Against Saudi Arabia

Austria start the U17 World Cup with a 1:0 win

Jubilation for the ÖFB team(Bild: ÖFB | Andreas Pichler)

Austria's U17 national soccer team started the World Cup in Qatar with a well-deserved victory. Team boss Hermann Stadler's squad celebrated a 1-0 win over Saudi Arabia in Doha on Wednesday thanks to a penalty goal from Johannes Moser (55') and are already very close to the knockout phase thanks to the first ever World Cup win for an ÖFB U17 team. In addition to the top two, the eight best of the twelve third-placed teams in the group will also progress. Their next opponent is Mali on Saturday.

Mali lead Group L after a 3-0 win over New Zealand thanks to goals from Seydou Dembele (17'), Zoumana Ballo (55') and Raymond Bomba (78'). The ÖFB squad is lurking behind. "I'm incredibly pleased that we were able to win the World Cup opener. That was very important," emphasized ÖFB team boss Hermann Stadler. The boys had done "really well". "We were well in the game right at the start, but we could have done better in attack afterwards. The sending off was really bitter, but the team didn't let it get them down and were clearly the better team in the second half."

The Austrians started nervously against the Asian Cup runners-up in temperatures of around 30 degrees and in front of the eyes of former Arsenal long-term coach Arsene Wenger, who now works for FIFA. Abdul-Hadi Matari escaped the defense including goalkeeper Daniel Posch, but Jakob Pokorny was able to clear just before the line (8th).

ÖFB team strong despite being outnumbered
As the game progressed, Austria got into the game better - Loris Husic shot over from a good position (34'), Saudi goalkeeper Abdulrahman Al-Otaibi had to stretch himself to save a Moser free-kick (38'). The cold shower followed three minutes later when Luca Weinhandl was shown a yellow card. The ÖFB's reaction to the numerical weakening was remarkable. Instead of dropping back, they looked to go forward. Al-Otaibi had problems with a side-footed shot from Pokorny (45.+1), after the subsequent corner Moser hit the crossbar.

The game continued in the same vein after the break. Al-Otaibi deflected an effort from Moser onto the crossbar, but was beaten soon after. Dominik Dobis was fouled in the penalty area and Moser converted the spot-kick safely. Less than three minutes later, Dobis was rudely stopped on his way to making it 2:0 and Nasser Al Faihani had to leave the pitch for goal theft (58'). The scores were level again and Austria, clearly the better team, had a great chance to make it 2-0, but Vasilije Markovic failed to beat Al-Otabi with a penalty (96'). Saudi player Abdullah Al Dawsari was shown yellow for the penalty foul. The Austrian team then missed two more chances to make it 2:0.

"We've gained a lot of confidence, which we can now take into the next few games," said Markovic.