a strange day

After today’s matches all I can think of how completely unpredictable this game can be. It started out with Croatia’s surprising victory over Germany and of course was followed-up with the Austria – Poland draw, which will be talked about for years.

With regards to the Austria – Poland match, I should first state I have no desire to play into the hate and anger that a few of die-hard fans are expressing. The anger and hate vented might be the saddest part of this sport and while it might be a misguided extension of passion, it is something that needs to be culled. This silly pseudonym of “j” deflects that truth that I’ve spent much of my professional career around this beautiful game in six different continents and after all of that, my sincerest wish is for the public to capture the true nature of the sport, what it can represent to society as a sport played across the globe and the simple beauty of the round ball.

The match itself was a peculiar mix of sort and while the awarding the penalty was questionable, I can’t lie and say I wasn’t pleased to see Ivica Lastic net the penalty strike and to bring the match to a somewhat fitting draw. For a man entering his twentieth year of his professional career and in obviously his final international matches it is a beautiful send off in one of the worlds most beautiful cities. Additionally while to some it might be heresy, I think unquestionably the “man of the match” was Poland’s goalkeeper Artur Boruc. I felt with each of Austria’s breaks and Boruc’s subsequent stops all of Glasgow was nodding in pride with the Celtic ‘keeper. In the end, the draw was fitting because truthfully both squads lacked the finishing touches to really control the match, much less deliver the knock-out punch and just as many will argue of the awarding of the penalty, so will others debate whether Poland’s goal was from an offside position.

From the Austrian standpoint the match solidified that the strong point of the squad is its back four of Martin Stranzl, György Garics, Sebastian Prödl and Emanuel Pogatetz. At only twenty years old, Sebastian Prödl has a brilliant future ahead of him and will be a fixture for Austria for many years to come. As it relates to Mad Dog his overall performance is no surprise to Middlesbrough fans and it’s great to see him back at the international level. While in the opening Croatia match his passion for playing his home country got the best of him, he tempered this today and channeled it correctly. In the midfield Andreas Ivanschitz and Ümit Korkmaz continue to standout with their developing creativity, vision and work-rate. At striker it is abundantly clear that speed is Martin Harnik’s deadliest weapon and while his finishing lacked today, it will be something to watch develop at Werder Bremen. It was also evident to me that Roland Linz ankle was not recovered sufficiently and we missed having by-far our best finisher from the start of the match. Oddly enough, one of our top young strikers, who was talked about constantly pre-tournament, Jimmy Hoffer has yet to see the pitch and something seems quite odd about that.

And now for a showdown against Germany in Vienna next week.