March 1 Friendly - Austria v Canada POST-match [R]

[DJT]

<center>FriendlyAustria vs. CanadaWednesday, March 1, 2006

11:30 AM PST / 12:30 PM MST / 1:30 PM CST / 2:30 PM EST / 3:30 PM AST / 4:00 PM NST / 8:30 PM CET (local)

Ernst Happel Stadion, Vienna

Canadian Television:

None

Canadian Audio Webcast:

CanadaKicks

Austrian Television:

ORF1

Austrian Radio/Audio Webcast (German language):

ORF W Radio Wien

(direct link to MMS (Windows Media Player) stream;

uncertain if there will be a broadcast of the whole match or just updates)

Austrian Text Updates (German language):

derStandard.at

Sport1.at

Voyageurs real-time chat

(login under your forum name using the top box and top "Login Now" button; do not use the two lower boxes, do not enter your forum password anywhere)

</center>

[Kurosawa1555362267]

All in all an excellent match for us. From what I saw we were quite solid in the back and dangerous up front. I also really liked that we did'nt stop playing once we were in front by a goal like we did against Luxembourg. I also think Frank Yallop deserve credit for this win. He made the right substitution at the right time.

[Dante79]

great win for Canada! too bad it wasnt on TV

[BrennanFan]

this is the biggest win for us since Gold Cup 2002. Especially in the second half, we played positive soccer and created chances. the 4-3-3 is definitely working for us, it is a formation suited to our strenghts- hope we stick with it. Overall we are headed in the right direction. Some credit must be given to Yallop for the improvements in the teams play, though now more than ever i cant help but think what Brennan couldve done for us in wcq. dont want to see Gerba or Serioux back until others are given a chance. overall a great game.

[BrennanFan]

http://www.canadasoccer.com/eng/media/viewArtical.asp?Press_ID=2402

Men's National Team

Wednesday, March 01, 2006

Canada Dominates in Win Over Austria

Canada’s Tomasz Radzinski

Vienna, Austria – On a bitterly cold evening in the Austrian capital of Vienna, Canada’s Men’s National Team made the most out of its first trip to the land of composers, orchestrating a well-deserved 2:0 win thanks to two stunning strikes from second half substitute Jim Brennan.

Frank Yallop again sent out an attack-minded line-up with Ali Gerba, Dwayne De Rosario, and Tomasz Radzinski spread across the top, Sandro Grande tucked just in behind the front three with Adrian Serioux and Atiba Hutchinson protecting the back-four.

And the aggressive posture immediately threw the Austrians on the back foot, with the pace of Radzinski and De Rosario convincing both wingbacks to concentrate fully on defending.

But after the opening ten minutes the Austrians settled into the game and twice tried to test Kenny Stamatopoulos – the first attempt a volley from the top of the Canadian penalty area that drifted wide and the second a shot from Andreas Ivanschitz from just inside the area that sailed high after a well-worked short corner.

However, the chance of the opening half came in minute 20 when De Rosario stormed through the middle of the park toward a staggered Austrian back-four. The Houston-based striker used the run of Ali Gerba to split the two central defenders and suddenly found himself one versus one with Helge Payer. De Rosario rounded the stranded keeper but his shot was scrambled away by a recovering Martin Hiden.

De Rosario again came close nine minutes later when Gerba spun his defender quickly at the left corner of the Austrian box, then slid a delicate pass for an overlapping De Rosario. The winger’s shot was hard, low and on target but Payer got his angle right and kicked away the effort.

The closest the Austrians came to breaking the deadlock came again off the left boot of Salzburg’s Ivanschitz. But the captain’s curling free-kick after a questionable foul on Marco Reda curled just outside Stamatopoulos’ upper left corner.

Just before the interval, Radzinski found himself unmarked at the top of the six and a delightful curling cross from Mike Klukowski found him. But the Fulham striker’s downward header bounced just wide of the Austrian’s left post.

The second half saw the Canadians forced to make one change due to an agreement made with Energie Cottbus that would see Captain Kevin McKenna, who has a match to play in few days, play only a half.

