"This is the worst possible start you can have in an opening game of a tournament," he said.

After only four minutes the co-hosts were a goal down as Luka Modric scored from the spot.

"We conceded a goal and we took some time to recover. For the first 30 minutes, the team wasn't playing well, we were nervous. But after that, we followed our tactical plan and we did it well. We even dominated the second half," added the Austria boss.

Austria had several occasions to level the score but failed to get any of them in the back of the net. Now they will have tougher tasks against Poland then Germany.

"The team showed during the second half that they could cope with the Croats - even win the match. But we are empty handed. The team is very depressed," concluded Hickersberger.