Das Team - A World Cup Dream

[samillyroy]

March 2014 - World Ranking, 44th

We kept our world ranking for this month and go into the Latvia game still confident after a great qualification campaign last time. Whilst I'm excited about this friendly and making a few experiments, it's important to first catch up what has happened over the last couple of months.

Following our failed play-off against Russia, we then had to wait for the EURO 2016 Qualification draw which took place in February and saw us partner Sweden again as well as Switzerland, Slovakia, Malta and newcomers Gibraltar in Group C.
View attachment 393990
This isn't the most difficult group in the world as we avoided some of the biggest teams, and with the top 2 qualifying automatically for the tournament, I think we're in with as big a chance as any of the teams in that group for qualifying, so long as we take the confidence from the last campaign and improve. I expect 12 points of course from Gibraltar and Malta.

The leagues are still going on across Europe and we saw some mixed performances from my regulars, with captain Pogatetz and Junuzovic coming in for some real criticism in many parts for their poor club performances. I have been following some of the fringe players with interest though, and am intrigued by a couple of prospects waiting on the wings. Firstly, with the strikers I have not really offering me any kind of versatility, I have been keeping an eye on a striker called Patrick Buerger who made a move over winter from SV Mattersburg to league leaders Red Bull Salzburg:
View attachment 393986
A number of our Austrian based players have been performing well, Koch, Suttner and Dibon all playing well for their teams and should earn their way into the squad for the match this month against Latvia. Here is that squad:
View attachment 393984
So 4 debutants make it into my squad, which I shall speak about shortly. Most of our regulars make it in, Pogatetz making in only because of an injury to Proedl the day before the squad announcement. Barnes, Baumgartlinger, Ilsanker and Hinteregger make it back into the team after missing out on the last squad.
Bobby Olejnik is the first debutant, playing with Peterborough United in League One in England and he should be fighting for that second spot in my team behind Lindner. Patrick Farkas of SV Mattersburg is a real prospect at right back and is having a great season so makes the team. Patrick Buerger as I've already mentioned made a big money move to Red Bull Salzburg and has earned his call up, whilst my wild card is Louis Schaub of SK Rapid Wien. Louis is one of our biggest prospects at 19 and is playing regularly in the Austrian Bundesliga now. I couldn't ignore him much longer and this is a good chance for him to make a name for himself:
View attachment 393981
It's clear that this kid is a real talent and he pips ahead of the more experienced Ivanschitz into the squad, based on his talent but also the fact that Andreas has really underperformed at club and international level of late.

Latvia v. Austria
Skonto, Riga
International Friendly

This isn't a glamour friendly, but it should be a nicely competitive one nonetheless and it gives me a chance to look at the players in my team properly. Latvia qualified for the 2004 European Championships but have few players of note apart from Artjoms Rudnevs who currently plies his trade in the Bundesliga.

Lineups:
View attachment 393971The 4-4-2 is our best formation if recent performances are anything to go by so I'll stick with it again, at least for the first half. Buerger makes his first start up front with Hosiner whilst Holzhauser and Baumgartliner make up the midfield after Suttner's injury forced Alaba to left back. Dibon makes his first start since I took over at centre back, alongside Dragovic.

Result:
Latvia 2:2 Austria
Holzhauser (25), Hosiner (37)
View attachment 393961
I should be cross that we threw away a two goal lead in the second half but there are plenty of reasons why that might have happened. In the first half we were very good, very comfortable and creating problems from wide positions and set-pieces. Holzhauser bagged his first international goal with a finish from Fuchs' cross before Hosiner and Buerger linked up to great effect for the second. But I was forced to make 6 half-time substitutions and we changed the shape of the team for the second half to 4-2-3-1 and from there Latvia looked dangerous whenever they countered. Hinteregger looked particularly poor whilst Barnes struggled to hold the ball up for us up front. They may have got a bit of luck with the comeback but we can only have ourselves to blame. At least it's not a competitive match.

