Austria’s Jimmy Hoffer

Frances’ head coach Raymond Domenech, is never short of controversial comments but today’s predication that Les Bleus will defeat Germany in the Euro 2008 finals is certainly a surprising one and one that will stoke the fires of many other teams.

However all that is a bit beyond the scope of Austria, which is ranked 101st in FIFA’s most recent world rankings. They are looking at the tournament realistically and merely trying to put forth a good effort amongst European powerhouses as well as establish a solid planning schedule for the future. And while it doesn’t get a great deal of publicity, the Austrian Football Association has invested in some of the best international consultants in the sport to help solidify long-term growth at the youth-level and it is already reaping dividends such as this past summers U-20 FIFA World Cup which saw the Austrian’s make it through to the semi-finals. The delicate test for Coach Hickersberger will be to integrate some of the young players who excelled for Austria this past summer with the more experienced players.

Possibly the most exciting of these young guns is just-turned 21 year-old Striker Erwin “Jimmy” Hoffer, who scored eight times for Austrian League champion, SK Rapid Wien. Hoffer was a sparkplug for the Austria’s in the U-20 squad when he came off the bench for the deciding goal in their quarter-final win over the American’s and continued his goal scoring touch for Rapid Wein. While he has committed to play for Rapid Wein through 2011, this is the perfect international breakout stage for him and he is definitely one to young unsung players to watch.