Captain Coleman - We truly believe we can beat these teams

By Macdara Ferris in Vienna

Republic of Ireland captain Seamus Coleman is calling on his teammates to concentrate and deliver on a decent result in Vienna on Saturday evening.

Late Austria goals from David Alaba proved costly in Ireland’s last World Cup qualification campaign. Coleman feels the team has developed since then as he looks to gain precious points that would help in the task of qualifying for Russia 2018.

“In any game you have to concentrate for the full 90 minutes,” said Coleman, speaking to the press in the Ernst Happel Stadium prior to training on the pitch on Friday evening.

In Dublin in March 2013, David Alaba’s goal two minutes into injury time earned Austria a 2-2 draw while his winner six minutes from time last time out in Vienna six months later grabbed Austria all three points. “In that World Cup qualifying campaign those Austria games were pivotal.

“We conceded late goals in those games which was tough to take at the time. We have moved on a lot since then. The Euros in the summer and qualifying for the Euros has really brought this group together.

“Coming away from here with a point wouldn’t be a bad result but we truly believe that we can beat these teams. Even before the game tomorrow we believe we can qualify. It is a great group of lads that I really enjoy meeting up and playing with. They leave it all on the pitch.”

The Boys in Green haven’t beaten the Austrians in their last eight attempts – it is 1963 since Ireland last defeated Austria – and Ireland have never won away from home against them. Victory would give Ireland a six point cushion over Martin Koller’s men going into the winter international break.

“A win tomorrow will put us in the direction we want to be going. There is a lot of football to be played but we want to win the game and show that we are going to qualify out of this group.

“It is obviously going to be a tough game. We have had difficulty coming here in the past. The players that we are aware of who I’ve played against before is Arnautovic who is a good strong player and they’ve got David Alaba who is a world class player. They’ve got top players.”

Two years ago, the Boys in Green lost away to Scotland in a result that almost derailed Ireland’s Euro 2016 chances and it was a defeat that lingered long in Coleman’s memory.

“That one in particular was hard to take at the time definitely. We had to dust ourselves down and go again. We will keep going to the end no matter what.”

At Friday’s pre-match press conference his manager Martin O’Neill, who was sitting alongside Coleman, praised the leadership qualities of his captain.

“Tomorrow is a big game and big game players like the man to my left rise to the occasion,” said O’Neill.

“He has played a lot of big games in the last few seasons of his career. He is capable of inspiring players to big games. Seamus’ great goal in the second half (in Moldova) gave us a hard earned victory.”

For more from Martin O'Neill's pre-match press conference see: O'Neill looking to trump Austria in Vienna.

Our full match preview is available here.

Extratime.ie will be covering the game from Vienna including the build up to the game here and the match itself on Saturday evening in the Ernst Happel Stadium.