Next international break:
05/09/14: United States of America [H] - Friendly
09/09/14: Switzerland [A] - ECQ​

 

[samillyroy]

September 2014, World Ranking 31st

First of all, post World Cup we made a massive climb up the World Rankings to 31st which is an excellent achievement and is clearly based upon our qualification success. But we cannot dwell on that because we want even more.

Plenty has happened since our friendly against Latvia back in March. Over the summer months, it was World Cup time and we watched in shock and awe as our vanquishers Russia stormed their way to the final in Rio de Janeiro after some truly brilliant displays. Our loss to them no longer looks as damning as it first did:
View attachment 393940
Sadly they lost in the final thanks to the brilliance of that man Lionel Messi, but it was great to finally see one of the greatest players of this generation lift the greatest prize of them all.
View attachment 393939
But back to matters that concern Austria. The Austrian Bundesliga finished in May with FC Red Bull Salzburg pulling off a remarkable late surge to pip Austria Wien to the title. Christopher Dibon, who started in the match against Latvia, was named as Young Player of the Year whilst David Alaba of FC Bayern won the Austrian Ambassador of the Year.
View attachment 393937
We also saw a very bright prospect leave the Austrian Bundesliga as 18-year old Valentino Lozaro, who scored 9 goals as Red Bull Salzburg marched to victory, left for Olympiacos and Greece. We hope this serves his development well and that he breaks into their first team in the near future.
View attachment 393931
We are coming into September and the first round of the European Championships 2016 Qualifiers and our first opponents are Switzerland. The Swiss are incredibly ranked 5th in the world and should be our biggest threat to qualification. They cruised through the group stages in the World Cup and even beat France on penalties in the knock-outs - only to lose to eventual winners Argentina in the Quarter-Finals. We have done our homework on them and seen how they played, but putting our plans together will be an altogether different story. Before that, of course is the game against the USA and here is the squad for those two matches:
View attachment 393930
I've faced a little bit of criticism as ever in the press for this squad, notably the absences of Hinteregger, Ivanschitz and Erwin Hoffer. Pogatetz simply got the nod over Hinteregger for his experience, something that was clearly lacking from the young centre-backs game against Latvia. Ivanschitz has been poor since I joined and I am much more excited by Schalke's Louis Schaub so he therefore gets the nod and although I was torn about picking Erwin Hoffer I decided I needed what Marc Janko could offer me for these two games. Time will tell whether or not I made the right call, but that's why I'm the manager and not the press.

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Austria v. USA
UPC-Arena, Graz
International Friendly

The United States have dropped to 44th in the World Rankings after the latest World Cup which puts us several places above them. That said, they have a lot of experienced players playing at a high level and that makes them a great test for my team ahead of the Switzerland game. I won't be playing my strongest team as they need to be fit for Tuesday. Their key player will undoutedly be the experienced Landon Donovan.

Lineups
View attachment 393929
On the eve of this game, Pogatetz and Junuzovic both suffered injuries ruling them out of this game and the Switzerland match. Martin Hinteregger (who just completed a ?2.3m move to Freiburg) is called up in his place, leaving us with a highly inexperienced backline as can be seen - Wimmer of 1. FC Koeln will be making his international debut. With Hosiner likely to start against Switzerland I plucked for Weimann and Janko up front and left Alaba on the bench. I hope we're in for a good game.

Result:
Austria 1:0 USA
Arnautovic (64)
View attachment 393918
A great result! In the first half we were too open, the 4-4-2 showing it's weakness when our two central midfielders were not up to the task of controlling the midfield. But we still made enough chances on the counter and at set pieces to be dangerous. In the second half, I opted for the 4-2-3-1 and put Arnautovic in as False 9 ahead of Weimann, Ivanschitz and Harnik and it worked brilliantly. We were more dangerous with our attacks and Arnautovic got the winner with a great first time finish in the box after excellent wing play from Harnik. A highly polished international display.

