In Kazakhstan, the ÖFB team got the planned three points with a confident 2-0 (2-0) win on Thursday and took first place in the group for the time being. Christoph Baumgartner (15th) and Michael Gregoritsch (25th) quickly took a reassuring lead in Almaty. After Aleksandr Marochkin (23′) was red, the Kazakhs only had ten men for a long time.
In the race for group victory, team boss Ralf Rangnick’s selection can make everything clear on Sunday in front of their home crowd at the end of the Nations League. With a win over Slovenia in Vienna (6:00 p.m.), the Austrians would be securely in the promotion spot due to the direct duels and could compete with the big nations again in the top league next year.
- Also read: Rangnick’s incendiary speech speaks for itself
Before the departure to the east, there was a lot of talk about the hours-long journey and the associated travel hardships. Team boss Ralf Rangnick himself caused the final excitement before boarding the charter plane. His monologue to “clarify a few things” also surprised the ÖFB leaders who were already waiting at the airport. The players themselves were unimpressed. Rangnick himself said on ORF before kick-off: “It was time to make a few things clear and correct.” This shouldn’t have any impact on the team. “Our focus is on the game.”
At minus five degrees, Austria started with Gregoritsch at the front, Marko Arnautovic took a seat on the bench. Marcel Sabitzer did not appear in the squad due to stomach problems. Patrick Wimmer took over his role on the left wing, with Alexander Prass behind him. As announced, Alexander Schlager started in goal. In the Central Stadium, which was not even half full with 9,753 spectators – around 170 Austrian fans had made the long journey – Austria was keen to put the outsiders under constant pressure.
Austria successful with pressing
The red-white-red pressing worked, but Austria couldn’t get any real shots in the first few minutes. The Kazakhs sought their luck with quick counter-attacks and tried to show the compactness they had already shown against Norway (0-0) and Slovenia (0-1). After just under a quarter of an hour the venture failed. Wimmer appeared dangerous in front of the Kazakh goalkeeper for the first time after a solo run, before Baumgartner benefited from a mistake by Marochkin, hooked a Kazakh and scored to make it 1-0. It was the first goal ever scored by an ÖFB team on Kazakh soil. In the European Championship and World Cup qualifying games in Astana in 2011 and 2012 both ended 0-0.
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Image: GEPA pictures/Armin Rauthner
Source: Nachrichten
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