Low wary of Austria upset

Germany won't underestimate co-hosts

By Ben Collins   Last updated: 16th June 2008   Subscribe to RSS Feed

Low wary of Austria upset

Low: Respects Austrian threat

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Germany coach Joachim Low is confident his side can bounce back from their defeat by Croatia and book a place in the Euro 2008 quarter-finals.

The Germans were unable to seal their passage into the last eight as they lost 2-1 last time out and another defeat in their final Group B game against Austria would take the co-hosts through and condemn Germany to a third straight group exit at the Euros.

Austria are the lowest-ranked team in the competition, but kept alive their hopes of a surprise quarter-final place by claiming a last-gasp equaliser against Poland.

And after suffering that setback against Croatia, Low insists Germany will not be taking anything for granted in Vienna on Monday evening.

"We know that Austria played with a lot of energy and went the distance in their first match," he said.

"Austria have a chance, they've earned their shot at the quarter-finals and it's as important for them as it is for us.

Pressure

"They're under as much pressure as we are because they want to achieve their goal of getting to the quarter-finals.

"We won't make the mistake of underestimating them. But I'm confident my players can do it. They've earned my full trust.

"We'll play our game and impose ourselves on our opponents and I'm confident enough that we will prove what we can do."

Germany beat Austria 3-0 in a warm-up friendly and although Austria also lost 4-3 to Holland a month later, they led the Group C winners 3-0 at one stage.

"Austria played against us in February and they played very well in the first half," said Low.

"During those 45 minutes we were struggling to keep up with them and we said back then that there were a number of things that were not working.

"Over the last few months Austria have improved and when they played the Netherlands they were leading 3-0.

"When you look at how the Dutch are playing now and keep in mind that Austria were ahead 3-0, then once again you can see how strong they are.

They know how to play and we are taking this seriously."