Poland vs. Austria Euro 2008 Betting Preview

[SportSavant]

Euro 2008 Betting Preview
<?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-comffice:smarttags" /><st1:country-region w:st="on">Poland</st1:country-region> vs. <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1lace w:st="on">Austria</st1lace></st1:country-region>
Thursday, 2:45 pm Eastern – ESPN 2<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-comfficeffice" /><o></o>
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<st1:country-region w:st="on">Poland</st1:country-region> and <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1lace w:st="on">Austria</st1lace></st1:country-region> play a virtual must win match on Thursday in Group B action in the Soccer Betting Euro 2008. Both teams lost their opener and a loss on Thursday would virtually eliminate the loser. <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1lace w:st="on">Austria</st1lace></st1:country-region> coach Josef Hickersberger has said that his team must play very aggressively on Thursday. “It is clear to me that this is a decisive game, but it is the same for <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1lace w:st="on">Poland</st1lace></st1:country-region>,” Hickersberger said, “Now it is all or nothing. We must beat them. We must take risks from the start.” <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1lace w:st="on">Austria</st1lace></st1:country-region> has had serious trouble scoring goals. They were shutout by <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1lace w:st="on">Croatia</st1lace></st1:country-region> and were shutout or held to one goal in 7 of their 9 friendlies leading up to Euro 2008.<o></o>
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<st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1lace w:st="on">Poland</st1lace></st1:country-region> is a -155 favorite with a total of 2 at SBG Global.<o></o>
Three-way line – <st1:country-region w:st="on">Poland</st1:country-region> +130, <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1lace w:st="on">Austria</st1lace></st1:country-region> +200, Draw +215<o></o>
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<st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1lace w:st="on">Austria</st1lace></st1:country-region> is the co-host of Euro 2008 and will get a lot of fan support on Thursday. <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1lace w:st="on">Poland</st1lace></st1:country-region> will have to deal with the loss of captain Maciej Zurawski who was injured in Sunday’s match. <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1lace w:st="on">Poland</st1lace></st1:country-region> will look to forward Ebi Smolarek to lead the way. “We have to play <st1:country-region w:st="on">Austria</st1:country-region> next and we must win that game if we are to have any chance; and then we also have to beat <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1lace w:st="on">Croatia</st1lace></st1:country-region> and that won't be easy.” Poland did not play well in their opening match against Germany and head coach Leo Beenhakker knows they must be better against Austria. “The goals we conceded against <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1lace w:st="on">Germany</st1lace></st1:country-region> came as a result of individual mistakes and that's part of football,” he said, “Sometimes you have miscommunication at the back but one of our players stepped out and didn't stick to what we had organized. And you cannot do that.”<o></o>
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The two teams met twice in 2006 World Cup qualifying and <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1lace w:st="on">Poland</st1lace></st1:country-region> won both matches. <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1lace w:st="on">Poland</st1lace></st1:country-region> won 3-1 on the road and 3-2 at home. The teams have also met five times in friendlies over the years and <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1lace w:st="on">Austria</st1lace></st1:country-region> won three of the five matches with two draws. <o></o>


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