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Switzerland v. Austria
AFG-Arena, Saint Gallen
European Championship Qualification, Group B

Saint Gallen is full tonight. The first game of the European Championships 2016 and we face our neighbours Switzerland in the first game of the Group Stages. Our two nations hosted the 2008 EURO's to great success but tonight we go to head to head to qualify. We want to get off to as good a start as possible but we know just how tough tonight will be against a side who reached the World Cup Quarter-Finals and are ranked 5th in the World.

Lineups
View attachment 393916
Following his second half display against the USA, I decided to trump with Arnautovic up front instead of Hosiner due to his physical presence. I think with his power and the pace of Weimann and Harnik we can cause Switzerland problems. Ivanschitz, Alaba and Ilsanker make up the midfield trio as we cope with the loss of Baumgartlinger to suspension. I was sufficiently impressed with Wimmer to pick him over Hinteregger and Dibon.

Result:
Switzerland 2:1 Austria
Alaba (pen 90)
View attachment 393911
2:0 was the least Switzerland deserved as they cruised to victory. Whilst we made a couple of half chances, Switzerland dominated possession and made a whole host of clear cut chances - really we were lucky not to lose by a much larger margin. They took the lead after just 4 minutes after poor set piece defending, like against Russia - Gokhan Inler was the gleeful benefactor. Chance after chance came their way but we looked slightly dangerous on the counter. Arnautovic was poor though and struggled to affect the game in any way, highlighting his deficiencies as a lone striker. He would come off in the second half for Hosiner as we moved to a 4-2-3-1 and despite a second for Switzerland from another set piece (Bobby Olejnik the unfortunate victim as the ball bounced off the post, onto his back and in), we got a goal late on as Jantscher was pulled down in the box by Behrami. David Alaba calmly slotted home and raced the ball to the centre circle but there wasn't enough time.

Not a bad result in the circumstances as we were away from home against a very accomplished side. Next up we play one of our closest opponents before facing the rank outsiders.

Next international break:
10/10/14: Slovakia [H]
14/10/14: Malta [H]

​

 

[samillyroy]

thanks, nice to hear from you again! yeah it just wasn't to be and russia made it to the final in the end so they were deserved victors. hopefully we can kick on in the euro qualifiers!

 

[AldoKemp-1]

Updates are amazing mate great detail keep it up!

 

[samillyroy]

September 2014, World Ranking 50th

A steep drop this month after our defeat against Switzerland, seems a little bit harsh but also shows how little we should read into them. On that note, we face Slovakia who are currently ranked 58th in the world but certainly have some players who can worry us..
View attachment 393877
A couple of surprises in this squad. Arnautovic, Olejnik and Proedl all miss out through injury so uncapped Martin Kobras comes in for depth in goal, Martin Hinteregger returns in defence and Thomas Murg is called up to the Senior team for the first time after some impressive performances for Austria Wien. Hoffer returns in place of Hosiner after some poor performances from the 1899 Hoffenheim centre forward.

Austria v. Slovakia
Tivoli Stadion, Tirol
European Championship Qualification, Group C

We play our first home game of qualification to the beautiful backdrop of the Tirol ski resort against Slovakia. The Slovaks beat Malta 3:0 in their opening game but we should present a much tougher opponent. Their strength lies in midfield where Marek Hamsik dominates and they also have pace on the wings with Vladimir Weiss and Miroslav Stoch sure to provide their biggest threats. We have threats of our own though and will look to get our tournament underway here with victory.

Lineups
View attachment 393835
I've opted for a new formation today. 4-4-1-1 should help us balance that midfield with the lone striker and hopefully my wide midfielders will provide plenty of width. Ivanschitz slots in behind Erwin Hoffer whilst Jantscher slides into midfield. Alaba is put in at left back because of Fuchs' defensive deficiencies against the pace of Slovakia's wide players. Schaub's injury gives a place to Valentino Lozaro of Olympiacos a chance and he comes straight onto the bench for this game.

