Hickersberger: It lies in our hands

Austria coach Josef Hickersberger is relishing the "honour" of pitting his wits against Croatia, Germany and Poland in UEFA EURO 2008™ Group B after the draw for the final tournament in Lucerne.

Outsider opportunity
The co-hosts face Croatia in Vienna on 8 June, and despite having lost all three previous meetings with those opponents while never having beaten Germany – whom they encounter in a Vienna friendly on 6 February – in a competitive game since the 1978 FIFA World Cup, Hickersberger hopes to make the most of his side's "outsider" status. Germany's Joachim Löw, whose team have lost only nine of 55 matches against their group rivals, is already cautioning against complacency, as Croatia's Slaven Bilić and Leo Beenhakker of Poland also share their thoughts with uefa.com.

Josef Hickersberger, Austria coach
The draw could have been more difficult, so I'm looking forward to a very interesting group. It's a great honour for us to play these teams. Germany are favourites while Croatia and Poland will fancy their chances of reaching the quarter-finals. We have improved but we have a bad record against Croatia. We are quite capable of getting a result against Poland although it will be difficult. Austria are simply the big outsiders but there are worse things than that. We have to make the best of it. It lies in our hands.

Slaven Bilić, Croatia coach
Every group is difficult and at the same time easy. It all depends on how you coach your team and how much you believe in your players. I obviously have great respect for our three opponents but I believe in my team and we're full of confidence. We'll be well prepared and ready to come here and play good football. With a little luck, this will give us a chance of beating any team in Europe. Croatia have always done well. There is continuity in our performances, we always do well because we have a good team with skilful players – we're just good!

Joachim Löw, Germany coach
I wouldn't call it a lucky draw but we have a good chance of reaching the next round. We have great respect for all our opponents and it's an even group. Austria will be backed by a whole nation and you can't underestimate that; we saw last year when we hosted the [FIFA] World Cup what driving forces can be generated by playing in front of your home crowd. Croatia eliminated England, and we experienced during the World Cup how difficult it is to beat Poland. Both sides dominated their qualifying groups and that shows how strong they are. We're looking forward to meeting all three.

Leo Beenhakker, Poland coach
I'm delighted as it's always special to play against the hosts. Germany are one of the best teams in the world, Croatia are an up-and-coming team who did fantastically well in qualification, so the challenge is there and we love challenges. I would include Poland among the favourites in this group, because if you don't go into it with confidence and ambition you shouldn't participate. Everybody has the right to have the same ambition. On paper, Germany are the best but we don't play on paper.

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