Oh, how beautiful! The fans of the Austrian national soccer team carried the home team through the final minutes of yesterday’s 1-0 (1-0) win against Ukraine in the Bucharest National Stadium. The promotion to the round of 16 is made – without really shaking during yesterday’s 90 minutes. The home defense was too compact after the relatively early lead. The increasingly desperate opponent seemed too helpless from minute to minute.
The ÖFB selection kept its promise. From the first minute on, there was only one team playing to win this match. And that was the ÖFB selection that team boss Franco Foda had set up in the 4-2-3-1 with David Alaba as left full-back and Florian Grillitsch as an additional player in the center. It was attacked early – but above all, the first correct opportunity was used to make it 1-0.
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After 21 minutes, Christoph Baumgartner extended a corner kick from David Alaba with the tip of his foot to make it 1-0 into the opposing goal. It would be an exaggeration to refer to Herbert Prohaska’s “Spitz von Izmir” in the 1-0 win against Turkey for the 1978 World Cup qualification this time as the “Spitz von Bucharest”. Both hits are historically important for the ÖFB selection. Immediately before that, Baumgartner had been treated for minutes after a collision with Ukraine player Ilya Sabarny. After almost half an hour, Baumgartner had to leave the place because of the persistent headache.
Skipped a school class
Baumgartner is not only a model student of ÖFB team boss Foda on the pitch. At the BORG St. Pölten, the 21-year-old was once allowed to skip the seventh grade due to his learning successes. Immediately after passing his Matura, he made the jump to Germany, where the native of Lower Austria played at Hoffenheim via the U19 and U23 within six months in the professional squad of the current FC Bayern coach Julian Nagelsmann, who was in charge of the Hoffenheim team at the time.
Shocked Ukraine
Ukraine seemed shocked by the goal they conceded – and that didn’t just affect the players on the field. It was actually a home game for Austria’s opponents. As Romania’s neighboring country, the fans took the opportunity to secure the majority of the tickets on the neutral seats with more or less legal means.
After the 1-0 at the latest, the initial euphoria could hardly be felt. Marko Arnautovic would have the Ukrainian
Have to take advantage of harmlessness. But after a dream by Alessandro Schöpf, he forgave only in front of Ukraine keeper Buschtschan. Arnautovic usually scores such goals in his sleep (43rd).
No means found
Even after the break, Ukraine found hardly any ways and means to endanger the ÖFB defense. It was in keeping with the game that goalkeeper Daniel Bachmann had to seriously intervene for the first time when Stefan Lainer had a slightly unsuccessful header in the direction of his own goal (62nd). There wasn’t much more to be seen – before all dams broke with the final whistle from Referee Cakir for ÖFB fans and players.
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