Result:
Austria 1:1 Slovakia
Jantscher (5)
View attachment 393875
Having a good goalkeeper makes such a difference in international football and that was the case today. We probably had the better chances in this game but one shot on target for Slovakia and all our hard attacking work was undone. We took the lead after just 5 minutes as Jantscher broke into the box past Cech to slam high into the net. Slovakia equalised before half-time as Adam Nemec run through the centre for a through ball, completely unchecked and scored past Almer. Second half was a dull affair and we lacked the necessary spark to create - and take - an opening. 1:1 was probably a fair result.

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Austria v. Malta
Ersnt-Happel-Stadion, Wien
European Championship Qualification, Group C

The two results we've had so far mean that we have lots of hard work to do if we are to qualify for this tournament. Slovakia came into the game with a lot of confidence after some good recent displays so maybe that point will yet prove vital but we have to show our quality against Malta today. The Ernst-Happel-Stadion is my favourite venue in Austria and I hope we can do our fans proud with a better display than our last two games.

Lineups
View attachment 393872
We've gone back to 4-2-3-1 for this game as we look to open up Malta and make plenty of chances. Ivanschitz starts again but with Jantscher injured, Weimann makes a start on the left flank. Lazaro debuts up front in the False 9 position with Erwin Hoffer also ruled out with injury.

Result
Austria 2:0 Malta
Lazaro (56), Murg (69)
View attachment 393844
Two debutants won the day for us as Lazaro and Murg did what more experienced players could not and killed off the threat of Malta. The first half was particularly gruelling with a number of players seemingly thinking it would be a stroll in the park but Malta quickly reminded us that they weren't here to be whipping boys, and could have taken the lead. In the second half, Murg came on for the ineffective Ivanschitz, moving to left wing. Weimann then took charge up front and Lazaro moved into his more comfortable attacking midfield position where he scored his first ever Austria goal, arriving perfectly in time for Murg's cut back to put Das Team ahead. Murg then doubled the advantage with a swivel and turn after Harnik's nice cross. 2:0 is nothing to write home about but in the circumstances, with many of our best attacking players missing, this is a nice result.

The group is starting to take a bit of shape. Sweden are really struggling, having lost to surprise package Slovakia on this matchday and having lost against Switzerland in the last round of games. We face them in a massive game next March and it could be results against them that decide where we finish in this group.
​

View attachment 393841

It's still all to play for, and we have two testing friendlies ahead of us next month before those two vital qualifying matches in March.

Next international break:
14/11/14: Slovenia [A]
18/11/14: England [A]

​

 

[samillyroy]

November 2014, World Ranking 51st

We drop another place to 51st in the World Rankings this month but we now have a chance in these friendlies to improve our global reputation. In the past month, our star centre-back Aleksander Dragovic made a move from Dynamo Kiev to Italian giants AC Milan which we are all delighted with. Heading into these friendlies we are still without our number 1 goalkeeper Lindner whilst my first choice strikers are all misfiring for their clubs.
View attachment 393794
It's another much changed squad then for these two friendlies. Spendlhofer of Inter Milan, Marco Djuricin and Yili Sallahi of FC Bayern are all called up and could make their debuts over the next few days though the spine of the team remains much the same as the last few games. Ashley Barnes' good form for Burnley sees him recalled to the side.

Slovenia v. Austria
Ljudski vrt, Maribor
International Friendly

We travel the short distance south into Slovenia this evening to face a side ranked 66th in the world but have made a good start in their qualifying group. This is a good chance for me to work on our attacking play and try and find the right balance ahead of that tough game against Sweden in March.
View attachment 393805

Lineups
View attachment 393796Slovenia play their favoured midfield diamond 5-4-1 formation and their key danger will be Josip Ilicic behind Marcos Tavares. We go with two up front at least for the first half and we'll hope that the duo of Junuzovic and Alaba help us get hold of that packed midfield.

