Austria veteran Ivica Vastic levelled three minutes into injury time to earn a point against Poland with a controversial penalty. Roger Guerreiro’s first goal for his country looked to have given Poland a win against the Euro 2008 co-hosts in Vienna.
Guerreiro, the Brazil-born playmaker, took advantage of an offside flag not shown, another decision from the officials that will cause debate.
Notwithstanding another little-known UEFA interpretation of the laws, Guerreiro looked offside when he tapped in his first for his adopted country. Television pundits also suggested as much at the interval.
Before the opener, the focus had been on how Austria did not open the scoring rather than the refereeing. They picked up from where they left off against Croatia, attacking in numbers and applying pressure. Poland goalkeeper Artur Boruc made three early saves. Two were from Martin Harnik, who firstly latched onto a Marcin Wasilewski back pass and raced through, only for Boruc to deny him with an instinctive save using his feet, diverting the ball just past the upright.
Poland grabbed the opener totally against the run of play, on the half-hour mark. Euzebiusz Smolarek swung the ball over from left to right, Marek Saganowski checked back and his deflected shot fell into the path of Guerreiro, who tapped in as the flag stayed down.
Austria’s efforts were more speculative as Webb turned down a woeful penalty appeal when Andreas Ivanschitz dived in the area without a touch from Pawel Golanski, who had come on at the break for Mariusz Jop.
Leitgeb then tried to catch out Boruc with a 45-yard free-kick but the effort sailed over.
Austria brought on veteran Vastic for inspiration and he got his chance from 12 yards when Mariusz Lewandowski held Prodl as Poland defended a free-kick.
Mike McGrath© PA Sport, 2008, All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, re-written, re-distributed or commercially exploited. Sportstar is not responsible for any inaccuracy in the material.
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