McKenna was replaced by Jim Brennan. Brennan slid into the middle of the park with the versatile Hutchinson dropping into the centre of defense.

Just under ten minutes into the half the Canadians survived a scare when the Austrians had several attempts in and around the penalty spot blocked by several lunging Canadian legs and somehow managed to scramble the ball away.

Though the Canadians seemed a tad sluggish coming out of the locker room, the pace of the Canucks always looked threatening.

And in minute 64, the Canadians again came agonizingly close to breaking the deadlock when Brennan sprayed a delightful ball to Radzinski on the right touchline. Radzinski carved the Austrian’s open with a teasing ball to Grande who cut back a pass on his first touch. Rob Friend had timed his run to perfection but his right footed shot just grazed the outside of the right post.

But the Canucks were not going away (and certainly did not want a bevy of missed chances to again dampen a stellar performance) and in the 66th minute, they found the deserved go-ahead goal.

Brennan was the first to react to a loose ball near the top of box and hammered a left-footed laser that nestled into the side netting for the match opener.

The Austrians came close immediately after through the left foot of Ivanschitz but it was the left foot of Brennan that struck again.

After a delightful fingertip save off a Rob Friend header, Grande swung a deep corner that was cleared toward the top of the area but unfortunately for the Austrians, Brennan again lashed a rocket toward the Austrian goal that took a slight deflection off Reda and flew past Payer for Canada’s second.

The Canadians then killed off the remainder of the game, preserving the win and the clean sheet for Stamatopoulos.

“It’s a great victory for us,” said Canadian Head Coach Frank Yallop at the post-match press conference.

“I thought we played very well this evening, especially on the break which we have been working on in training.

“I am not surprised by the victory because our performances of late have been very good but unfortunately maybe those results don’t really show that. So I feel that this has been coming for a while.

“We didn’t play particularly well in the first half but we looked very dangerous in front of goal and in the end probably should have scored more.”

Wednesday, March 1, 2006

International Friendly

Ernst Happel Stadium

Vienna, Austria

CANADA – 2 (0)

AUSTRIA – 0 (0)

Goals: CANADA – Brennan 66, Reda 70; AUSTRIA – none

Cautions: CANADA – Reda 34, Grande 61; AUSTRIA – Aufhauser 44

Expulsions – none

Referee – Dick van Egmond (NED); Assistant Referee 1 – Jantius Meints (NED); Assistant Referee 2 – Wilco Lobbert (NED); Fourth Official – Fritz Stuchlik (AUS)

Attendance – 9,000

CANADA: 1-Kenny Stamatopoulos; 2-Chris Pozniak; 5-Marco Reda; 4-Kevin McKenna (capt) (11-Jim Brennan, 46); 15-Mike Klukowski (3-Ante Jazic, 67); 13-Atiba Hutchinson; 6-Adrian Serioux (8-Patrice Bernier, 57); 10-Sandro Grande (12-Will Johnson, 84); 9-Tomasz Radzinski; 14-Dwayne De Rosario (vice-capt); 7-Ali Gerba (16-Rob Friend, 60)

Head Coach: Frank Yallop (CAN)

Subs not used: 22-Greg Sutton

AUSTRIA: 1-Helge Payer; 2-Andreas Dober; 4-Martin Hiden (13-Ferdinand Feldhofer, 46); 3-Emanuel Pogatetz; 5-Paul Scharner; 7-Joachim Standfest (15-Yüksel Sariyar, 85); 6-René Aufhauser; 10-Andreas Ivanschitz (capt) (16-Michael Mörz, 80); 8-Markus Kiesenebner (14-Ronald Gercaliu, 73); 11-Muhammet Akagündüz (17-Zlatko Junuzovic, 62); 9-Roland Linz

Head Coach: Josef Hickersberger (AUS)

Subs not used: 21-Andreas Schranz

[Grizzly]

As one of Yallop's biggest critics let me say that this is the best performance I have seen under him. For once we both looked good and got a result. Even the Austrian press is saying that the 2-0 result mirrored the balance of play although like most European countries are reacting as if the match was a disgrace even though a look at both lineups shows pretty evenly matched teams. I was impressed by how we won most fights for the ball. Stama was solid, Gerba played much better than against Spain, Serioux was very impressive and of course beautiful goals by Brennan.