Result:
Slovenia 1:2 Austria
Barnes (52), Sallahi (70)
View attachment 393788
A brilliant away victory which owes much to a wonderful performance from Peterborough United goalkeeper Bobby Olejnik. We played in an attacking manner throughout and though it was 0-0 at the break, that was mainly down to the brilliance of both goalkeepers - Bobby Olejnik in particular after he saved a Josep Ilicic penalty after half an hour. But we got the break through just after half time, Barnes nodding home from Harnik's first header. We were pegged back though by Tavares' cool finish after the hour but then 20 year old Sallahi, who came on just 5 minutes before in at left midfield, broke past Brecko at right back and slotted home as if he was born for the international stage - a quite magnificent finish. It was then up to what was by this point a highly inexperienced XI to hold on and so they did, defending magnificently and even managing to counter-attack when necessary. A promising display for the future.
View attachment 393782
​FC Bayern's Ylli Sallahi - one for the future?

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England v. Austria
Wembley Stadium, London
International Friendly

What an experience for the players as we travel to London for a friendly against my home nation, England. Wembley Stadium awaits us and a chance to show one of the biggest teams in the world what we're made of. England are cruising to qualification in Group F after winning their opening 3 games and will be tough opposition for us this evening.
View attachment 393785

Lineups
View attachment 393784
There's absolutely no pressure on us today so I have stuck with that 4-4-2 formation that has done us so well and hopefully we'll come out of the blocks quickly. Sallahi impressed and starts on the left of midfield ahead of Murg, whilst Arnautovic comes in for the less experienced Djuricin. There's no pressure on us whatsoever so hopefully we'll be able to give a good account of ourselves.

Result:
England 2:0 Austria
View attachment 393783
No defeat is good but we gave a good account of ourselves here at Wembley. The first half was one way traffic and we weren't too dissapointed to be 2 goals down but we came out second half and really showed what we were capable of, withstanding England's attacks and putting on plenty of counter-attacks of our own. Djuricin and Ivanschitz both had very good chances to get us back in the game but it wasn't to be. This was a young team I put out and it's a great experience for them ahead of 2 massive competitive games.

Next international break:
27/03/15: Gibraltar [H]

​

 

[Safc-mad-scotty]

Love these updates mate, good luck with the rest of the Euro qualifiers!

 

[samillyroy]

March 2015 - World Ranking,

This month we get back to the tricky business of the EURO qualifiers with Gibraltar our next opponents before a friendly match against balkan side Albania. Since November, very little has changed but we are able to pick a much more experienced 23-man squad than that which faced England and Slovenia. Before we get to that though, a bit of news. Firstly, the Austrian Bundesliga is shaping up for an intriguing climax. Surprise package Sturm Graz have led the league since early November, ahead of the favourites Red Bull Salzburg and FK Austria Wien. With just a couple of months of the season left there is every chance they will come out as Champions for the first time in 4 years.
Our best XI for 2014 was announced in January:
View attachment 393770
I don't 100% agree with it but it's certainly one of my strongest possible XI's (minus the absent Lindner, of course). Which brings us to the 23 man squad for this month's fixtures.
View attachment 393763
I am delighted to welcome Lindner back to the fold after many months out with multiple injuries. His presence has been missed, though his backup Olejnik was steady in his absence and also joins the team. Several players will be dissapointed to have missed out but their club form has been far below what has expected and they will have to resolve these situations before I can bring them back into the fold.

Austria v. Gibraltar
Ernst-Happel-Stadion, Wien
European Championship Qualification, Group B

A gorgeous day on the bank of the river Danube greets this evening's EURO 2016 Qualifier against Gibraltar. Although it won't be a sell out, a healthy number of tickets have been sold in expectation of a thumping victory against UEFA's new boys. Gibraltar have failed to register a point so far in their opening 3 competitive matches, and Austria shouldn't have too many problems continuing that poor record for them.

Lineups
View attachment 393762
Hoffer comes straight back into the team with his Dusseldorf form giving him the edge - he partners Barnes who was impressive in his outings back in November. We will go all out for the win this evening, and I'm confident we can score a number of goals.

