Austrian Heads Held High Despite Failure to Win

Heading into Euro 2008 the expectations of Hickersbergers` team could hardly have been lower.

Euro 2008 co-hosts Austria exited the tournament having failed to win a match or score a goal from open play although their plucky spirit pleased the home fans whose expectations had always been realistic.

Germany captain Michael Ballack struck a thunderbolt from a free kick to send his team through to the last eight in Vienna on Monday during an emotive game in which Austria created some tense moments for their rivals but were ultimately outplayed.

"We were beaten by a sensational free kick from Michael Ballack," said Austria coach Josef Hickersberger.

"But the Austrian team has shown it is much better than its reputation and can hold its own at a high level, even if we weren't good enough to win."

Heading into Euro 2008 the expectations of his team, ranked 92nd in the world and the worst of any of the 16 teams by a wide margin, could hardly have been lower. They were the least fancied Euro hosts ever at 100-1 to win the trophy.

Some 10,000 people even signed a petition urging Austria, playing at their first European Championship finals tournament, to withdraw in favour of a higher-ranked team. The only other side outside the world's top 30 were their Swiss co-hosts.

POSITIVE MOOD

But the young Austria squad, most of whom play in the domestic league and lack international experience, defied the pessimists and won over a country traditionally more interested in its skiers then its soccer players.

"Perhaps the European Championship came two years too early for us... but we have some very promising players and we have a bright future," said Friedrich Stickler, president of the Austrian Football Federation.

He added that the team would now look toward the qualifying rounds for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa with confidence and declined to answer questions about the coach's future, saying he had built up a strong team and had his full support.

Austria knew all along that the toughest of their Group B games would come at the end when they faced triple European champions and World Cup winners Germany.

They needed to pick up points from their first two matches with Croatia and Poland but to their dismay conceded a penalty early on in their opening match and could not equalise despite an impassioned if erratic last 20 minutes of pressure.

The co-hosts had three gilt-edged chances to score against Poland but spurned them all before a dramatic injury-time penalty by Ivica Vastic gave them a point and the tiniest hope of qualifying -- if they could beat Germany.

The Germans had won the last four meetings against the Austrians having scored 17 goals and conceded just four, so the home side faced a Herculean task in Vienna.

But Monday's narrow 1-0 defeat by Germany, compared to previous losing margins such as the humbling 6-2 loss in 2002, reflected how much the Austrians had upped their game.

"We have gained tournament experience and felt a euphoria behind us which we have never witnessed before," said captain Andreas Ivanschitz. "We showed we had a right to be here."