ÖFB team kicker: Sad, depressed, but optimistic for the future

The first World Cup in 28 years is now back for Austria Story.

The players all seemed dejected after the 3-0 loss against Spain and stayed in the dressing room for a long time. While the Spaniards completed the walk through the media zone as prescribed by FIFA holistically and quite quickly and chatted with journalists, Austria’s kickers took their time and asked.

Some even turned into the catacombs and disappeared, others, like Marko Arnautovicwalked past without a word or greeting. The record national player had nothing to say to the media representatives traveling with him after his last appearance for Austria, only spoke on TV.

All the more so to his colleagues in the dressing room when he gave a farewell speech, hugged each one of them warmly and cried bitterly. His long-time companions and friends were also in tears.

A national team without Marko Arnautovic, imaginable? Konrad Laimer shook his head: “Marko has been there since I started playing for Austria. A great player, but more than that a great person, a great personality.”

Some players then answered questions and worried about being able to draw a reasonable World Cup balance despite all the emotions. captain David Alaba At first he visibly struggled for words and was dejected. “I feel a certain emptiness and of course sadness. It will certainly take some time to process all of this.”

Now he can finally focus on his professional future. After leaving Real Madrid he is looking for a club. “Now I’ll think about it. So far I’ve only focused on the World Cup.”

The national team’s path is the right one, fundamentally because they have finally been at a World Cup again in 28 years. Nevertheless, we saw that the quality was lacking against the really big players. “There’s still room for improvement.”

Team boss Ralf Rangnick Outwardly, he seemed quite happy with the World Cup. “The team achieved its actual goal at the World Cup. We progressed in an extremely difficult group. We knew right from the draw that there was a good chance of being promoted as second and then meeting Spain. But I believe that my team would have been on an equal footing against almost any other opponent and would have had a good chance of progressing.”

goalkeeper Alexander Schlager is certainly one of the “winners” of this World Cup, caused a stir with parades, kept Austria in the game for a long time against Argentina, and prevented an even bigger defeat against Spain. “The moment will come when I will be happy about my performances at this World Cup.”

Michael Gregoritsch summed it up clarified: “In the first game against Jordan, you could tell we were nervous. Against Algeria we almost said goodbye, it wasn’t us. And against Spain you have to recognize the quality of the opponent. If you want to play in those, then you need a perfect day. You can perhaps see the performances negatively, but in the end an opponent plays along.”

Sasa Kalajdzic had his very own moment of the World Cup with the 3-3 draw against Algeria. Nevertheless, there is more left for the tidy striker.

“The experience of playing a World Cup was outstanding. We got through the group, that was our goal, that was the expectation from outside. We had the feeling we could surprise against Spain, but unfortunately that didn’t come true.” We are further away from that level than we had hoped. At least on this day.

The players unanimously agreed that the path chosen under Rangnick was the right one and should be continued. Laimer: “In recent years we have qualified for three European Championships and now for a World Cup. We want to take the next step and will take it.”

Laimer couldn’t say what it should look like: “Today I’m empty.” Stefan Posch agreed: “We’ve seen that we can basically annoy the big guys. This time we didn’t succeed. We have potential, potential is coming.”