Turkey punishes Austria 4-2

Karel Brückner’s Austrian squad lost 4-2 to Turkey at Ernst-Happel-Stadion in Vienna on a match bathed in pathetic defending and will surely cause a series of tactical changes. Austria took the lead two minutes before the half hour mark with Andreas Hölzl’s (SK Sturm Graz) header. Mehmet Aurélio (Real Betis) leveled the match ten minutes later with Tuncay Şanlı (Middlesbrough) giving them the lead four minutes before the break. Tuncay Şanlı scored two minutes after the break on a defensive miscue by Paul Scharner (Wigan) to double the margin before Andreas Hölzl brought the home side within one at the fifty third minute. However another poor defensive blunder left the ‘Boro man in a perfect position to make it 4-2.

Austria
Michael Gspurning - György Garics (46., Marko Arnautovic), Paul Scharner (86., Sebastian Prödl), Martin Stranzl, Andeas Ibertsberger (46., Joachim Standfest) - Andreas Hölzl , Christoph Leitgeb (70., Marko Stankovic), Andreas Ivanschitz, Jürgen Säumel (64., Rene Aufhauser), Christian Fuchs - Rubin Okotie (46., Erwin Hoffer)

ückner makes big changes for friendly

Karel Brückner has announced his squad list for the Turkey match with a number of surprises. With Werder Bremen’s Martin Harnik injured, he also passed on Rapid Wien’s striking tandem of Stefan Maierhofer Erwin Hoffer and called up Rubin Okotie from Austria Wein to go along with Marko Arnautovic and Marc Janko. The squad list is as follows:

Goalkeeper: Michael Gspurning (AO Xanthi), Alexander Manninger (Juventus)

Defenders: György Garics (Atalanta Bergamo), Andeas Ibertsberger (TSG 1899 Hoffenheim), Emanuel Pogatetz (Middlesbrough), Sebastian Prödl (Werder Bremen), Joachim Standfest (Austria Wien), Martin Stranzl (Spartak Moscow)

Midfield: Rene Aufhauser (Red Bull Salzburg), Christian Fuchs (VfL Bochum), Andreas Hölzl (SK Sturm Graz), Andreas Ivanschitz (Panathinaikos), Christoph Leitgeb (Red Bull Salzburg); Jürgen Säumel (Torino), Paul Scharner (Wigan Athletic)

Striker: Marko Arnautovic (Twente Enschede), Marc Janko (Red Bull Salzburg), Rubin Okotie (FK Austria Wien)

Ümit Korkmaz out with injury again

Austria will be without Ümit Korkmaz for the upcoming friendly against Turkey as it was revealed that the
Eintracht Frankfurt midfielder Ümit Korkmaz has re-broke the fifth metatarsal of his right foot. He suffered the same injury during early training in August and will be out for a undisclosed time.

a look at the team and Austrian Bundesliga

With seven members of Karel Brückner’s squad in the Austrian Bundesliga I thought it best to provide you a quick review of matches involving internationals.

Possibly the best place to start is Red Bull Salzburg’s match-up against Austria Wien yesterday as Red Bull possesses six present members of Austrian team on their roster; René Aufhauser, Christoph Leitgeb, Ronald Gercaliu and Marc Janko. With Red Bull Salzburg possessing a narrow three point lead on the defending champions Rapid Wien and five points above Austria Wien, this match was critically important. However Salzburg make a powerful statement and crushed Austria Wein 5-1, on the strength of three strikes from the goal-scoring machine Marc Janko (4′, 12′, 54′) with Robin Nelisse and Karel Piták rounding out the scoring and Milenko Aćimović adding the lone goal for Austria Wien.

Defending league champions Rapid Wien possess strike-force Erwin Hoffer and Stefan Maierhofer in the lineup as well as U-21 Andreas Dober and holding pace with Red Bull Salzburg, only three points behind. Not to be outdone with Red Bull Salzburg’s play, they easily defeated SC Rheindorf Altach 5-1, on two goals by Stefan Maierhofer and a superb hat-trick by former Hajduk Split-man, Nikica Jelavic.

a poor turn as Serbia devastates Austria

There are times when it is best to be phrase things very simply and without “sugar-coating.” Simply stated for Austrian Football it has been a horrible week which saw the club set-back first with a nightmare inducing draw against the Faroe Islands only to be followed up with today’s 3-1 destruction by Serbia in Vienna. Karel Brückner must immediately deal with the obvious flaws in performance but as I alluded to in the match preview, confidence is extremely shaken and might be the greatest problem.

Radomir Antić’s White Eagles came out with a predatorial instinct and ran Austria off their home grounds with CSKA Moscow’s Miloš Krasić jumping on the score-sheet fourteen minutes into the match. Only four minutes later Milan Jovanović doubled the margin and at the twenty-four minute mark Ivan Obradović FK Partizan made it 3-0. To the jeers and whistles of the home crowd the match was effectively over and played out as such. With ten minutes remaining Marc Janko scored a consolation goal to bring the match to its final 3-1 result.

Karel Brückner must re-group and put together a plan to get the squad back on-track as well as deal with obviously bruised confidence. Austria’s next encounter is a friendly against Turkey next month before returning to qualifiers this spring against Romania.

