Managed by Josef Hickersberger, Austria has so far qualified for seven World Cups,
the most recent one being in 1998. The team will play in a European Championship for the first
time this year when it co-hosts the event with Switzerland.
The co-hosts have not figured in any major finals tournament since
the 1998 FIFA World Cup. Austria are hoping their ten years in the wilderness have prepared
them well for the UEFA EURO 2008 challenge.
Being out of the major tournaments also meant that they had only
friendly games in which to plan for the finals. Josef Hickersberger's side have not always
enjoyed great results - winning just one of their 12 matches in 2007. But with a mission to
bring new blood into the squad, while also testing his players against the best opposition
available, the coach could argue that scorelines have been less important than systems or tactics.
The Coach seems to have settled on a useful unit in defence.
A four-man rearguard, which has regularly featured young Sebastian Prödl,
veteran Martin Stranzl and Emanuel Pogatetz, has been effective against the likes
of England, France and the Czech Republic. With Austria usually deploying a 4-4-2
or 4-5-1 formation, the accent has been on defence, so improvement is arguably needed elsewhere.
Similar to the Swiz, lack of goals has certainly been
a headache for Austria fans too. Roland Linz - who has been a consistent scorer
in the Portuguese Liga with SC Braga - is almost certain to be called into the
squad if fit, despite having missed out on a number of selections. Now aged 30,
Sanel Kuljic is also likely to get an attacking berth at the finals, having played
in the 2007/08 UEFA Cup with FK Austria Wien.
Hickersberger is fortunate that he has a midfield
bedrock in Joachim Standfest and René Aufhauser. While the coach's search
for fresh talent has been considered to be ongoing throughout the co-hosts'
pre-tournament schedule, youth may be given its day elsewhere, and in midfield,
these two defensive mainstays should be confident of starting places.
Austria Euro Squad
This is the official Euro 2008 Squad of Austria:
(the deadline for nominating the Euro squad was May 28)
Goalkeepers
Jürgen Macho
Alexander Manninger
Ramazan Özcan
Defenders
Martin Stranzl
Emanuel Pogatetz
Sebastian Prödl
György Garics
Ronald Gercaliu
Martin Hiden
Markus Katzer
Jürgen Patocka
Midfielders
Andreas Ivanschitz
Rene Aufhauser
Christian Fuchs
Jürgen Säumel
Joachim Standfest
Christoph Leitgeb
Ivica Vastic
Ümit Korkmaz
Strikers
Roland Linz
Martin Harnik
Erwin Hoffer
Roman Kienast
Wigan's Paul Scharner is not in the squad due to personal problems with Josef Hickersberger.
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