mikron:
if u re still going to meet a german side in the competition why delay the inevitable now? we re the african champs, if ghana that came 3rd in the AYC can beat argentina why would u advocate african champs to dodge germany? isnt that telling the world u dont have a good team? i say bring any team, we will do the job. if u must be the best u got to beat the best

mikron:
u just contradicted urself. u were one of those that was skeptical and afraid of our boys meeting germany in the next round so why u now saying and i quote "Who ever we meet in the round of 16 should be ready for sweet bashing from our boys". what part of the divide do u stand bro?

chaberry:
You said we're the African champion, does that makes us unbeatable? The Argentina that you mention, were they not the champion of their own region? Yet still, they were eliminated at the group stage. When Ghana won this championship in 2009 where they the champion of Africa? You guys should stop calculating football as if is an arithmetics. AVOID GERMANY NOW SIMPLE

BascoVanVeli:


what makes Germany unbeatable? you are the only one calculating anything we barely say we have a strong team, this is not some ish we just started saying u can check through out the thread, we believe we are the best and we know we have the best players that is plain as day no one jumps out at you like our boys in this events not even your Germans, how many of them will even smell senior action 2 maybe 3 but here we have our whole freakin super eagle lineup for the future and u want us to be scared of who? I fold my hands and shake my head to that assessment.

joseph1013:
[b][size=14pt]Two Towers keep Austria's fortress standing[/size]



Although New Zealand is well known for being the location for director Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings films, Wellington’s Regional Stadium was the setting for a slightly different interpretation of part of the trilogy today. The 'Two Towers' in this particular battle were Austrian goalkeeper Tino Casali and centre-half Lukas Gugganig, who both used every inch of their 6'4 frames to repel every attack they faced.

“We’ve known each other for ages so ‘Guggi’ and I get along extremely well,” a beaming Casali told FIFA.com. “We come from the same state, have played against each other since we were young and are best friends. Perhaps that’s another reason things worked out so well,” he concluded, clearly delighted with his clean sheet after being besieged for almost the full 90 minutes.

At times today it seemed as though Argentina could have played on for hours without ever finding the back of the net, as Casali and Gugganig repelled their efforts time and time again. With a well-placed hand or foot, the Austrian duo had an answer for everything their opponents threw at them, irrespective of whether it was Angel Correa, Tomas Martinez or Giovanni Simeone trying to make the breakthrough. In fact, the South American champions had no fewer than 27 shots on goal – equivalent to one almost every three minutes. Casali summed up the experience succinctly, saying: “It was the game of my life – simply brilliant.”

The key to the European side’s success today was their ‘fortress’ formation. “Our sole focus in the second half was to protect the draw and keep the score at 0-0 one way or another,” explained Austria captain Gugganig. “The Argentinians were so incredibly strong that we had absolutely no other choice.” From high in the stands it was clear to see Andreas Heraf’s team working in two banks of five throughout the second half, never advancing more than 30 metres from their own goal.

Keeping ourselves in this tournament and sending a major footballing nation like Argentina home is the equivalent of them beating us at ski jumping.

Tino Casali

“We’ve rehearsed it several times before but naturally we’ve never actually used it in a match,” the Austria boss revealed. “We developed the ‘fortress’ approach to enable us to see out a result one day, but we’ve generally only tried it out for about 15 minutes at a time, never for an entire half – and never against such strong opponents,” said Heraf of the approach that so utterly frustrated La Albiceleste today.

When we asked Casali to name his highlight of the match, he immediately recalled a moment shortly before half-time. Having made it past the first of the two ‘towers’, Simeone stormed into the box closely pursued by Gugganig, whose sliding tackle came too late to prevent the Argentina striker from firing a shot towards the Austria goal. Fortunately the 19-year-old goalkeeper was on hand to deflect the strike with a superb reflexive save, one of ten he made during the encounter. “The fact that Simeone’s rebound then narrowly missed the post was just a case of fortune favouring the brave – and we deserved that today,” grinned Casali.