Result:
Austria 5:1 Gibraltar
Hoffer (9, 53), Barnes (10), Jantscher (13, 65)
View attachment 393755
As expected, we gave Gibraltar a good thumping here to put ourselves into the mix - just 2 points off the qualification spots. We started with Barnes and Hoffer up front and the two were excellent in the first half, linking up for the first goal where Hoffer headed home before Barnes struck ferociously on the half turn. Jantscher got in on the act and it looked like the first half could be messy but Gibraltar held on until the 45 minute mark. We came out again and scored through Hoffer before Jantscher buried a Harnik cross. Gibraltar somehow scored from a free-kick from 30 yards which was dissapointing but overall we can't have too many complaints.

Most interesting was the result in the other game, where Switzerland were beaten away to Slovakia 2:1. Weiss' opener was cancelled out by Mehmedi but the former City youngster doubled his tally to give Slovakia a huge victory.
View attachment 393756

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Albania v. Austria
Qemel Stafa, Tirana
International Friendly

We had south to Albania this afternoon for a friendly against a team that currently sits 3rd in their qualification group thanks to a victory against minnows Kazakhstan - a team we thrashed in our World Cup 2014 qualifiers. They have a couple of tidy players, Lorik Cana of Lazio and Ilir Azemi to name a couple, but we should have enough to see off their threat today.
View attachment 393753

Lineups
View attachment 393752
Hoffer and Barnes start up top again in an unchanged outfield side. Lindner replaces Olejnik in goal. With a number of these players on instructions to just play 45 minutes, expect a number of second half changes. I've gone for the 4-4-2 again after some good recent displays and we'll see how that fares against Albania's Christmas Tree formation.

Result:
Albania 0:0 Austria
View attachment 393751
In all honesty we deserved to lose this game and it was only thanks to the returning Lindner that we didn't. We were okay in the first half and made a couple of openings in the wide positions but Hoffer and Barnes were particularly poor. The second half was a different story as Albania completely bossed us, playing some wonderful football but either fluffing the final shot or they were denied by the excellent Heinz Lindner. That said, we went away from home and didn't get beat so it's not the worst result in the world.

Our next international break is in June and it could well be decisive in our bid to qualify for the EURO 2016 in France.

Next international break:
12/06/15: Sweden [A]
16/06/15: Switzerland [H]

​

 

[samillyroy]

Love these updates mate, good luck with the rest of the Euro qualifiers!

Thanks a lot! Yeah it's turning out to be even harder than I thought so I won't be too dissapointed if we were to say finish 3rd. Gotta aim high though.

 

[samillyroy]

June 2015 - World Ranking, 54th

The club season's have come to an end and with no international tournaments to be played, it will be a long summer for football fans. However, with two pivotal qualifiers to play this month, we are certainly in for some excitement. Before that, here's a quick recap on what has happened since March. Austria Wien and Red Bull Salzburg were both beaten by surprise league winners SK Sturm Graz. Although they nearly threw away a 12-point lead over the last couple of months, they held on to lift the ultimate prize.
View attachment 392113
Austria Wien look set to release their manager, Nenad Bjelica, at the end of the season so I have thrown my hat into the ring for that job. It will certainly help me as I'll be able to try and build a local club which will allow me greater power to mould the future of Austrian football, and help it progress.
Austria's Player of the Season was Sturm Graz's Daniel Beichler who has also been called up to the Austrian national team for the first time under me. Lukas Spendlhofer, who played at Austria Wien on loan from Inter Milan and has 2 full caps, won the Young Star of the Season and looks like he will be a big part of our future. Heinz Lindner, despite missing half the season with injury, won the Goalkeeper of the Season award. He is vital to this tournament and it's great to have him back for these two huge games. Here is the 23-Man squad:
View attachment 392112
Not too many surprises. It's nice to have Kevin Wimmer in the side as he's had a great season with 1 FC Koln who were finally promoted back into the Bundesliga. Christian Klem and Daniel Beichler join Andreas Holzl as Sturm Graz's representatives in this squad whilst Andi Weimann also makes a return, after scoring 7 goals in 13 appearances for Aston Villa in a great end of season burst of form. Burnley top goalscorer Ashley Barnes also remains in the side.