The things that still worry me are the chance conversion and we also gave the Austrians a lot of chances but their conversion was no better than ours. Most of these chances seemed to stem not from problems in the back four but from our midfield letting the attacks through. I am worried that if we do not improve our conversion rate playing this offensively might be dangerous against teams with better offence than Austria. It really should have been 2-0 before Brennan even subbed on. DeRo was again spectacular but unable to convert. If this guy could score and make better decisions on the ball he would be world class. It is hard to know what to do with him. On the plus side he always puts some pressure on the opposing defence. Radz seems to suffer from the same problem in that he makes a few nice plays but does not convert chances that he should score on. We really need to have someone with the goalscoring touch upfront so I hope Yallop experiments a lot up here. So far only McKenna has shown to me that he is a natural goal scorer at the international level.

Excellent internet feed which was basically television quality and as I speak German very good commentating by the Austrian announcers. Much thanks to TTP for providing this and I hope someone made a bittorrent. If we continue playing this well and getting results I may start believing in Yallop again. Will be nice going to my Wednesday night German Stammtisch (meeting of German speaking Montrealers at a local bar) tonight after this result.

[Guest speedmonk42]

Well I enjoyed that, I don't know what esle there is to say.

I would pay for streams of canada games that good if game is not on TV here.

[matthew]

Photo of the support! They look proud anyway

Great win. Very pleased with that. Still missing some good players, but I think we're proving that we have the depth and the familiarity with each other that other players can step in and fill a role. Also happy to see Friend have an impact.

cheers,

matthew

[The Ref]

I think Yallop is beginning to realize how useless Mckenna is.

[canadiankick97]

It was worth skipping badminton practice for this one.

I like how Yallop used all of his subs (except Sutton, but I don't mind that).

[RS]

quote:Originally posted by BrennanFan

dont want to see Gerba or Serioux back until others are given a chance.

Agree with you on Gerba, but Serioux was playing injured yet still managed to disrupt whatever Austrian offence went near him.

Serioux is IMHO our premier disrupter (in the Jason Bent ould, but with a bit more skill going forward).

I think by the next Canada match (whenever that is) Serioux will be fully healed as well as in match shape.

[BrennanFan]

Yes, Serioux is a destroyer and made many good tackles as well as a couple of forward runs. However, he made too many giveaways. Too many bad passes. These led to chances for the austrians and a better team wouldve punished us. He is ok, im sure he can play a better game, but i would rather see bernier, or even imhof take his spot. right now i see our 3 man midfield made up of: deguz, grand, and hutch - with brennan and bernier as subs).

[Bxl Boy]

4 players falled in my eyes :

- Brennan of course, or the shot on target teacher

- Reda, heroïc behind, almost scorer of the second goal

- Grande, a lot of presense from the first minute until his substitution

- Radzinski, touched a lot of balls, gave a lot of good assists, great complicity with Grande

[Gian-Luca]

Very bizarre to see so much harsh criticism of some players so far in this thread in what is clearly our best result in a long time - this is the first time under Yallop we've actually beaten a good team, and in their home park to boot, and yet we want a few players removed from the national program almost indefinitely for putting forth a successful effort for our country.

Frankly I though everyone played well, from the keeper out. Yes, a few mistakes were made & some good chances were missed, particularly by DeRo, but that's always going to happen - no team is going to score on every single chance they have if they create a lot of them and no team plays 100% flawless perfect soccer. To focus on that stuff is to accentuate the negative IMO. I could quibble that Atiba & Serioux were the cause of Austria's only (semi) dangerous attacks in the first half with their give-aways or weak challenges, or that Ali needs to hold up the ball a bit better as a target forward (though frankly that's not his game, unlike Friend who is much more suited to it), but why bother?

