ÖFB team: Franco Foda:

At the EURO dress rehearsal, the Austrian national team only managed a 0-0 draw against Slovakia. The game did not provide a good outlook for the upcoming European Championship.

Franco Foda

As against Denmark (0: 4) and England (0: 1), the ÖFB team remained without a goal against the Slovaks. Although Austria hit the bar twice through Florian Grillitsch and Marko Arnautovic, they were also lucky several times on the defensive on the other side.

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“In the first half we played with too little dynamism. We had no depth and no speed, we did better in the second half and also had a few scoring opportunities,” said team boss Franco Foda in an interview with ORF you also have to be clear that we were lucky in one or two situations when the opponent could have scored a goal. “

Foda used a total of 16 players, but momentum only came into play when Arnautovic came on. The China legionnaire was one of the few bright spots on the national team's offensive.

Franco Foda: “Arnautovic makes the difference”

“Marko is quite simply a player who not only makes the difference, but moves very well between the lines. He's very good at one-on-one situations. He goes down without a ball ”, Foda emphasized the qualities of his key player. “It is important that it is still used today.”

Although Arnautovic only played for 30 minutes, slight signs of wear and tear were noticeable after his hamstring injury. “I have already announced that I will give everything for this country. But it was very hot. If you don't play for three weeks, you lose your breath. But my legs are fine,” said Arnautovic, looking back on the game after the final whistle.

“Unfortunately the opponent was very lucky. You also have the EURO in the back of your head, so it can be subconscious that you take a little out of it. But there were enough chances in the game, ”said Arnautovic.

For Austria, it will now continue next Sunday against North Macedonia with the first group game of the European Championship. “A similar game will await us against North Macedonia. A team that defends compactly in the 5-3-2 and lurks for mistakes by the opponent and wants to achieve success in the fast switching game ”, Foda looks ahead. “We need better remaining defense and, above all, we need more speed in positional play. We just have to play more straight to the opposing goal. “

The schedule in Group C