The captain of the Austria team, Panathinaikos FC midfielder Andreas Ivanschitz is trying to rally his troops by calling on them to carry on the steady progress they have been making at Euro 2008 and give a decisive knockout blow to the Germans when they meet in Vienna.

The meeting has caught the public imagination in Austria and given everybody an excuse to reminisce on earlier triumphs over their near neighbours and rivals. Ivanschitz is convinced that it offers the opportunity for all the Austrian players to become heroes, labelling the game “special” and “decisive”. He also acknowledged the fact that drawing against the Poles in their previous game has given them a great chance to go through to the quarter-final stage of the competition, making this game all the more interesting for both teams. 

The permutations of this evening’s group games mean that to achieve their coveted place in the quarter-finals, Austria must obviously win their game against Germany while hoping Poland do not beat the Croats by a bigger margin. Should the Austria-Germany game finish as a draw then it would be the Germans who qualify from the group along with the Croatians. 

Ivanschitz admits the weight of expectation has made the team nervous but says it is natural for footballers to feel nervous ahead of a big game; and for Austria they do not come much bigger than a game against Germany.