Right from the start of the match I thought we were the more dangerous team. We were much more incisive with our play and the confidence of the team surprised me somewhat given our recent results under Yallop. Then again, we have only one loss now in our last 5 matches, none of them played at home, and that loss was 2-1 to Spain.

I think Kenny only had to make one save but I thought he played well from a positional point of view, including good decisions when to come out. I thought Pozniak had his best game for Canada in a while, even though he is probably the 4th or 5th string player for that position on the depth chart. He got further forward than I thought. Reda also played smart positionally - got away with a handball, but that was probably consistency from the Ref who let a more obvious Austrian hand ball in the penalty box go early in the first half.

What impressed me most of all was how organized we look after just two days of practice. Usually we look a lot less cohesive with that little preparationg, but not this time. Perhaps its a result of the squad becoming a little more familiar with each other over the months. We seem to give ourselves a lot more options for passing today, particularly when holding on to the lead, than I think we normally have seen.

In short, this is the sort of signs of progress I had hoped we could see under Yallop. Too bad it has taken so long to happen, but if it continues he will have my support (if not without some reservations for leaving certian players out of the picture entirely if it continues to happen).

Now I wonder how many positions we will drop in the FIFA rankings for this victory?

[Gian-Luca]

quote:Originally posted by Rudi

Agree with you on Gerba, but Serioux was playing injured yet still managed to disrupt whatever Austrian offence went near him.

I think by the next Canada match (whenever that is) Serioux will be fully healed as well as in match shape.

To be honest I think the comment is harsh on both players. Both made mistakes true, and both can play better, but both also did a lot of good things. You already mentioned the good stuff a not quite fully fit Serioux did, so to move on to Gerba, while he wasn't as in-sync with his teammates as one would like, he should still have walked out of the first half with a goal and an assist but was confounded on both occasions by DeRo. Ali set up DeRo beautifully for another chance which Dwayne also missed after his huge miss earlier, which as the CSA report notes was set up by a nice Ali run where he could have easily hit a wide open (and on-side) Ali for an easy tap in.

I'm not saying he played well enough to cement a starting position with the number of strikers we can choose from,or anything like that but the "I never want to see him again" comment is very harsh IMO.

By the way, while De Ro missed a lot of chances, I think he still has to start. He is probably the most consistently dangerous player on the field for us and his ability to beat players one on one to create space for others shouldn't be under-estimated.

[BrennanFan]

quote:Originally posted by Gian-Luca

Very bizarre to see so much harsh criticism of some players so far in this thread

what is bizarre is that you see 'so much harsh criticism' where there isnt that much criticism really, and for sure no harshness at all.

[Winnipeg Fury]

Canada hand returning Austria coach losing start

VIENNA, March 1 (Reuters) - Josef Hickersberger got off to a losing start in his second spell as Austria coach when his team lost 2-0 at home to Canada in a friendly on Wednesday.

Jim Brennan scored both goals for the visitors after coming on as a substitute at the start of the second half.

Brennan twice pounced on loose balls the Austrians failed to clear, though he was helped by a deflection for his second goal.

Hickersberger also lost his very first match in charge of Austria back in 1988 when Switzerland beat them 2-1 during his first spell in charge.

He has plenty of time to turn things around, however, since Austria have not qualified for this year's World Cup in Germany and as co-hosts of Euro 2008 with Switzerland, they are not due to play a competitive match for more than two years.

[Jason]

I didn't see the game, but it's hard to argue with the result. Glad to see Brennan do well. He was a guy that didn't start off being one of Yallop's guys, but it appears that he has worked his way through that. Now only if that could happen with Lars and Tam.

I'm not sure what the logic was of having an injured Serioux play, but nonetheless he is becoming a big player for the MNT.

So when is the next FIFA open date? I hope we see a lot of matches this year.

Jason

[Gian-Luca]

quote:Originally posted by BrennanFan

what is bizarre is that you see 'so much harsh criticism' where there isnt that much criticism really, and for sure no harshness at all.

