Experienced duo drop out of Austria squad

Austria will have to do without a couple of experienced players for the visit of the Republic of Ireland to Vienna next weekend. Injuries to Zlatko Junuzovic and Sebastian Prodl have forced them out of Marcel Koller’s squad for the World Cup qualifier.

Between them, Junuzovic and Prodl have 112 international caps and they have been replaced in the squad by an uncapped defender and a midfielder with just a solitary international cap.

The Werden Bremen 29-year-old midfielder Zlatko Junuzovic, who started all three of his team’s Russia 2018 qualifiers to date, is out due to a knee injury and Austria will likely miss the threat he brings from dead ball situations.

He has been replaced by 24-year-old Karim Onisiwo. The Mainz midfielder has just one international cap to his name – from a friendly against Switzerland in November last year.

Watford defender Sebastian Prodl (shown above) will also miss this World Cup qualifier plus the friendly to follow against Slovakia on 15 November. Prodl, who was a substitute in Austria’s last match a 3-2 away defeat to Serbia, missed last weekend’s 6-1 Watford defeat to Liverpool at Anfield due to a groin issue.

Austria’s Swiss manager Marcel Koller has called Fulham’s Michael Madl, a player who has yet to play at international level, into the squad from the standby list. Already ruled out is Robert Almer, who played in goal for the first two qualifiers. He will miss out again due to a knee injury so Leverkusen ‘keeper Ramazan Özcan is likely to continue in goa,l having played in last month’s loss in Belgrade.

The game in Vienna’s Ernst Happel Stadium next Saturday will see Austria who are ranked 30th in the latest FIFA rankings, take on a Republic of Ireland side who are ranked just three places behind them. Martin O’Neill’s men sit top of the Group D table alongside Serbia with seven points. Austria have four points having won, drawn and lost in their three matches to date.

For details on the updated Ireland squad see: Dundalk duo make final cut for Austria qualifier

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), Michael Madl (Fulham / ENG, 0), 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), Karim Onisiwo (Mainz / GER, 1/0), 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).

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.