Goalless draw in final warm-up game
Austria were held to a goalless draw against Slovakia in both sides’ final match before the European Championships begin.
The match
In a quiet first half, Slovakia came closest to scoring when Ondrej Duda’s shot was blocked off the line by his own team-mate, Peter Pekarik.
The hosts upped the tempo second half and were unfortunate not to score. A brilliant long-range strike by midfielder Florian Grillitsch was was turned onto the right-hand post by Slovakia goalkeeper Martin Dubravka.
Marko Arnautovic made his return for Austria and he almost marked his comeback with a goal, but his shot across goal also struck the post.
The visitors almost stole victory towards the end when Michal Duris went one-on-one with the goalkeeper, but he was denied by Daniel Bachmann.
Franco Foda’s side dominated the possession but had just five shots on target and were profligate in front of goal, like they were against England on Wednesday evening. It means they have failed to score in their last three games.
Slovakia go into the competition having drawn both warm-up games.
The Euros
They open up their Euros campaign against North Macedonia in Bucharest on Sunday. Netherlands and Ukraine are the other two sides in their group.
Slovakia meet Poland in St Petersburg a week today. They are in a challenging group, also coming up against Spain and Sweden.
Featured image: Austria fans applaud their team off of the pitch following the international friendly match between Austria and Slovakia at Ernst Happel Stadion. (Photo by Christian Hofer/Getty Images)
Leave a Reply