Defeated by France on Monday (1-0), Austria relaunched against Poland (3-1), Friday in Berlin, to maintain its chances of qualifying for the round of 16 of Euro-2024 after this second day.
In this group D, the Netherlands and France, both victorious in their first match, face each other in the evening to hope to advance to the eighth in the event of another success.
For Poland, on the other hand, things are complicated with a draw after two matches. If France does not lose against the Netherlands, they will not be able to finish in the top two. France-Poland is scheduled for Tuesday at the end of the group stage.
Entering the hour mark after missing the match lost against the Netherlands (2-1), Polish star Robert Lewandowski, injured in a thigh before the Euro, was unable to make the difference.
It is on the bench, helpless, that « Lewy » saw Austria open the scoring. Defender Gernot Trauner came to cut an excellent cross from Phillipp Mwene at the near post to propel the ball with a header into the top corner (9th).
Faced with a dominant Austria, Poland was able to react quite quickly. Former Genoa and AC Milan Krzysztof Piatek, now Istanbul Basaksehir striker, took advantage of the surfaces of a mix-up to equalize (30th).
In the 60th minute, the long-awaited Polish top scorer, Lewandowski (35), came into play. And paradoxically, it was shortly after that the match turned in favor of the Austrians.
On a ball from Alexander Prass, Arnautovic intelligently let it slip between his legs to allow Christoph Baumgartner, better placed, to arm his shot with the flat of his right foot. Unstoppable for Polish goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny (66th).
Marko Arnautovic, from the penalty spot, wrong-foots the Polish goalkeeper and makes the break for Austria in Berlin, June 21, 2024 / John MACDOUGALL / AFP
Poland timidly tried to come back with a good strike from Karol Swiderski, well repelled by Patrick Pentz (69th), but Austria continued to push.
With an incredible save, Szczesny first preserved his team’s chances with a beautiful low strike from Patrick Wimmer (75th). But in the process, the Juve goalkeeper made a mistake in the area by catching Marcel Sabitzer: penalty, yellow card and transformation by Arnautovic (78th). The goal of the 3-1, that of the KO
The bill could have been higher if Szczesny had not diverted a shot that went into the top corner from Stefan Posch (83rd).
This second defeat in a row puts Poland in a very unfortunate position.
