England crushed 4:0

Miraculous! ÖFB-U17 storms into the World Cup quarter-finals

Madness, madness, madness - Austria's U17 team reaches the quarter-finals of the World Cup with a 4:0 win over England!(Bild: © APhotography / A. Pichler)

Austria's soccer evening is off to a very, very, very good start: Just a few hours before the red-white-red A-team's World Cup qualifying final against Bosnia and Herzegovina, our U17 national team beat England in the last 16 of the U17 World Cup in Qatar - and not just any old way, they crushed their opponents 4:0! 

Hasan Deshishku (47'), Johannes Moser with his fourth and fifth goals (70', 79') and Ifeanyi Ndukwe (86') made the fifth win in the fifth game perfect. Austria's U17s, coached by Hermann Stadler, will face Japan, who beat North Korea on penalties in their round of 16 clash, in the quarter-finals next Friday.

"When you win 4:0 against England, you're almost lost for words," said Stadler. He told the boys at the break that they can rely 100 percent on their physical fitness. "In every game, we make massive gains in the second half - and that was the case again," explained the 64-year-old. Moser once again shone as a goal scorer. "We always believed in ourselves and knew we could do it," said the double goalscorer. There was great praise from afar from the highest ÖFB authority. "This is an incredible success," emphasized the chairman of the supervisory board Josef Pröll.

Double trouble at the start
"England is of course a big name, but we're not afraid," emphasized ÖFB kicker Filip Aleksic in the run-up - and his colleagues proved it on the pitch. A lightning strike was in the air. After just over a minute, a left-footed shot from Moser landed on the bar, while Deshishku's shot from a tight angle was deflected into the corner by England's goalkeeper. At the other end, ÖFB goalkeeper Daniel Posch also had to make a save from Alejandro Gomes Rodriguez's spinning shot (5').

Dobis injury only a brief shock
Regardless of this, the opening phase belonged to the underdogs, who missed further top chances through Dominik Dobis (8') and Moser (10'). A bitter setback followed after just over a quarter of an hour. Striker Dobis lay on the ground screaming in pain, having probably suffered a serious injury to his left knee. This was probably one of the reasons why the favorites came out better, but the only real danger came from a volley by Reigan Heskey (32').

The Austrians were rewarded very early on after the restart. Deshishku broke through on the wing and surprised goalkeeper Jack Porter with a low shot through his legs from an acute angle. A few minutes later, England weakened themselves when Gomes Rodriguez slid into Posch while fighting for the ball and was sent off (50'). After that, only the ÖFB team played. Kaden Braithwaite's foul on Nicolas Jozepovic resulted in another penalty, which Liefering Moser converted, as he had done against Saudi Arabia, Mali and most recently Tunisia.

Moser with a brace within nine minutes
Vasilije Markovic hit the crossbar (75') before Moser scored a brace after Jozepovic's shot was blocked. The final goal was reserved for Ndukwe, also from the spot. "The game developed really well for us in the second half. First the goal, then the red card for them - it couldn't have been better. We then more than deserved to win," summed up Deshishku. Austria now have a goal difference of 14:1.

Possible semi-final opponents would then be Italy or Burkina Faso. For now, however, the aim is to get through to the quarter-finals. "They're a good opponent, we're not underestimating anyone. We'll throw everything into it again and try to take the next step," said Moser. Portugal, Switzerland, Brazil and Morocco are in the other half of the table.