Subject: [NT] Austria

Sokker Austria

With around 220 users, Austria is a mature Sokker nation (they are just 1 season younger then Canada). Their NT was created the same season as Canada (so this is their 8th season). Currently ranked #34. Reasonably fair, though I’d say they are at least as strong as Belarus or Serbia (who are ranked above them).

Austria NT
Austria has a fairly balanced team, and have sufficient depth to play whatever style they choose. I would say their defence is perhaps a little more developed then their midfield and strikers. Their keeper (Preiner) is quite capable. Jiri Garstenauer is their all-time scoring leader with 75, but youngsters Lindenberger] and Löckher are developing.

I’m not familiar with Andreasson, Austria’s manager (interesting to note his team is based in Switzerland). I believe this is his first season in charge. He is experienced, and has won the top Swiss league.

Head to Head
Canada would appear to have the advantage at all positions, though in many places there is not a big gap.

Previous Meetings
1 – Back in the first NT season, this was Canada’s 2nd ever win. Rex Barry with the hattrick. (Devioustrevor manager)
2 – from the unofficial U21 tournament a few seasons back. 5 goals on 6 shots from Scottie Wang. (Seca manager)
3 – a friendly from the start of this season. Wang with a goal & assist. .(Slavko manager)

This Match
It will be interesting to see how Austria plays this. Playing defensively and counter-attacking when they can is a possible approach. They may also play it more straight-up.

Austria's roster is in good shape – Garstenauer with a slight knock will probably be game-ready. No other significant injuries, and team form looks pretty good.

Canada has a number of little knocks, but the most serious is Olaf Lavrynenko, whose presence will be missed in midfield.

Villaneuva joins Caron, Bradshaw and Klukowski on the form-watch. Something else to consider is that a number of key NT players are likely to play in the Voyageur Cup final …

All in all this should be a relatively comfortable match for Canada. But Austria is close enough in talent that a red card or some bad luck could tilt things. If Amado goes 1 for 23 shooting that could also be a problem. :)

I'm still watching matches, and haven't settled on an approach just yet (have an idea). Open to suggestions from loyal Canadian managers - just drop a SK-mail. :)
(edited)

Andreasson used to be the Swiss NT manager in the early days.

The name seemed familiar. I checked my old SK-mail thinking there might be some ancient correspondence, but didn't find any. :)

Message from: Seca
Date of posting: 2006-06-02 22:41:30
Subject: WC

Best of luck vs. Germany tomorrow. Should be a good match. :)

===

Classic ye old sk mail!
(edited)

Jeez, even i have an SK mail from him!!

Message from: Andreasson
Date of posting: 2006-02-21 13:20:38
Subject: johnny bodger

you have a legendary player!
wow, first goal against polska!

congratulations

I still haven't quite made up my mind about the tactic for this match. I've prepared a couple, but no final decision ... yet. :)

I'm also struggling with the line-up a little. In particular, whether to use Bradshaw or not. His form is starting to scare me. I'm considering a somewhat lesser player (who's in much better form) in his place.

I'm notifying managers of participating players, tho I reserve the right to change my mind. :D

Bradshaw's form isn't do great right now your right. I wouldn't be surprised to see someone else in his place. He'll be missed yes but surely we have someone close to his skill?

Malhotra is the is probably the most "Bradshaw-like" player.

My experience suggests that defenders in poor form are more likely to get into trouble with the refereee. My own Mścisław Szołtysik went his full career without taking a straight red-card, but when his form tailed off at the start of this season, he took 2 straight red in 2 weeks.

With the New Zealand NT there was no depth so I often had to play defenders in lousy form, and they routinely got on the ref's bad side.

The guideline I try to use is 5 levels of form = 1 skill level across the board. Not based on any hard facts, and definitely a guideline rather then a rule. I'm curious what others think. Maybe a little poll is in order. :)

I wish you all the best for the match tomorrow (or today... :)). For Austria it would be a sensation to get 1 point. And we will play for a win!

Greets Andreasson

Ps:
I was 2 seasons Nationalcoach from Switzerland and 2 seasons from Hayastan. This is now the first seasons as Nationalcoach from Austria.

So, let`s hope to see a nice game without injuries and a win from Austria ;)

In all honesty I don't pay much attention to teams like Hayastan. I'm a little surprised I don't have clear recollections of you as the Swiss Coach. Age, perhaps. :)

I think that I was NT coach that year.

No problem :) I wanted only to clear this open question.

With Switzerland I was coach the first 2 seasons. I played in the Quali Group with Suomi, Russia, Slovenia, Spain and Ceska. And I did the Quali for the first World-Cup.

But thats a long time ago...

I remember you losing 7-0 in your third game in charge ;)

Bevan distroyed us :)

Look at the tactics there, really nice to see the differnces between there and now. Sometimes I`m shoked when I see my old tactics ;)

Underway against Austria. Thanks for Slavko and Raskal for their input this week.

Austria has shown a clear trend of moving the defense up against weaker teams (Greece, BiH) and backing the defense off against better teams (Lithuania, Brasil). Canada being a better team, one would expect their defense to back off in this one - would perhaps be a good time for them to cross things up. I’d rather take a few offsides then run at the defense, so I’ve planned for the deeper positioning. Wang is positioned a little more cautiously then Amado.

Playing a 442 with one wider midfielder (not a real winger). Those who watched the cup final had a preview - it was a bit of a field test. Midfield is asymmetric, so the top 3 midfielders should all have different passing lanes to the strikers. Hopefully they will move the ball around until they find an open one. I expect it to be a strong possession tactic - a somewhat aggressive defensive line should help in this aspect. Square throws where possible - Austrian Coach tends to take line throws away.

The Austrian Coach posted in their forum that he intends to use 2 wingers and a striker. Suggests the tactic they used against Brasil (which got them their best result so far this season). I would be pretty happy if they used it - has a fairly porous central midfield, and wingers pinned right against the touchline. But it could well be a ruse. I did not adjust the Canadian game plan based on what was said. I’m not overly impressed with what I’ve seen of the Austrian wingers (Mahlich looks alright). And the fact that the Austrian Coach uses a DEF order on the wingers suggests they are not strong technically. I’m optimistic our wide defenders will deal with them (should Austria use 2 wingers as advertised). I think perhaps a better approach from them would be sacrificing one winger for some extra central midfield presence or a second forward. I guess we’ll see.

After much deliberation I’ve sat Bradshaw and moved Dehere into the DM spot. He performed well in that role against Lithuania.

I’ve got a bit of a bad feeling about the game. Not so much the tactic or the players. More that the referee might work against us. Probably nothing. :)

Line-Up
Parker
Malhotra, Mayard, Fichaud, Abbas Musa
Caron (Barrera ~60 & shift Iginla), Omar, Dehere, Iginla
Amado, Wang (W Lavrynenko ~75)

Bench
Clemens
Bradshaw
O’Hara