Neo-Barcelona talent Demir is back in the squad, as is goalkeeper Lindner. Lazaro and Onisiwo, however, are not included.
Yusuf Demir is in the squad of the Austrian national team for the upcoming games in the World Cup qualification. Team boss Franco Foda nominated the 18-year-old from FC Barcelona on Tuesday for the games against the Republic of Moldova (September 1, Chisinau), Israel (September 4, Haifa) and Scotland (September 7, Vienna) as well as his ex Rapid colleague Ercan Kara.
Compared to the 26-strong EM squad, Florian Kainz, Phillipp Mwene and goalkeeper Heinz Lindner also made it into the ÖFB selection. In return, the injured Stefan Lainer and Sasa Kalajdzic as well as the not called up Valentino Lazaro, Karim Onisiwo, Marco Friedl and replacement goal Pavao Pervan are missing in the 25-man squad.
Our roster for the next three games in September: 🇲🇩🇮🇱🏴! # Together Austria # MDAAUT #ISRAUT #AUTSCO #AUT pic.twitter.com/LCnifmtyS2
– ÖFB – oefb.at (@ oefb1904) August 24, 2021
Pervan's lack of match practice at Wolfsburg was fatal, Lindner inherited his place, whereby, according to Foda, storm keeper Jörg Siebenhandl was also an issue. Onisiwo suffered from a corona disease for a long time and only started team training at Mainz on Tuesday (today), so a nomination would come too early. According to Foda, Lazaro has not been allowed to train with the professionals at Inter Milan for the past ten days, “which is unbelievable for me that something like this is happening at a club like Inter. Apparently they want to sell him,” the German suspected.
Demir's “extraordinary qualities”
The start of the season went far better for Demir than for Lazaro, who, contrary to expectations, won a place in the professional squad at Barcelona and even made his competitive debut on Saturday. The Rapid loan had already impressed in various test matches, which Foda and his coaching staff were able to get an idea of on site in phases. “He has undergone an extreme development in the last few weeks and seems much more open-minded on the phone. You can see that a change can make a difference,” said Foda, confirming Demir's “exceptional qualities”.
The teenager made his A-Team debut last March, but was not yet an issue for the EURO. The future will tell whether Demir will remain an integral part of the national team. “In the end, it's up to him. He has to call up his performance,” explained Foda.
There were also positive comments about the Eindhoven legionnaire Mwene. “I spoke to his coach Roger Schmitt on the phone, he praised him over the clover. Mwene is very reliable and exudes a lot of dynamism in the game,” said Foda. The national coach had already brought the full-back into the EM squad, but then removed him from the final squad.
Kara instead of Kalajdzic
This time Mwene is definitely there for the first time, but probably only because of Lainer's serious injury. “Otherwise he would probably have been on call,” said Foda. The same applies to Kara, who takes the place of Kalajdzic, who, like Lainer, has failed for months.
Florian Kainz, on the other hand, overcame a serious injury – the Styrian showed attractive performances at 1. FC Köln this summer and thus made his way back to the team. “He's back on the move,” said Foda about his former protégé at Sturm Graz.
Foda was also satisfied with Marko Arnautovic, who scored twice in his first two competitive games for the new club after moving from China to Bologna. “Now there are no more discussions about whether he can come to the national team or not. So we're all happy.”
Welcome back! 🇮🇹 Marko is back in series A. #DAZNmoment pic.twitter.com/tlbFcG3jWd
– DAZN DE (@DAZN_DE) August 22, 2021
Welcome on Monday
While Arnautovic's professional future is clear, some team players are still on hold. Marcel Sabitzer and Florian Grillitsch are associated with transfers to large clubs, the transfer window closes next Tuesday, one day before the Moldova match. “But I assume that the players are professionals enough to deal with situations like this,” said Foda.
The 55-year-old welcomed his team on Monday for the first time since the European Championship round of 16 against Italy, one day later the flight to Chisinau rises, and one day later the game against the bottom of Group F will kick off again. So there is practically no time for real preparation. “We just have to convey our principles and behavior patterns to the team with lots of video sequences,” explained Foda.
The tight schedule for the September course is the result of the international matches that were canceled in the previous year due to the corona pandemic, which now have to be caught up in order to bring the World Cup qualification to an end in time. Nevertheless, Foda has only limited understanding for this, especially the Wednesday appointment comes across to him. “You should think about something in the future at FIFA and UEFA.”
Group place four
Corona repeatedly caused confusion in terms of the squad composition around the past courses, because it was often only known at short notice which kickers were allowed to travel at all. This time, Foda hopes for a stress-free process. “Something can always change, but at the moment we have no negative information. We assume that we can play the games with this squad.”
After three out of ten games, Foda's team is only fourth in the group, five points behind leaders Denmark. In addition, the EM semi-finalist has 16 goals better than the goal difference. “We know the constellation. We didn't perform as we imagined in March and now have our backs to the wall,” said Foda.
However, the national coach recalled the most recent European Championship qualification, when they even started with two defeats. This was followed by six wins and one draw, and thus the fixation of the EM ticket. “It is positive for the team to know that they have dealt with a situation like this before,” said Foda. However, group rank two was enough at that time – with this placement, the ÖFB kickers would only be in the play-off this time, for which they are probably qualified anyway due to the Nations League group victory in 2019.
