Austrian delight for Weber

Wednesday matches
Wednesday's last-four games will see Spain face Austria in Mangualde at 16.00CET while host nation Portugal square off against England in Viseu at 18.00CET. The final set of group games on Sunday offered plenty of drama, as Austria and England edged out group rivals Denmark and Italy to join the Iberian duo in the semi-finals.

Weber delight
Austria had to beat Denmark in Nelas to progress from Group A and they did just that – running out 2-0 winners to the delight of coach Ernst Weber. "It was a very tough game, the third game in five days, but I think we deserved to go through," he said. "When the second goal went in it was a dream come true."

Right decision
Both Austrian goalscorers, Patrick Mayer and Daniel Horvath, came on as second-half substitutes having been dropped by Weber. "The decision was right," the coach said. "The two players who were on the bench didn't play well in the first two games and the two who came in played well. Then we made the changes and the two that came on scored, which is a good thing for the coach!"

Buoyant scorers
Goalscorers Mayer and Horvath were also in buoyant mood after the game, despite suspension ruling Mayer out of the game against Spain, along with team-mates Andreas Schicker and Andreas Dober. "I hadn't played very well in the tournament [before today]," Mayer said. "I thought about my play and then I came on and managed to score. The first two games I didn't score so it's a very good feeling now. However, I have a second yellow card so unfortunately I won't play against Spain."

'Wonderful feeling'
"It's a wonderful feeling," Horvath added. "It's a dream. Before this game I had not played very well so [coach] Ernst [Weber] told me I must give my best. A long ball came down the right, Mayer played it to me and I scored. It's the best moment of my career so far."

Brun Larsen grace
Denmark coach Hans Brun Larsen reacted with good grace to his side's departure. "I was satisfied with the performance," he said. "Of course we knew that in the third match we would have some physical problems. It was evident that the players didn't have that little extra to give when we went one-nil down. But I'm satisfied they gave all they had. The Austrian team was the stronger team physically today."

England fightback
In Group B, England went into their game against Spain in Vila Real knowing that if they lost, a win for Italy against Israel might edge them out of the tournament. At one stage the English did indeed look to be heading for the exit as they trailed 2-0 and the Italians led by the same score, but John Peacock's side fought back to gain a 2-2 draw and second place in the group behind the Spanish.

'Fantastic football'
"The Spanish are a good team and difficult to beat," said the England coach. "I was disappointed with our first-half performance, but in the second half we played some fantastic football. At the end I think the Spanish were happy with a draw. Before this game we had a mountain to climb because we knew Italy would win."

Rocca ponders
Meanwhile Italy coach Antonio Rocca was left to ponder his side's exit despite their 4-0 win against the Israelis. "We struggled to adapt to this climate," he said. "We had problems with the altitude and on top of that we played the first match against Spain, the strongest team in the group. That was decisive to our elimination. Today we were the best team and it was a good result but we're very sad to have failed to reach the semi-finals."

'We gave our best'
Finally, England's semi-final opponents Portugal beat Hungary 2-0 today to end their Group A campaign as the only side in the tournament with a 100 per cent record after three games. "The match wasn't as good as we expected but 2-0 is not a bad result," said coach António Violante. "We were already qualified but we wanted this win and we gave our best. Now we're among the four best European teams and we're very happy with this."