In the home game against Finland, coach Werner Gregoritsch’s team lost 3-2 (1-0) in Ried on Friday evening in Ried, despite leading twice. The possibility of a ticket for the EM 2023 in Romania and Georgia would only have existed if the competitors had won and achieved the corresponding results. The Austrians ended the qualification with five wins and four losses from ten rounds.
Romano Schmid (5th/foul penalty) and Junior Adamu (76th) gave the locals hope with their seventh goals in the qualifying campaign. The Finns turned the game around with goals from Daniel Hakans (67′), Naatan Skyttä (83′) and Julius Tauriainen (89’/hand penalty). Austria fell behind Norway (3:2 against leaders Croatia) and the Finns fell back to fourth place. Only the winners and the best second of the nine groups are fixed at the EM. The other runners-up contest a play-off for participation.
“Extremely disappointing for all of us”
After the game, Schmid did not shy away from criticizing his own performance. “It’s extremely disappointing for all of us. We have big plans and the game starts out great for us. But we get goals too easily, the whole qualification does,” said the professional from Werder Bremen in an ORF interview. “With all due respect – but we get two or three goals from every team that has two or three good kickers. We don’t reward ourselves for our effort,” emphasized Schmid.
On the way to the “must win” it was actually done for the Austrians, who started without the not entirely fit Matthias Braunöder, after just a few minutes. After just three and a half minutes, Schmid’s cross caught the Finn’s Ville Koski in the elbow, and the Swedish referee awarded a penalty. Schmid started and converted confidently. Austria only needed one goal to put Finland behind them in a direct duel. But the northerners were unimpressed.
Finland had a much better chance of equalizing before the break. Niklas Hedl in goal, for example, turned a shot over the bar (26th) and had to save again at the end of the first half.
Schmid and Co. then came out of the dressing room better. Alexander Prass was close to making it 2-0 just 15 seconds after the restart, but the Finnish keeper saved Adamu’s shot. On the other side, the defense was exposed in a quick counter-attack, not for the first time. Hakans passed captain Flavius Daniliuc and shot to level. Hope flared again when Adamu headed a cross from substitute Jonas Auer into the goal. However, the end of a sometimes overly tough game belonged to the guests: Skyttä headed the equalizer after the Red-White-Reds had looked bad on a counterattack again, then Lukas Sulzbacher blocked a shot with his arm. Tauriainen safely converted the hard hand penalty.
Source: Nachrichten