Well that's how it comes across to my eyes. I just think this is a time to celebrate, rather than condemn. I've explained why I think your comments on Adrian & Ali were harsh, I would also say the same with the Ref who called McKenna "useless" for no readily apparent reason. The Ref might be interested to know that McKenna wasn't substituted off because Yallop thinks he's useless but rather because he agreed with his club that McKenna would only play a half.

[Kurosawa1555362267]

Now I just hope that the CSA will announce another match soon so that we can keep the momentum going on. Playing our next match after the World Cup would be pretty ordinary.

Oh and a little message to the CSA, Why not try something completly crazy and play a friendly in Canada!!! Why not make it even crazier and play it in Montreal!!! Now that would be crazy!!!

[Gian-Luca]

Another game report, not very meaty however. There seems to be conflicting reports on whether it's Brennan with two of Brennan & Reda with singles:

Canada blanks Austria in friendly

VIENNA, Austria (CP) - Canada's Jim Brennan powered his team to a 2-0 win over a hapless Austrian team Wednesday with two powerful second-half goals.

Brennan connected in the 65th and 71st minute, first from 18 yards away into the right corner of the Austrian net and then from closer up just outside the penalty zone. The Canadians dominated from the opening seconds, setting the pace and outclassing the home team both offensively and on the defence.

"It's a great victory for us," said Canadian coach Frank Yallop. "We didn't play particularly well in the first half but we looked very dangerous in front of goal and in the end probably should have scored more.

"I am not surprised by the victory because our performances of late have been very good. So I feel that this has been coming for a while."

Brennan, who plays for Southampton, entered the game in the 46th minute replacing Kevin McKenna.

The few Austrian threats came from midfielders Markus Kiesenebner and Andreas Ivanschitz and from striker Roland Linz. But their shots were either weak or wide.

Austria is 70th in the world compared to No. 85 for Canada.

The Austrians finished third in a World Cup qualifying group that featured England and Poland. Austria's 4-3-3 record included a 2-2 tie and 1-0 loss to England.

Wednesday's was the second for the Canadian men in 2006, following an 0-0 tie with the U.S in San Diego on Jan. 22.

About 9,000 spectators attended the match at Vienna's Happel Stadium.

[Timotas]

Great result for our boys.

[Grizzly]

No time to translate but the Austrian reaction. Mentions Brennan came, saw and scored but does say that the 2nd goal was slightly and crucially deflected by another Canadian who would presumably be Reda. Strangely enough they still credit Brennan with the goal.

Verpatzter Auftakt

Der Weg bis zur Heim-EM ist noch weit.

Die österreichische Nationalmannschaft hat den Einstand von Josef Hickersberger als Teamchef ordentlich verpatzt.

Die ÖFB-Auswahl musste sich am Mittwoch im Wiener Happel-Stadion den allgemein schwächer eingeschätzten Kanadiern verdient 0:2 (0:0) geschlagen geben. Die Treffer für die in allen Belangen stärkeren Nordamerikaner erzielte der eingewechselte Brennan (65., 71.).

Führung hätte früher fallen können

Von Beginn an präsentierten sich die Kanadier als lauf- und spielfreudigeres Team, das im Gegensatz zu den schwerfälligen Österreichern mehr Druck aus dem Mittelfeld entwickelte und in der ersten Hälfte auch die weit besseren Chancen vorfand.

Nach einem Fehlpass von Ivanschitz, der wohl von den Rapid-Anhängern unter den 9.000 Zuschauern bei jedem Ballkontakt ausgepfiffen wurde, überlief De Rosario mühelos Scharner und Martin Hiden, überspielte auch noch Goalie Payer, schoss dann aber zu schwach in Richtung Tor, so dass der zurückgeeilte Hiden den Ball noch wegschlug.

Nach dem darauf folgenden Eckball rettete Dober bei einem Kopfball von Breda vor der Linie, das Leder wäre aber wohl an der Stange gelandet.

