“The opponent had nothing to lose”

The Austrian team achieved their great goal this year by winning the group in the Nations League. However, there was more disappointment than party mood, Wednesday’s 1-1 performance at Vienna’s Happel Stadium against a Norwegian emergency team was a shame. So the team boss, Franco Foda, asked for understanding for his players.

Many of them are tired from the busy schedule, the German said. “With one or the other you could feel that freshness was lacking.” This also explains the disappointing performance in this course. “When you play against the ball or when you move backwards, you can tell if the players are still dynamic or not.”

On Wednesday some of Foda’s actors were so exhausted that a last-minute goal rocked a 1: 1 against a Norwegian force that was completely rethought by a corona case. However, the Scandinavians had a psychological advantage, Foda emphasized. “The rival had nothing to lose, he could make history. You could tell that, he played with great confidence in himself,” said the coach.

Foda also noted that the players called up on short notice were high-quality kickers who were almost always common at clubs outside of Norway. “Even though they only had one training session, we knew they were fueling this extraordinary situation. They are all legionaries who play an important role in their clubs. We knew we would be approached by a vicious team that would try everything.” to create a surprise. “

Foda: “We could lose everything completely”

Team ÖFB, in turn, assumed a victory. “We were the team that could lose everything completely,” Foda said. This isn’t the only reason he shouldn’t take his kickers hard, the 54-year-old demanded. “I know everyone plays in the Bundesliga and faces situations like this week after week. But it’s just people, not machines.”

Nonetheless, Foda insisted that they performed decently in the fall. “I refuse to say we didn’t play well all fall. We often had good phases, we just couldn’t show it for 90 minutes.” Expectations have risen that they must be met.

But Foda also showed understanding for the criticism. “In terms of fun, this field was not of the highest level in terms of what we imagined,” admitted the team leader. “Overall it was not a very important match for us, but we finally achieved our goal.” The decisive factor is promotion to League A, “so that people are happy, and I think they did.”

Now it’s important to learn the right lessons for the eventful year ahead. “It’s a great consideration that we could rotate more in competitive games,” Foda said. More recently, the national coach had only made minor personnel adjustments in competitive matches, including against Norway. “Our idea was not to change so much so that the automatisms work better. So I did not want to completely turn the team upside down. The bottom line is that we may have to rotate more when the players are overused.”

Foda: “I can only hope the players stay healthy”

The difficulties will escalate until next season in March 2021, when the players have an unusually short winter break behind them and some of them are in the middle of the European Cup weeks. Foda admitted that he already had “some concerns” about it. “It’s going to be tremendously intense. You could say that it affects everyone, but there are already teams where many players play internationally and are more exposed.”

This is exactly when qualifying for the World Cup begins, and less than three months later, EM is on the show. In between are numerous games at the club level. “One can only hope that all the players remain healthy and survive these intense periods in good health,” Foda said.

No real momentum was taken for next year, although the 2020 record can be seen with six wins, one draw and one loss. “At the moment, the euphoria can be difficult to develop if there are no fans in the stadium,” Foda said, announcing in the face of the coronavirus pandemic: “If things return to normal, there will be euphoria again.”

Until then, Foda and his coaching staff “will disconnect for two or three days”, will continue to observe the players and analyze the next rivals. In the European Championship, the group stage is against North Macedonia, the Netherlands and Ukraine, the opponents in the qualifying rounds for the World Cup will be determined on December 7. Austria is drawn from pot two.

Nations League: The Table