Netherlands – Austria 2:3: Marcel Sabitzer’s great goal secures Austria top spot after five-goal thriller

Marcel Sabitzer’s 80th-minute winner against the Netherlands secured Ralf Rangnick’s team top spot in Group D with a dramatic 3-2 victory.

Austria started the match in third place and this last place is a deserved reward for a victory made possible by the intensity with which the team played from the kick-off in what will be one of the best of the tournament.

Donyell Malen fired the ball into his own net to open the scoring, but Ronald Koeman sent full-back Lutsharel Geertruida into midfield at half-time and changed the game. After Cody Gakpo equalised, the Portuguese could easily have taken the lead.

The character of this Austrian team was shown by the fact that they survived this storm unscathed and took the lead after an hour through Romano Schmid and then again through captain Sabitzer, when many teams would have lost courage after the equaliser by Memphis Depay was initially disallowed.

The win puts Austria at the top of Group D with six points, followed by France with five and the Netherlands with four points, who secure third place.

Austria’s group victory was a great surprise both at the start of the tournament and before this game, but it was anything but undeserved.

They could easily have picked up a point against France in their first game, and against Poland they played an exciting and at times exhilarating match, although it should not be forgotten that they could have also ended in a draw and thus secured their place in the round of 16.

Their competence in pressing is no surprise given the godfather of this system, Ralf Ragnick, who is their coach. But being such a force without key players David Alaba, goalkeeper Alexander Schlager and Xavier Schlager was a huge challenge.

And now it looks like their path to the semi-finals will go via the runners-up in Group F (currently Turkey) and then perhaps Belgium or another team from Group E.

The 1934 Wonder Team and Austria’s 1954 team reached the semi-finals of the World Cup, but have never come close to that goal since. This time, it might still work.

He embodied everything that the Austrian performance was about and it’s a little bit of a shame that his magnificent header that put his side 2-1 up is overshadowed by Marcel Sabitzer’s brilliant winner. His work rate was exceptional with and without the ball, pressuring the Dutch on the left and then finding space when his team got the ball – and keeping his cool when in possession too.

Netherlands: Verbruggen 5; De Vrij 6, Van Dijk 6, Ake 6; Schouten 6, Veerman 6; Malen 4, Reijnders 6, Gakpo 7; Depay 8.

Substitutes: Simons 7, van de Ven 6, Wijnaldum 6, Weghorst 7.

Austria: Pentz 7; Posch 7, Lienhart 8, Wober 7, Prass 8; Seiwald 7, Grillitsch 7; Schmid 9*, Sabitzer 8*, Wimmer 7; Arnautovic 7.

Substitutes: Baumgartner 8, Laimer 6, Querfeld 6, Gregoritsch 6. Weimann.

6′ GOAL! NETHERLANDS 0-1 AUSTRIA (MALEN ERO)! You can’t say that Austria didn’t deserve it, but it was a very strange goal when Prass tries to cross to Arnautovic in the box and Malen slides back into the box and deflects the ball into the near corner.

14′ GREAT CHANCE FOR REIJNDERS! Depay played Reijnders, who passed the ball wide to Gakpo, who played the ball back into the box. However, the Milan player missed terribly and the ball went wide.

24′ MALEN MISSES A GREAT CHANCE TO EQUALIZE! Depay passes the ball nicely to Reijnders and Malen, running towards goal, misses his shot, which goes wide.

47′ GOAL! NETHERLANDS (GAKPO) 1-1 AUSTRIA! Geertruida, who was moved to midfield at half-time, won the ball from Grillitsch and then played it to Simons, who took the ball 30 metres out and then played it to Gakpo, whose curling shot from just inside the left half of the box was perfect.

59′ GOAL! NETHERLANDS 1-2 AUSTRIA (SCHMID)! Grillitsch’s cross from the byline reached Schmid eight metres away, who shot the ball flat past Verbruggen and De Vrij could not clear it from the line.

78′ GOAL! NETHERLANDS (DEPAY) 2-2 AUSTRIA! Weghorst jumped highest and headed the ball to the Atletico Madrid striker, who received the ball with his thigh (not his hand) and volleyed it into the goal.

80′ GOAL! NETHERLANDS 2-3 AUSTRIA (SABITZER)! A beautiful through ball from Baumgartner found the midfielder, who headed straight for the goal and smashed the ball into the net from a tight angle high over Verbruggen.

84′ BALL IN THE NET… BUT KEEP YOUR DISTANCE! And again Verbruggen is beaten at the near post. This time it looked as if Baumgartner would cross the ball and then shoot it into the goalkeeper’s near post.

86′ WEGHORST NOT FAR FROM THE EQUALIZER! A long, deep cross from Geertruida and Weghorst almost resembled Robin van Persie’s famous diving header against Spain, but the ball flew a metre too high.