Austria suffer Feldhofer loss

Austria coach Josef Hickersberger will be without Ferdinand Feldhofer for the UEFA EURO 2008™ co-hosts' next batch of friendlies after the FC Wacker Tirol defender tore ligaments in his left knee.

Three matches
The 27-year-old has emerged as one of Austria's first-choice centre-backs over the past 12 months, taking his number of caps to 13 with a sustained run in the starting XI. Yet he will play no part in friendlies against the Czech Republic, Japan and Chile over the next five weeks after injuring his knee in training. Feldhofer will undergo surgery on Thursday but the initial prognosis is that he faces ten weeks on the sidelines. The blow is shared by club and country, as Wacker are already struggling with Florian Mader and Theo Grüner ruled out for the side one off the bottom of the Austrian Bundesliga.