Uncapped trio join Austria party

Austria coach Josef Hickersberger has named three uncapped youngsters in his squad for the friendlies against Liechtenstein and Switzerland.

New trio
With the finals of UEFA EURO 2008™ foremost in his mind, Hickersberger will check out 17-year-old SK Rapid Wien midfielder Veli Kavlak, who has scored three goals in 23 Austrian Bundesliga appearances. He has also handed first call-ups to defenders Gernot Plassnegger of Rapid and Hannes Eder of FC Wacker Tirol. Austria will take on Liechtenstein in a friendly game on 6 October before playing fellow UEFA EURO 2008™ hosts Switzerland five days later.

Austria squad
Goalkeepers: Jürgen Macho (1. FC Kaiserslautern), Helge Payer (SK Rapid Wien), Andreas Schranz (Grazer AK)

Defenders: Hannes Eder (FC Wacker Tirol), Johannes Ertl (SK Sturm Graz), Ferdinand Feldhofer (FC Wacker Tirol), Christian Fuchs (SV Mattersburg), Martin Hiden (SK Rapid Wien), Gernot Plassnegger (SK Rapid Wien), Joachim Standfest (Grazer AK), Martin Stranzl (FC Spartak Moskva)

Midfielders: René Aufhauser (FC Salzburg), Andreas Ivanschitz (Panathinaikos FC), Zlatko Junuzovic (Grazer AK), Veli Kavlak (SK Rapid Wien), Markus Kiesenebner (FK Austria Wien), Christoph Leitgeb (SK Sturm Graz), Thomas Prager (SC Heerenveen), Markus Weissenberger (Eintracht Frankfurt)

Forwards: Muhammet Akagündüz (Kayserispor), Marc Janko (FC Salzburg), Sanel Kuljić (FC Sion), Roland Linz (Boavista FC)