Werner Gregoritsch’s selection was beaten by Finland 2:3 (1:0) in the Rieder Josko-Arena despite being in the lead twice.
Romano Schmid (5th/foul penalty) and Junior Adamu (76th) had given the home side hope with their seventh goals in qualifying. The Scandinavians turned the game around with goals from Daniel Hakans (67′), Naatan Skyttä (83′) and Julius Tauriainen (89’/penalty kick).
“We don’t reward ourselves”
Austria fell behind Norway (3:2 against leaders Croatia) and the Finns fell back to fourth place. Four defeats in ten games are too much for this very talented ÖFB team, which started yesterday without the not quite fit Austrian Matthias Braunöder. But that shouldn’t be an excuse. “It’s extremely disappointing for all of us. We get goals too easily, that was the case throughout qualifying,” said Bremen legionnaire Schmid. “We don’t reward ourselves for our effort, it hurts a lot.”
Source: Nachrichten
