2023-09-07 20:33:12
Austria’s national soccer team failed the dress rehearsal for the European Championship qualifier away game once morest Sweden. In front of 13,200 fans in Linz, the ÖFB selection had to be satisfied with a 1-1 draw once morest the Republic of Moldova and was put on hold before the match next Tuesday in Solna. Vitalie Damascan brought the world number 164. – Austria is 29th – in the lead (3rd), more than the compensation by Michael Gregoritsch (50th) looked no longer out.
As announced the day before, team boss Ralf Rangnick initially left many top performers on the bench. Of the team that started the 2-0 win once morest Sweden in June, only three kickers started: Philipp Lienhart, Nicolas Seiwald and Michael Gregoritsch, plus Konrad Laimer, who was injured at the time and was captain this time.
The game started extremely badly for the reinforced B-Elf. Kevin Danso played an awkward, half-up back pass that jumped up in front of Daniel Bachmann. The Watford goalie reacted extremely awkwardly, tried in vain to get the ball under control with his head and slipped – Damascan only had to push into the empty goal.
After that, the Moldovans were extremely deep and the home side mightn’t find a way to break through the defensive concrete. Too many inaccurate passes and too little movement by the ÖFB team made it easy for the guests to defend their lead. While Bachmann had to intervene on headers from Artur Craciun (15′) and Ion Nicolaescu (31′), Austria mightn’t get a shot on target before the break. It was most dangerous when Karim Onisiwo stumbled next to the goal (10′) and missed shots by Seiwald (44′) and Gregoritsch (45′) from a good position.
It was therefore not surprising that the Rangnick team was whistled goodbye to the half-time break by the audience. Before that, it had only gotten somewhat atmospheric when David Alaba and Marko Arnautovic were sent to warm up. The duo entered the pitch in the 46th minute, as did Xaver Schlager and Christoph Baumgartner – and the ÖFB team immediately showed a different face.
The Austrians acted a lot more powerfully and were rewarded for this in the 50th minute. Arnautovic happily passed the ball to Florian Kainz, who served Gregoritsch, and the Freiburg striker scored his eleventh goal in his 48th international match. Marcel Sabitzer, whom Rangnick actually wanted to spare like Alaba, came following an hour.
The Dortmund professional hit the bar in the 72nd minute following Arnautovic assisted, shortly before he had tested Moldova keeper Dorian Railean with a long-range shot. But the guests also got in front of Bachmann once more – a shot by Virgiliu Postolachi just missed the target (73′).
In the finish, the Austrians fought doggedly for the 2:1, but no more compelling chances were created. Small consolation was the fact that they went unbeaten for the seventh international match in a row. Against Moldova there was no win for the first time following the last six successes en suite.
Immediately following the game, Alaba and Co. traveled back to the camp in Windischgarsten, where training continued until Monday. Then the flight to Sweden takes place via Linz – with a victory over the Scandinavians you would at least be very close to EURO 2024 in Germany.
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#ÖFB #dress #rehearsal #Sweden #fails #Moldova
