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The still young UEFA Nations League is still struggling to become a truly relevant competition. And stadiums largely empty due to the crown crisis don’t really help. On the other hand: Austria’s fourth appearance in Romania would not have merited a cauldron drenched in euphoria. The longer the match lasted, the better ÖFB-Elf’s reward with a 1-0 win at the end.
On both sides some players were missing, also for the crown, for example all the Salzburg players by some infected players in the Austrian champion, in addition to Marko Arnautovic, Valentin Lazaro, Marcel Sabitzer and Konrad Laimer. There are quite a few regulars, and that wasn’t exactly a quality factor at this party. The fact that Romania won 3-2 in the first leg may also explain the initial red-white-red reluctance. The pressure in Klagenfurt had little effect against the technically quite strong Romanian team. Ploiesti was no different either.
Gregoritsch hits the bar
While the two teams largely neutralized each other in the first half, the second half offered a more lively and bolder game. Before the break, Austria had a bit of bad luck with a Slat passenger from Michael Gregoritsch (21st). However, this opportunity came from the only liquid combination, Austria could only have been identified as a better team with a good balance.
In the second 45 minutes, the Austrians gradually dared to do more, although they started with a goal from Denis Alibec for Romania. But the goal was clearly offside, that is, the referee whistled, and that is proof enough in football, at least before VAR times. Or maybe the striker was a few inches ahead.
Increase after break
Austria was generally more decisive and active, although a team draw would have been enough to fix the victory in Group 1 of the B-League with two home victories against Norway and Northern Ireland and thus reach the A-League, in a sense in the excellence of this League of Nations. The faithful teammate Chancentod also traveled to Romania. Christoph Baumgartner missed the crossbar, Xaver Schlager headed in and Gregoritsch also made a mistake.
A quarter of an hour before the end, Alessandro Schöpf was redeemed, who had returned to the team after a two-year hiatus, but remained quite pale until this shot from a right middle position. Gregoritsch, who in turn seems to be a better fit with the team, did the preparatory work. Austria then controlled the match much better than against Northern Ireland on Sunday and continue to lead the group together with Norway, who defeated Northern Ireland 1-0 (9 points each). The Nations League will conclude on November 15 and 18. (Sir)