Payer rettet

In der 29. Minute machte die österreichische Defensive erneut einen äußerst unsicheren Eindruck, als Gerba seinen Kollegen De Rosario freispielte, dieser aber allein vor Payer an dessen Fußabwehr scheiterte. Wenige Sekunden vor der Pause hatten die Gastgeber noch einmal bei einem Radzinski-Kopfball, der am Tor vorbeiging, Glück.

Im Strafraum der Kanadier spielten sich weit weniger spannende Szenen ab. Fehlschüsse von Kiesenebner (13.), Ivanschitz (16.) und Linz (44.) sowie ein Freistoß von Ivanschitz, der relativ klar sein Ziel verfehlte, blieben die magere Ausbeute.

Vergebliches Warten auf den Elferpfiff

Nach dem Seitenwechsel erweckten die Österreicher bei einem vermeintlichen Handspiel im Strafraum von Reda (48.) nach Ivanschitz-Pass und einem mehrmals abgeblockten Schussversuch von Linz kurz den Eindruck, das Spiel in die Hand nehmen zu können.

Diese Phase war aber schnell wieder vorbei, denn in der 64. Minute verfehlte der eingewechselte Friend nach Querpass von Grande aus sieben Metern nur knapp das Tor.

Brennan kam, sah und traf

Es sollte der letzte Warnschuss gewesen sein: In der 65. Minute wehrte Dober eine Radzinski-Flanke nur kurz ab, und der aus dem Hinterhalt kommende Brennan zog aus rund 18 Metern unhaltbar für Payer ins rechte Eck vom Schützen aus gesehen ab.

Fünf Minuten später durfte sich Payer noch einmal bei einem Kopfball von Friend auszeichnen, wenige Sekunden später aber musste er zum zweiten Mal hinter sich greifen. Wie schon beim ersten Gegentreffer geriet auch diesmal eine Kopfballabwehr zu kurz, wieder zog Brennan außerhalb des Strafraums ab, wobei sein Schuss von einem Mannschaftskollegen noch leicht, aber entscheidend abgefälscht wurde.

Wie einst gegen die Schweiz

Damit war die Partie entschieden - Hickersberger, der Junuzovic (GAK) zu seinem ersten Teameinsatz verhalf, musste sich damit abfinden, auch in seine zweite Amtszeit als ÖFB-Teamchef mit einer Niederlage zu starten.

Am 5. Februar 1988 hatte das ÖFB-Team beim "Hicke"-Debüt 1:2 in Monaco gegen die Schweiz verloren. Die Gesamtbilanz des Niederösterreichs beim ÖFB lautet damit zehn Siege, sieben Remis und 13 Niederlagen.

Mittwoch:

Österreich - Kanada 0:2 (0:0)

Wiener Happel-Stadion, 9.000 Zuschauer

Schiedsrichter: Dick van Egmond (NED)

Tore: Brennan (65., 71.)

Gelbe Karten: Aufhauser bzw. Reda, Grande

Österreich: Payer - Dober, Scharner, Martin Hiden (46./Feldhofer), Pogatetz - Standfest (85./Sariyar), Kiesenebner (73./Gercaliu), Aufhauser, Ivanschitz (80./Mörz) - Akagündüz (61./Junuzovic), Linz

Kanada: Stamatopoulos - Pozniak, Reda, McKenna (46./Brennan), Klukowski (67./Jazic) - Radzisnki, Hutchinson, Grande (84./Johnson),

Serioux (57./Bernier), De Rosario - Gerba (60./Friend)

[jb18]

I'm surprised we haven't had more discussion about Friend. He only got 30 minutes on the pitch today, but he did an outstanding job in such a short time...hit the post on a solid shot; connected with a header needing a brilliant save by the Austrian keeper, helped create Brennan's other goal. I'd like to see him out there for longer than a third of the match...

[hamiltonfan]

how about those kits Canada was wearing...looking at the pic on CSA site i like. Put those on sale

GREAT WIN....lets hope for a nother game real soon