make or break against Serbia

As Karel Brückner’s Austrian squad looks ahead to its match against the powerful Serbian squad, the sweet smell of success against France has long since been forgotten. The disarray following the foul performance against the Faroe Islands will haunt this squad if they do not rebound with confidence in Vienna.

The peculiarity of this match is the opposite direction that both clubs are heading at this time. For Austria there is no other way to view the draw to the Faroes other than an enormous set-back. It was not only the first nail in the coffin for their qualifying hopes but a places an enormous question mark on the long-term (re)development of the sport and will leave confidence in a shattered state if they are not careful. Critical in this match is that they play to win as opposed to playing not to lose.

For Serbia, which stand atop of Group Seven, it is impossible not to consider this as a turning-point in the regions brilliant Footballing history. Presently ranked fortieth in the world by FIFA, their strong play in qualifying to-date including Saturday’s 3-0 domination of Lithuania, who had previously dispatched Romania and Austria with stunning ease, signals the return of the White Eagles. To the home clubs dismay, Serbian manager Radomir Antić will have his club poised and ready to prey upon the wounded Austrians, with full knowledge that a victory will go a long way in advancing their World Cup dreams. Karel Brückner should expect Serbia to come out very fast, looking to choke off Austrian early and destroy their confidence.

Austria will unfortunately be without Martin Harnik to injury, a very costly loss as to be successful they must employ a more aggressive attack. Karel Brückner will need to be wary of the White Eagles attack, with particular concern of Crvena Zvezda’s Nenad Milijas, Miloš Krasić of CSKA Moscow and Standard Liège’s Milan Jovanović but equally employ an attacking strategy to buoy confidence. In the attack, Austria will need to utilize a more aggressive style including using Stefan Maierhofer, Marc Janko and Jimmy Hoffer as an attacking trident.

I will report on the match as it concludes.