared of the post by Austrian defender Standfest.

18th minute: Prodl with a long blast from about 40 that nearly misses. Austria's two best chances in the first quarter hour or so have been from 30 & 40 yards out. That bodes well for Croatia and its defense.

21st minute: Saumel shown a yellow card with a "professional foul" on Niko Kovac. Austrian wall does a nice job of negating Srna's free kick from distance.

22nd minute: Niko Kranjcar takes a vicious knee to the upper right chest area from Austrian GK Macho. Is that really his name...Macho??? It was a clean play, but had to hurt with the force that Macho man was coming out to make the clearance.

27th minute: Very good chance for Austria off of a set-piece near the corner after a Croatia foul against Rob Kovac. Prodl's header goes wide. Tommy Smyth is right about Croatia needing to put away Austria and not keep this a one-goal game.

29th minute: Tommy Smyth has been on point today. Pogatetz should have received a yellow card for that foul against Olic. However, he didn't deserve the first one, so it evened out. This referee has been a bit inconsistent throughout.

31st minute: Another corner for Austria. For being the underdogs and having a nightmare of a start, the Austrians have hung in well with Croatia. Corner is headed out wide.

35th minute: Petric with a very good opportunity, but as Smyth said, he tried to go with the spectacular instead of taking a touch and placing it better. It was fun to watch that volley though despite the poor result.

40th minute: Pletikosa and the Croatian defense comes up huge. Pletikosa using Hands' lead left hand philosophy to parry the ball away.

41st minute: This game has changed over the last 10 minutes. Austria has taken control and the fans are definitely into it. Croatia can't wait for this to get to halftime to re-group.

Halftime: Croatia had a good run early on, but the momentum definitely changed in the last 10 minutes of the half. For Croatia, they can be happy they are up 1-0, but they need to take back control of the game and I'm sure Bilic will stress that in the locker room as he was visibly animated and upset towards the end of the half.

47th minute: Despite the game changing, Croatia's defense has been solid throughout and hasn't really let up much.

51st minute: Rob Kovac with a smart foul near midfield after it looked like he was beat. Foul results in Croatia's first caution of the match.

53rd minute: First corner for Croatia in a long time is cleared pretty easily by Austria.

57th minute: So much for a halftime pep talk for Croatia. Austria continues to have the better of play in the 2nd half. Austria can't really put anything on target though.

61st minute: First sub of the match for Austria, Saumel off for Croatian-born Vastic.

62nd minute: Croatia also takes off Kranjcar for Knezevic.

68th minute: Caution to Prodl for taking down Olic. Dangerous free kick opportunity for Croatia that becomes not-so-dangerous with a pathetic free kick.

69th minute: Second sub for Austria as Korkmaz comes in for Gercaliu.

70th minute: It almost looks as if Croatia is buying into the hype that Austria is not very good and they should just walk through with this game. Since the early PK gave them early control, they have been very lax and passive throughout the game. Austria is even outshooting the Croats.

72nd minute: Budan come on for Croatia as the 2nd sub for Petric who didn't do much aside from his volley that went awry.

74th minute: Austria uses its last sub as Kienast comes on for Linz.

78th minute: Dangerous free kick attempt cleared by Pletikosa, but another shot opportunity goes a few feet over the crossbar. Austria has been the better team over the last 40 minutes.

79th minute: A long header gives Pletikosa a little trouble, but he makes the save. Pressing moments for Croatia. Austria is dominating this game right now.

83rd minute: Another corner for Austria this time cleared easily by Croatia. Olic out for Vukojevic.

86th minute: Korkmaz with a very good strike and Pletikosa with a solid save. Austria has done well and deserves better than an 1-0 loss right now.

93rd minute: One last free kick opportunity for Austria has Keinast leave a great header just wide of the goal. They just can't finish or get lucky. Croatia is going to steal a win here.

FINAL: 1-0 Croatia.

This match showed a few things.

For one, the Austrian fans should be ashamed of themselves for questioning the team and asking them to withdraw from the tourney. Although they don't have too much talent and can't finish, they put forth a good effort and showed some heart. They'll probably go 0-3, but today's performance was respectable.

Secondly, Croatia will need to re-group after this poor showing. However a poor showing resulting in a 1-0 win is always a positive. If they repeat this type of performance against Germany and Poland, they will not advance past the group stage. Slaven Bilic has some work to do to get his team playing at a high level again before the next two matches.

Finally, this game proved how crucial every single pass, shot, and foul is in a soccer (futbol) match. Pogatetz' foul in the 4th minute was dumb and cost his team a point in this match. Croatia took advantage and used that goal to propel them to 3 points. Austria deserved a better result, but the poor decision by Pogatetz cost them that better result.