After today’s training session in the Huber Arena, home of the Regionalliga 15. FC Wels, Austria’s U21 national team is heading to Varazdin, where the European Championship qualification duel with the still flawless Croatians is on the program on Friday (6 p.m., ORF Sport+). The pressure is great because Werner Gregoritsch’s team has already suffered three defeats and is only third in Group A. So it takes a race to catch up to get second place and thus a play-off ticket.
“We have to keep a clear head and be mentally ready. We only have finals left now and know that we have to deliver,” said Gregoritsch at the base camp in Bad Schallerbach. The ÖFB kickers will return there after the Croatia trip to prepare for the next hit – the match against the second-placed Norwegians on Tuesday (6 p.m., ORF Sport+) in the Josko Arena in Rieder. The Upper Austrian soil is said to bring luck, but there is no lack of confidence. Especially not with offensive man Patrick Wimmer, who quickly became a regular player in the German Bundesliga with Arminia Bielefeld.
“We have a really strong national team and we want to show that the table as it currently looks is nonsense and doesn’t reflect reality,” emphasized the 20-year-old Tullner, who missed the last four international matches due to injury.
The market value of Wimmer, who moved from Wiener Austria to Bielefeld for EUR 700,000 in the summer of 2021, climbed to four million. No wonder after three goals and nine assists in 25 competitive games for Arminia.
An alcove kicks for Croatia
While Austria’s squad includes six debutants (including rapid shooting star Bernhard Zimmermann) and goalkeeper Tobias Lawal from LASK and Felix Seiwald from SV Guntamatic Ried, the Croatians have two legionnaires from double winner FC Salzburg on the ball – Roko Simic and Luka Sucic, who grew up in Alkoven. The 19-year-old played for Union Edelweiß before his transfer to the Red Bull Academy (2016). He’s welcome to hold back on Friday.
Source: Nachrichten