Sweden v. Austria
Friends Arena, Solna
European Championships Qualification, Group C

The team came here back during the World Cup qualifiers, and lost 2-1 though we still managed to finish ahead of the Swedes in that group. Going into this match, we sit just 1 point ahead of them in 3rd and 2 points behind 2nd placed Switzerland. In terms of qualification, this is a huge game for both teams and a loss here could be critical for the Swedes. We have to of course be worried by the threat of Ibrahimovic but Sweden's national team has suffered over the last couple of years and doesn't have the quality players it once had. It's certainly not unthinkable that we come away with victory today.

Lineups
View attachment 392104
It's an unfamiliar midfield trio of Junuzovic, Kainz and Kavlik but I think they can help us grab hold of that midfield today with their tenacity and hopefully our pace on the break will cause Sweden problems as they look to press us. The onus is on them to attack so that should hopefully work in our favour. Wimmer partners Dragovic in central defence as I was impressed with their partnership in previous games.

Result:
Sweden 0:1 Austria
Barnes (1), Alaba s/o (48)
View attachment 392103
Boy, were we lucky! We took the lead after one minute as a long ball was headed sloppily by Jannson to Barnes who headed first time over Isaksson into the net. From there, we were set up perfectly to counter and defend and we were also thankful to a wonderful performance from Goalkeeper of the Season Heinz Lindner. We had some very lucky escapes and were thankful to some wonderful saves but all credit to our players as we played the lion's share of the second half with just 10 man after Alaba picked up a second yellow. With that in mind, this was a brilliant team performance.

Austria v. Switzerland
Stadion der Stadt Linz, Linz
European Championships Qualification, Group C

Qualification doesn't hinge on this game but with Slovakia topping the table and likely to beat Malta tonight, a loss would put these two teams potentially out of reach in the qualification spots. Therefore it is important that we don't lose tonight and get cut adrift. With the last couple of performances, I'm confident that that won't happen but we need all our players playing at their very best. Sadly, we are without David Alaba tonight which is of course a big blow.

Lineups
View attachment 392097
We have to be a little bit cautious again tonight, especially without the assurance of David Alaba in the side. With that in mind, Hinteregger comes in at left back whilst Koch replaces the injured Holzl. Arnautovic comes in for Andi Weimann and the rest of the team remains as you were. A massive game awaits us!

Result
Austria 2:0 Switzerland
Barnes (62, 70)
View attachment 392087
It looks like we have a new national hero in Burnley striker Ashley Barnes. Two second half goals shot us to victory in a smash-and-grab in Linz this evening. It was a brilliant performance because although Switzerland dominated possession, we were by far the more dangerous with Arnautovic and Harnik on the counter. And Ashley Barnes played the lone striker role to perfection, by far his most complete international display. His first goal looked likely to be offside (see below) but it was preceeded by excellent work by Julian Koch on the right hand side but the second goal was all his own doing.Collecting a long ball on his chest, he played in Junuzovic before continuing his run forward and receiving the return pass straight from Weimann. He then basically played a one-two off the keeper and slammed low into the bottom corner for his 6th international goal in 12 games.
View attachment 392086
Switzerland were aggrieved by Barnes' first goal which looked to be offside.

So with four games remaining (2 of which are against Malta and Gibraltar) we are in a great position. I have been really impressed with these two performances and we are finally starting to play the counter-attacking football that I think can help us thrive at this level - at least until we develop some world class talent. A special mention has to go to the midfield trio that I put out as both Kainz and Kavlik were called out by the press for being unsuited for this level of football. I believed that they had the skills required for these two games though and my judgement proved correct, the trio worked together perfectly. We are now well on course to qualify for Europe which would be an excellent achievement.
View attachment 392084
Up next is a qualification decider away to Slovakia before travelling to Malta. In the meantime, I will be trying to land the Austria Wien job though these updates will remain solely based on my Austria team (with the usual annual domestic update).

Next international dates:
04/09/15: Slovakia [A]
08/09/15: Malta [A]​