Austria
Alexander Manninger,György Garics,Sebastian Prödl,Martin Stranzl (Ronald Gercaliu 17′),Emanuel Pogatetz,Paul Scharner,Rene Aufhauser (Jürgen Säumel 60′),Andreas Ivanschitz,Christian Fuchs,Marc Janko,Erwin Hoffer (Marko Arnautovic 46′)

Serbia
Vladimir Stojković,Branislav Ivanović,Nemanja Vidić,Aleksandar Luković,Ivan Obradović,Nenad Milijas (Zdravko Kuzmanović 62′),Dejan Stanković (Boško Janković 76′),Miloš Krasić,Milan Jovanović,Nikola Žigić,Marko Pantelić (Zoran Tošić 63′)

Finland defeats Austria with stunning comeback

Entering the match with a 2-1 aggregate advantage, Austria’s hopes to advance to the U21 Euro Championships were dashed with a stunning comeback by Finland. Sturm Graz’s Marco Stankovic gave Austria the lead at the twenty-six minute mark. Looking like they were headed towards the U21 Euro’s, disaster struck as Jussi Vasaran, who plays his club Football in Tapiola Finland for FC Honka scored twice, first with nine minutes remaining and then as time expired to level the aggregate. After scoreless extra-time, the match went to penalties with Finland triumphing 4-2.

Austria
Robert Olejnik,Andreas Dober (Daniel Beichler 91′ et),Mario Sonnleitner,Harun Erbek (Andreas Schicker 105′et),Niklas Hoheneder,Mario Reiter,Julian Baumgartlinger,Florian Klein,Christoph Saurer (Michael Madl 75′),Veli Kavlak,Marco Stankovic
Substitutes not used: Andreas Lukse,,Daniel Sikorski,Haris Bukva,,Michael Stanislaw,

Finland
Tomi Maanoja,Jukka Raitala,Jonas Portin,Tuomo Turunen,Joni Aho,Kasper Hämäläinen,Mehmet Hetemaj (Jussi Vasaran 51′),Tim Sparv,Juha Hakola,Mika Ojala (Timo Furuholm 46′),Jarno Parikka (Aleksandr Kokko 75′)
Substitutes not used:Anssi Jaakkola,Ville Jalasto,Nicholas Otaru,Pyry Kärkkäinen

make or break against Serbia

As Karel Brückner’s Austrian squad looks ahead to its match against the powerful Serbian squad, the sweet smell of success against France has long since been forgotten. The disarray following the foul performance against the Faroe Islands will haunt this squad if they do not rebound with confidence in Vienna.

The peculiarity of this match is the opposite direction that both clubs are heading at this time. For Austria there is no other way to view the draw to the Faroes other than an enormous set-back. It was not only the first nail in the coffin for their qualifying hopes but a places an enormous question mark on the long-term (re)development of the sport and will leave confidence in a shattered state if they are not careful. Critical in this match is that they play to win as opposed to playing not to lose.

For Serbia, which stand atop of Group Seven, it is impossible not to consider this as a turning-point in the regions brilliant Footballing history. Presently ranked fortieth in the world by FIFA, their strong play in qualifying to-date including Saturday’s 3-0 domination of Lithuania, who had previously dispatched Romania and Austria with stunning ease, signals the return of the White Eagles. To the home clubs dismay, Serbian manager Radomir Antić will have his club poised and ready to prey upon the wounded Austrians, with full knowledge that a victory will go a long way in advancing their World Cup dreams. Karel Brückner should expect Serbia to come out very fast, looking to choke off Austrian early and destroy their confidence.

Austria will unfortunately be without Martin Harnik to injury, a very costly loss as to be successful they must employ a more aggressive attack. Karel Brückner will need to be wary of the White Eagles attack, with particular concern of Crvena Zvezda’s Nenad Milijas, Miloš Krasić of CSKA Moscow and Standard Liège’s Milan Jovanović but equally employ an attacking strategy to buoy confidence. In the attack, Austria will need to utilize a more aggressive style including using Stefan Maierhofer, Marc Janko and Jimmy Hoffer as an attacking trident.

I will report on the match as it concludes.

Martin Harnik out of Serbia match

Following the deplorable 1-1 draw to the Faroe Islands, it was revealed that Martin Harnik will be out for roughly one month with strained ankle ligaments. The twenty-one year old who plays for the Bundesliga’s Werder Bremen, suffered the injury early in the Faroe Island match and will naturally be out for Wednesday’s critical match against Serbia.

the Faroe Islands curse

Austria’s Faroe Islands curse continued as the tiny nation played Karel Brückner’s squad to a 1-1 draw in Torshavn. Bogi Lokin gave the home club the lead two minutes after the break with Spartak Moscow’s Martin Stranzl leveling the match only two minutes later. Austria poured forward looking to break through and earn the victory but it was not to be and the match ended in a draw.

The one-point draw is a heavy drawback for Austria’s qualifying hopes but they must turn quickly as they face the very talented Serbia squad this Wednesday.

Austria lineup:
Alexander Manninger - György Garics (Roman Kienast 67′), Sebastian Prödl, Martin Stranzl, Emanuel Pogatetz - Martin Harnik (Andreas Hölzl 25′), Paul Scharner, Andreas Ivanschitz, Christian Fuchs - “Jimmy” Hoffer, Marc Janko (Marko Arnautović 81′)