After the 0:2 against England and the 2:4 against Israel, hanging heads were the order of the day in the dressing room of the red-white-red U19 national soccer team. But coach Martin Scherb got the bruised youngsters back on their feet after missing the semi-finals at EURO 2022 in Slovakia and put them on the road to victory. The 3:2 (1:1) win over Serbia in Banska Bystrica lifted the team around Rapidler Yusuf Demir to third place in the group and thus into the race for a ticket for the U20 World Cup 2023 in Indonesia.
The ÖFB selection is still missing a win in tomorrow’s match for fifth place (5 p.m., ORF Sport+) against tournament host Slovakia, who only secured this play-off duel in the 95th minute. LASK striker Adam Griger scored the “golden goal” for the 1-0 win over Romania.
“There will be a great atmosphere,” says Scherb before the showdown in Trnava. UEFA reacted to the great public interest (tickets are available for two euros) and moved the match from Senec to the final stadium in Trnava, which can accommodate 19,200 fans. A full house is also in the spirit of Rapid defender Leopold Querfeld, who reared up after his unfortunate performance against Israel and was the match winner against Serbia with two goals. “When things work out like that, it’s an amazing feeling. If we stick together and play like this, we’re almost unstoppable,” emphasized the 18-year-old. Club colleague Demir had set up all three goals with a corner kick, so the standard situations were 1A. This is thanks to assistant coach Dennis Baraznowski. “He’s working hard on it, you could see the result,” said Scherb. For Austria it is about the fifth U20 World Cup participation after 1983, 2007, 2011 and 2015. The door is open. (Alex)
Source: Nachrichten
