Austria

AUSTRIA WILL HA VE TO BREAK THE SHACKLES TO MAKE AN IMP ACT

Austria went into Euro 2016 as dark horses after an understated but impressive unbeaten qualifying campaign, winning nine, drawing once and beating Russia home and away. However, hopes were swiftly dashed with a tame group- stage exit and only a point to take home, albeit from eventual champions Portugal.

This time around, Das Nationalteam qualified with about as much creativity as their nickname would suggest, but keeping expectations to a minimum is probably for the best in 2021 anyway. To partially misquote John Cleese in Clockwise, it’s the hope that kills you.

Franco Foda’s side recovered from a slow start in their qualifying group thanks to some attritional and uninspiring victories over Slovenia, Israel and North Macedonia, but many fans were left to rue a lack of goal threat and a reluctance to bring through younger players, in particular those performing admirably at Austrian clubs. That did change somewhat as the set- up showed a hint of experimentation towards the end of 2020, but mixed results may well have tempted the coach to double down on his conservative tendencies.

Haunted by the wasted potential of those 2016 finals, Austria will have to find a way to break off the shackles quickly if they’re going to make an impact at Euro 2020, especially with a game against the Netherlands sandwiched between winnable games against familiar foes North Macedonia and Ukraine.

A cruciate ligament injury for midfield stalwart Julian Baumgartlinger was a nightmare start to 2021, and fingers will be crossed ( or thumbs, as is the Austrian way) that the Bayer Leverkusen man regains fitness before the tournament.

Question marks also surround the form and fitness of Marko Arnautovic, despite a decent scoring return at Shanghai SIPG. West Ham fans will be familiar with that curious mixture of planetary- sized ego and general sense of ennui.

Can Foda’s team find their feet ( and their shooting boots) fast enough to earn themselves a longer stay at the finals this time? And will David Alaba demonstrate his world- class ability in a more attacking role than he’s used to at club level with Bayern Munich? The stage is all set for a national hero to emerge.

LESSON FROM QUALIFYING

Take some risks and go for it! By the time Austria started playing, they were already staring down the barrel in qualifying after beginning with two defeats, but there won’t be time for a slow start this summer. Fans may struggle to get close to the action at Euro 2020 in any case, but if the play remains deathly dull the team’s supporters might not even bother from the safety of the sofa.

STRENGTHS

A very well- organised unit, Austria’s back four is pretty solid, and having Martin Hinteregger progressing well for Eintracht Frankfurt does them no harm either. Now if they could just add some goals…

WEAKNESSES

Although Austria won a reasonable six of their 10 qualifiers, they struggled to dig themselves out of trouble once they fell behind in games. Conceding first will do major damage to the confidence of a side with no finals tournament win since 1990.

MOST LIKELY TO...

Be mistaken for Arsenal – given their new shirts, patchy form and propensity to score a lovely goal ( but only once in a while).

LEAST LIKELY TO...

Win over the hearts of the neutrals with swashbuckling, goal- fest group games.

WHAT THEY HOPE WILL HAPPEN

A comfortable opening victory with a few goals notched against North Macedonia to get the strikers settled, followed by a plucky draw against the Netherlands to leave the stage set for a feel- good win over Ukraine to cap off a wonderful group- stage campaign. Buoyed by some precious success at a final tournament, Austria would then be delighted just to experience life at the business end of the competition and let fate take its course from there.

WHAT WILL HAPPEN

Austria seem destined to be one of those unfortunate third- placed teams who don’t progress to the knockouts this summer, but surely anything is better than Euro 2016’ s bitter disappointment when ballooning hopes were punctured early. Now is the time to step up.