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Austria’s Under-21 national team kept alive the possibility of participating in the 2021 European Championships in Hungary and Slovenia on Friday night. The ÖFB team celebrated a narrow but well deserved 1-0 victory in Pristina in the last third qualifying match against Kosovo. Ried forward Marco Grüll, who arrived as the “Joker”, became the winner of the match with his goal in the 86th minute. Werner Gregoritsch was able to encourage his return to the coaches’ bench.
The 62-year-old had missed the two most recent defeats against Albania (1: 5) and England (1: 2) due to a minor heart attack. The Austrians celebrated their fifth win in their eighth game, but due to three losses it doesn’t look too good for a ticket to the European Championship. Because in addition to the nine group winners, only the five best runners-up make it to the two-part final.
Before the duels in Turkey (November 13 at Samsun) and against Andorra (November 17 at Ried) they rose to four points, but the English played one game less in addition to their advantage. .
Gregoritsch made four changes compared to the home game against England. New to the team were David Schnegg, returning Kevin Danso, Lukas Malicsek and Rapid’s diamond in the rough Yusuf Demir. It was also Demir who knew how to put some accents in the first half. The most dangerous was a volley shot that went just above the goal (11th). Furthermore, only LASK forward Marko Raguz came close to scoring (43).
The ÖFB team had a hard time, because despite being clearly overweight in terms of participation in the game, the necessary speed was lacking in the game. Often the last pass was missing. The Kosovars were well controlled, apart from a rightly denied offside goal (42nd), there was nothing to do with the home side’s offense.
LASK’s Dominik Reiter traded for knee injury
That didn’t really change after the break. ÖFB’s proteges went ahead, Demir closed after a good action next to the goal, Gladbach’s Hannes Wolf claimed a penalty after a duel in the penalty area in vain (67) and “Joker” Kelvin Arase hit the ball after a missed chance for Demir on the bar (74).
Two minutes later, the locals nearly turned the game around, with Muharrem Jashari aiming past the far corner. In the end, the guests were able to celebrate at the Stadiumi Fadil Vokrri. In a combination of two alternates, Grüll met after the work of Alexander Schmidt. The action was initiated by strong Demir.
In contrast to 4-0 at home on November 15, 2019, you had a lot more problems. With the loss of LASK player Dominik Reiter, there was also a disappointment, the 22-year-old was taken off the pitch after just under half an hour.
Final score: Kosovo 0: 1 Austria
Hill: Grüll (86.)
Austria: Ehmann – Reiter (28. Thurnwald), Klarer, Aiwu (86. Maresic), Schnegg (61. Arase) – Danso, L. Malicsek – P. Schmidt (61. Grüll), Demir, Wolf – Raguz (85. A . Schmidt)
Yellow cards Austria: Thurnwald, Aiwu, Danso
European Championship standings: group 3 table
| site | Nation | Games | S | OR | north | Tearing | points |
| one. | England | 7 | 6 | one | 0 | 24: 7 | 19 |
| two. | Austria | 8 | 5 | 0 | 3 | 18:13 | fifteen |
| 3. | Albania | 8 | 3 | two | 3 | 15:16 | eleven |
| Four. | Turkey | 7 | two | one | 4 | 8:14 | 7 |
| 5. | Kosovo | 7 | two | 0 | 5 | 8:16 | 6 |
| 6. | Andorra | 7 | one | two | 4 | 9:16 | 5 |
Mode: The nine group winners and the top five runners-up qualify for a group stage on March 24-31, 2021 in Hungary and Slovenia. From May 31 to June 6, the respective first two of the four groups will play the final phase of the quarterfinals in an elimination format. For the first time in the final stages there are 16 participants.
Other ÖFB match dates: Turkey v Austria (November 13 at Samsun), Austria v Andorra (November 17 at Ried)
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