Flogel thrilled to see ‘skinny kid’ Gordon back as Scotland’s No1
WHEN Thomas Flogel takes his seat in the Ernst Happel Stadium on Tuesday night, the inescapable flashbacks to training at Tynecastle will make him chuckle. He will remember questioning how the wiry frame of a gangly teenage goalkeeper new to training with the big boys would stand up to first-team scrutiny.
What Craig Gordon initially lacked in muscle, he more than made up for in mentality. One that Flogel identified early on as ready-made for elite performance and high achievement.
Gordon filled out. Then fulfilled all that promise. Now 14th in the all-time list of appearance holders for Scotland, the former Sunderland and Celtic keeper will earn his 60th cap in Vienna.
It’s a haul that would have been considerably greater were it not for several setbacks on a turbulent international career journey which included the excellence of Allan McGregor, two broken arms, a potentially career-threatening knee injury that stopped him playing for over two years, relegation to the second string at Celtic and David Marshall’s fine form.
All of which contributed to significant chunks of time not wearing the Scotland No1 jersey he first proudly pulled on in a May 2004 friendly victory over Trinidad & Tobago at Easter Road.
A full circle route has been taken since bursting on to the Hearts
scene as a teenager then
Craig is the type who wins his team games and points in a quick moment
making that national team bow as a 21-year-old for Berti Vogts.
Gordon is back in the Scottish top flight with his first club and has been installed first-choice goalkeeper for a World Cup qualifying triple-header by Steve Clarke.
Flogel, capped 37 times by Austria and a favourite at Hearts for five seasons, is thrilled to see Gordon regain that status three months shy of his 39th birthday.
Flogel said: ‘The first thing you noticed about Craig was he was so slim and really tall! He looked as if he weighed about seven stones!
‘To be honest, he’s really surprised me by becoming such a good goalkeeper. His career has been extraordinary and hopefully
he can play for even more years. What a great goalkeeper with a great presence.
‘Yes, Craig was just a slim young thing when he came up to first-team training. When he was in goal you thought: “Just hit the ball hard”.
‘But a strength was how hard he worked on himself. His character was very strong from the start anyway.
‘He was so quiet and always calm. You could never tell if he was happy. He was never messing around, never going out for nights out. He was simply very focused, very serious on his target to become a No1 goalkeeper — and that makes him top man.
‘He had Antti Niemi to look up to and learn from. But Antti was so quiet and calm as well — sometimes too calm! It’s not enough to have talent as a goalkeeper. You need the mental tools as well.
‘When you maybe only have two chances to impress in a game, you can’t be nervous.
‘The top ones are special people. And we all know Craig is the type who wins his team games and points in just one quick moment. That’s massive.’
Now managing in the Austrian third tier, Flogel expressed sympathy with Gordon and Scotland’s plight in being blown away by their hosts in Copenhagen in midweek.
Austria collectively realised in March that Denmark were different gravy to the rest of Group F — and likely contenders at the Euro 2020 finals — following a 4-0 thrashing in Vienna.
Flogel was resigned then to Franco Foda’s squad being in a three-way scrap for the runners-up berth with Israel and Scotland.
‘Denmark is just a much better team than Scotland — and probably Austria, too,’ admitted Flogel. ‘They are flying. From what I saw in those early minutes against Scotland, they are just as dynamic and impressive as they were against us.
‘The Danish players are sharp, have desire and are running and playing for each other.
‘It seems to me that they are having fun on the pitch and that’s impressive to watch.
‘It’s obvious to say the other teams are playing for second place. And it’s going to be hard for Austria now, to be honest, because of our injury problems with several key players. Hopefully, we can still put out a good team against Scotland.’
In the first meeting between the nations, at Hampden, a spectacular John McGinn strike saved a point for Scotland with five minutes to spare after a double from Sasa Kalajdzic. The Stuttgart star is one of a number of high-class performers unavailable to Foda.
Kalajdzic tops a casualty list which also features captain Julian Baumgartlinger, ‘our best in midfield’ Xaver Schlager, new Bayern Munich signing Marcel Sabitzer and Stefan Lainer.
‘At least we have David Alaba back after he missed the 2-0 win in Moldova and (Marko) Arnautovic up front,’ said Flogel.
‘For me, Arnautovic is an even more dangerous player for us than Kalajdzic, who scored the goals against Scotland last time. Arnautovic is the target player because he can keep the ball and drag Scotland defenders around the pitch.
‘The gaffer must now think about the strikers, debating who to play backing Arnautovic up in a No10 role.
‘I hope we can beat Scotland and, because it’s Scotland, of course I will be there.
‘In the 2-2 game, I don’t think either side did very well but both can definitely play
better.’