Hickersberger wants England involved

Austria coach Josef Hickersberger offered support to England counterpart Steve McClaren before Friday's friendly in Vienna, having withstood intense criticism himself following a miserable run of results this year.

Unwanted record
Austria matched an all-time national record of nine matches without a win before finally recording their first victory of 2007 with a 3-2 defeat of Ivory Coast last month. That success came as a timely boost for a team who qualified automatically for UEFA EURO 2008™ as hosts along with Switzerland. "Of course getting our first win of the year has eased the situation and improved the atmosphere in Austria, which was very important for the team and for me as the national coach as well," Hickersberger said.

Fitness boost
"Now we have to build on the performance against the Ivory Coast when we play England. Even if they are struggling to qualify [for UEFA EURO 2008™] they are still a very good side with regular UEFA Champions League participants and even winners in their ranks – which is sadly not the case for us." After suffering from a blight of injuries during his team's year-long slump, Hickersberger said his squad was almost back to full strength for the game in Vienna.

Improbable passage
Hickersberger believes the finals would be worse off without England, and hopes McClaren will find the luck he needs this week to complete an improbable passage. He said of McClaren: "Of course it is very difficult for him now to convince the whole country that he is a very good coach. But I hope he gets the luck he needs now in the last few matches, especially as he needs results from other teams for England to qualify."

Realistic
To have any realistic chance of progressing, England have to win their last remaining Group E match against Croatia next Wednesday and hope Russia fail to win one of their final two games against Israel and minnows Andorra. "To be honest I hope England make it, because they are one of the best national teams in the world," Hickersberger said. "For that reason it would be poor for the championships if they took place without England."

Snowstorms
While England can apparently expect a warm welcome from the Austrian coach, the players could be in for a cold night with snowstorms forecast to hit Vienna on Thursday. "We have underground heating at the stadium, though, so they won't actually have to play on snow," Hickersberger said with a grin. "That is a shame for us perhaps because on snow I think we would definitely be stronger than the English."