Poland 1-3 Austria: Poland eliminated after slumping to defeat by Austria
Austria's hopes of reaching the Euro 2024 knockout stage were boosted by a superb second-half performance in a 3-1 victory over Poland, who became the first team to be eliminated from the tournament after Friday's late game between the Netherlands and France finished goalless.
Poland's chances of progressing from Group D were already bleak after losing both of their group games, and the draw between France and the Netherlands confirmed their early elimination.
Gernot Trauner, Christian Baumgartner, and Marko Arnautovic all scored to keep Austria's hopes of progressing alive.
The Austrians, who had lost to France in their first game, survived a spirited first-half comeback in which Poland equalised and came close to taking the lead before the wheels came off in the second half.
Undeterred by news that record scorer Robert Lewandowski was still not fit to start, Polish fans lit a handful of flares as they belted out the national anthem, with a cloud of smoke wafting towards the goal Austria defended in the first-half.
That was the closest the Poles came in the opening exchanges, with Austria dominating possession with repeated attacks up the left flank and taking the lead in the ninth minute.
Philipp Mwene's long throws posed a threat from the start, and Austria's goal came nine minutes later when one of them was headed back into his path, allowing the left back to cross for Trauner to score with a bullet header into the top corner.
However, Poland equalised on the half-hour mark when Austria failed to clear a corner properly, and when Trauner blocked a shot from Jan Bednarek, the ball fell kindly for Krsysztof Piatek to control and then steer into the net.
Austria keeper Patrick Pentz had to make a superb one-handed save in first-half stoppage time, and when Lewandowski entered the fray on the hour, Polish hopes were dashed quickly.
Austria's second goal in the 66th minute was stunning in its simplicity, as they switched play from right to left before Alexander Prass found Baumgartner with a pinpoint pass, and the midfielder's cool finish gave Wojciech Szczesny no chance.
When Marcel Sabitzer then tore through the middle, Szczesny had no choice but to bring him down, and Marko Arnautovic drilled the resulting penalty kick low to the keeper's left, making it 3-1 after 78 minutes and leaving the Poles with a mountain to climb.
Lewandowksi's contribution in just over half an hour was a yellow card for an elbow on Philipp Lienhart four minutes after coming on, and his absence proved costly as the Poles were eliminated.
Poland's final group game is against France on Tuesday in Dortmund, while Austria play the Dutch in Berlin.
"We gave away the match a little bit which was completely unnecessary, and then in the second half, we knew that now we have to deliver," man of the match Baumgartner told reporters.
"That's a one of our qualities, one of our characteristics, that we know how to deal with these kinds of situations, and know how to react to those situations, and that's why eventually it was a positive result for us," he added.
Poland's coach, Michal Probierz, said Lewandowski was fully fit and had trained with the team.
"We knew that this would be a highly-intensive match, so we decided with the medical team and Robert Lewandowski himself that he would not be starting from the first minute," Probierz told reporters.
"We hoped that we could break through the Austrian defence in the second half, it's a pity we didn't score a winner first," he added.
SportsLigue