Frustration at Austria:

“We can’t let this sit on us”

Cheer up! Austria will be challenged again tomorrow.(Bild: Christof Birbaumer)

Austria take a hard look at themselves after the 0:1 in Tirol. The nail in the coffin was a former Veilchen of all people ...

Games like the one on Tuesday evening at the Tivoli in Innsbruck were the reason for Austria's bitter exit to the qualifying round. They were on the purple-white agenda for weeks in the fall, which is why the race to catch up with the top six came too late. These games are becoming significantly fewer (only three Austria defeats in the last 20 games). But they haven't got rid of them completely either.

"Far too cheap"
"We cannot and must not let a performance like this sit on us," captain Manfred Fischer made clear angrily. Thanks to the English week, Fischer & Co. will have the chance to react quickly, as tomorrow (7.30pm) they should be able to see the "real" Austria again at home against Altach. According to Fischer, it is "far too cheap" to just talk about the unfortunate handball by Marvin Martins and the subsequent penalty to make the final score 0:1 against WSG Tirol.

In the end, both the fans and coach Michi Wimmer were disappointed with the dismal performance. Incidentally, the winning goal for the Tyroleans was scored by Denis Tomic, an ex-Austrian of all people. He had played with the WSG Juniors against Fügen just a few days earlier. Tomic came into the game as a joker and cheekily snatched the ball away from the Tyroleans' actual penalty taker (Sandi Ogrmec). He learned his coolness in Vienna-Favoriten. Where he played from 2014 to 2018, but the best he ever felt there were four appearances for the Young Violets.

"We have to get rid of this as quickly as possible"
They are now just three points ahead of Wolfsberg in the table. The scope for further slip-ups at Austria has therefore become much smaller again. Coach Wimmer analyzes: "We missed a lot in Tirol in terms of willingness, tackling, presence on second balls. We have to rectify that as quickly as possible!"