“As a small Alpine nation, it’s amazing that we’re still unbeaten in this group,” the custodian added in disbelief. “Keeping ourselves in this tournament and sending a major footballing nation like Argentina home is the equivalent of them beating us at ski jumping.” For Austria, the ‘Battle for Middle Earth’ at the FIFA U-20 World Cup in New Zealand goes on.

As the old footballing adage says: 'Attacking wins matches but defending wins titles.' Nevertheless, the Austrian No1 is keeping his feet on the ground: “We know who we are: we’re Austria, we’re no footballing superpower. Every game we play now is a bonus.”

Contemplating their next opponents, who will come from Group F and could be any of Fiji, Honduras or Uzbekistan, Casali urged his team to remain humble. “The Argentinians probably thought that beating us would be doable today – but we’ll certainly be able to hold our own against these sides in the last 16 if we can deliver a focused performance.” [/b]

Icon4s:


Which one is VIV again? And lady, this is U20 & nt like U17. I understand d fears of those that are afraid of Germany. Have u seen d German team play?They play with so much maturity and precision.
They came to this tourney, jst like the Brazilians also with young professionals. 70% of the Nigerian team have nt even started playing professional football. Most are academy players. Things like these count especially at d crucial stages.That's y i have been quite conservative with my expectation from our team.
Good enough a good no of them are17-18 yrs olds which makes dem legible to play in d next WYC hopefully then they would have become full professionals.

Can u c dat Success is a step ahead of the others? He has been a full prpfessional for well over 18months.

tbaba1234:
Argentina dominated Austria much more than Germany dominated Uzbekistan but drew.

P0intBlank:


That's why I rather have us play another team than the Germans. Germans don't have to outplay u to outscore u. They are usually very clinical; will punish naive defending. They earned the name German Machines for their effective and efficient style of play.

tbaba1234:


The senior team earned that name. I believe we can beat them if we play at our best...

mikron:
brazil that i watched was not that strong, agreed they won, but the fault of our defeat lies squarely on the shoulders of the coach and enaholo our keeper. enaholo had no justification to conceed those 2 cheap 2nd half goals whereas manu's change of formation by playing 4 strikers at once therebyexposing our midfield for the brazilians spoilt everything. given the chance again the best result the brazilians would get is a draw. i believe 100% in this team

LeeCodeman:
You guys should check out the Argentina vs Austria highlights. The Argentines didnt win not because they were not good, but because the Austrian goalkeeper was not just brilliantly outstanding but also because luck was against them.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CYerEPeDNCI

thegoodjoehunt3:
The weather consideration makes me lighten my anger with Mustapha, Enaholo and Awoniyi.

tbaba1234:
I don't understand the fear of germany. . What pedigree do they have at this level. If the flying eagles play to their potential, they can beat anyone.

Another win against hungary will be good for confidence. Best to start building momentum.

blazetitov:


How did neuer sneak into U21 world cup? That Austrian goalkeeper na witch!

P0intBlank:


We can even outplay them and still lose. We need to take our chances and sought out our defence especially from set pieces.

chaberry:
Nah, They won't be a walk over, but will be easier to play than to play Germany

chaberry:
You said we're the African champion, does that makes us unbeatable? The Argentina that you mention, were they not the champion of their own region? Yet still, they were eliminated at the group stage. When Ghana won this championship in 2009 where they the champion of Africa? You guys should stop calculating football as if is an arithmetics. AVOID GERMANY NOW SIMPLE

wordychap:

Even if wee lose, mathematically we've qualified with d 3 points.

khattab02:




lol.... Just saw the end quote of the Argentine Coach ''now we 've got to hope for a miracle''



with 2 points? It seems he hasn't study the situation of other groups? It will be very difficult for them to qualify.




Verdict: just book the next available ticket and go home and rest!