Koller squad call for Austria game against Ireland

On the day that Martin O’Neill named his 35 player provisional Republic of Ireland squad for next week’s trip to Vienna, his counterpart Marcel Koller called up his 23 man Austria squad for the game, along with 12 players on call. Koller noted the Russian 2018 qualifier against Ireland will be “a tough task” for this team.

While there was much discussion about O’Neill naming two domestic players in his squad – Dundalk duo Daryl Horgan and Andy Boyle (see here) – the Swiss manager of Austria included four domestic players in his 23 man squad. Just two of those Austrian based players are capped at international level; Defender Valentino Lazaro, who plays with Red Bull Salzburg, has four caps, while Rapid Vienna midfielder Louis Schaub has played just a solitary international game.

However it is still an experienced squad from which the team will be drawn to play Ireland at the Ernst Happel Stadium. Included are 15 players who ply their trade in the German Bundesliga, including captain Julian Baumgarlinger of Bayer Leverkusen, along with three from the English Premier League (Sebastian Prödl from Watford, Spurs’ Kevin Wimmer and Stoke player Marko Aranautovic).

The Boys in Green go into the game top of the Group D table with seven points along with Serbia with Austria in fourth position. In the campaign to date, Austria have four points having beaten Georgia 2-1 away, drawing 2-2 at home to Wales and losing last time out 3-2 in Serbia.

“It is an important game at home,” said Koller about the sell out game in Vienna as reported by AP. “They play a British type of football, physically strong, and are dangerous going forward. They are patient, don't get hectic. It is a tough task for us.”

Players like David Alaba, who scored against Ireland home and away when the teams played during Brazil 2014 qualification, Aranautovic and Marc Janko, who plays with FC Basel, will be familiar to many. Both Aranautovic and Janko have scored twice in the campaign to date, with Janko moving to 28 international goals and into fourth place on the all time Austria goalscoring list behind top marksman Toni Polster.

Koller recalled to the squad Hannover midfielder Martin Harnik who played in Georgia at the start of the campaign. However the midfielder missed the recent matches against Wales and Serbia due to a calf strain. Marcel Sabitzer replaced him in midfield on those occasions with the Leipzig player getting on the score sheet in Serbia.

Robert Almer, who played in goal for the first two qualifiers, will miss out again due to injury so Leverkusen ‘keeper Ramazan Özcan is likely to continue in goal having played in last month’s loss in Belgrade.

Das Team are looking to qualify for their eighth World Cup but their first since 1998. At the recent Euros, they were eliminated at the group stages in France without winning a game. They drew with Portugal in between losing to Hungary and Iceland.

In the head-to-head between the sides, Austria have come out on top on 12 occasions while Ireland have just two wins (the last coming 53 years ago in Dublin), with the four remaining matches finishing level.

Squad in full (with clubs, appearances and goals)

Goalkeepers: Heinz Lindner (Eintracht Frankfurt / GER, 8 matches) Andreas Lukse (SCR Altach / AUS, 0), Ramazan Özcan (Bayer Leverkusen / GER, 9).

Defenders: Aleksandar Dragovic (Bayer Leverkusen / GER, 52 matches / 1 goal), Martin Hinteregger (Augsburg / GER, 20/1), Florian Klein (VfB Stuttgart / GER, 43/0), Valentino Lazaro (RB Salzburg / AUS, 4/0), Sebastian Prödl (Watford / ENG, 60/4), Markus Suttner (Ingolstadt / GER, 17/0), Stefan Stangl (RB Salzburg / AUS, 0), Kevin Wimmer (Spurs / ENG, 6/0).

Midfielders: David Alaba (Bayern Munich / GER, 52/11), Marko Arnautovic (Stoke City / ENG, 58/13), Julian Baumgartlinger (Bayer Leverkusen / GER, 51/1), Martin Harnik (Hannover / GER, 61/14), Stefan Ilsanker (RB Leipzig / GER, 19/0), Zlatko Junuzovic (Werder Bremen / GER, 52/7), Marcel Sabitzer (RB Leipzig / GER, 24/4), Louis Schaub (Rapid Vienna / AUS, 1/0), Alessandro Schöpf (Schalke / GER, 10/2).

Strikers: Michael Gregoritsch (Hamburg / GER, 1/0), Lukas Hinterseer (FC Ingolstadt / GER, 11/0), Marc Janko (Basel 1893 / CH, 59/28).

On call: Daniel Bachmann (Stoke City / ENG, 0), Richard Strebinger (Rapid Vienna / AUS, 0); Stefan Lainer (RB Salzburg / AUS, 0), Andreas Lienhart (SCR Altach / AUS, 0), Philipp Lienhart (Real Madrid / Spain, 0), Michael Madl (Fulham / ENG, 0), Andreas Ulmer (RB Salzburg / AUS, 3 / 0); Guido Burgstaller (Nuremberg / GER, 9/0), Florian Grillitsch (Werder Bremen / GER, 0), Jakob Jantscher ( Caykur Rizespor / TUR, 23/1); Deni Alar (SK Sturm Graz / AUS, 0), Karim Onisiwo (Mainz / GER, 1/0).

Extratime.ie will be covering the game from Vienna next week including Friday’s pre-match press conference and the match on Saturday evening in the Ernst Happel Stadium.