As Martin Harnik arose at the Austria team EURO quarters yesterday morning, the birthday stress began in earnest. The day was just minutes old when Werder Bremen coach Thomas Schaaf got on the phone to congratulate the 21 year old in Stegersbach.
As Martin Harnik arose at the Austria team EURO quarters yesterday morning, the birthday stress began in earnest. The day was just minutes old when Werder Bremen coach Thomas Schaaf got on the phone to congratulate the 21 year old in Stegersbach.
As Martin Harnik arose at the Austria team EURO quarters yesterday morning, the birthday stress began in earnest. The day was just minutes old when Werder Bremen coach Thomas Schaaf got on the phone to congratulate the 21 year old in Stegersbach: “I was just brushing my teeth when the telephone rang,” admitted Harnik about the call from his club coach, and many more congratulatory phone calls were to follow.
As wildly as Austrians generally tend to like to celebrate their birthdays, it is, of course, not a possibility at the EURO team head quarters. Harnik had to take things especially easy on Tuesday with the vitally important clash with Poland just two days away. (Thursday, 12.06.2008. 8:45pm kick-off).
Instead of partying, the young hopeful from Werder Bremen had to settle for a strenuous training session – nothing new for the birthday boy: “We are fully concentrated on the up-coming task against Poland. We must and want to win. We are working hard in training everyday towards that goal. It’s something very special for me just to be here.”
And the situation is quite clear – Austria’s clash with Poland is an all or nothing tie. Following their narrow 0:1 defeat by Croatia in the opening game, three points against Poland are now a must: “Losing the first game was really bitter because we could have taken more from it. We want to do better against Poland and we are ready to do whatever is needed to achieve that win,” explained Harnik.
