National football team, impeccable in character, with potential for development, to be given voluntarily.
ÖFB team boss Franco Foda symbolically put this “advertisement” on his office bulletin board with the announcement that he would end his work with yesterday’s international match against Scotland (still in progress at the time this issue went to press). The 55-year-old Styrian by choice with a German passport is convinced that the Austrian national team still has a lot of room for improvement. “We have a lot of young players who will mature,” said Foda in his conclusion after four and a half years as team boss.
He can do little with the discussion about the different game orientations of the “Red Bull School” and Viennese ball possession football, which ÖFB sports director Peter Schöttel recently broke from the fence. According to Schöttel, reconciling the two current trends in Austrian football is one of the biggest challenges for a head coach. “It wasn’t a big problem for me now because football isn’t just about pressing and counter-pressing,” said Foda. “Football consists of many facets, it is very varied.”
A reliable companion during Foda’s tenure was public criticism, which the German said he was able to live with quite well. “I didn’t take that personally.” The fact that ex-team player Marc Janko, in his function as a TV expert, had recently questioned the sporting competence of the volunteer officials in the ÖFB presidium bothered him more. “I respect Marc very much, but he’s never been in charge and has had to make important decisions,” said Foda, who hopes fans will be a little more patient with his successor than they were with him.
“We’d do well to lower our expectations a bit. We’ve qualified for the European Championship twice, that’s not something to be taken for granted.” As a cautionary tale, Foda mentioned Italy’s failure in the World Cup play-off to North Macedonia. Austria had beaten this selection 3-1 in the European Championship group game in June 2021, which was called a “mandatory exercise” at the time.
Source: Nachrichten
