Stickler sticks by Hickersberger

Austrian Football Association president Friedrich Stickler has backed Josef Hickersberger to get the national team up to speed after a sticky patch.

Teething problems
Austria have not won in nine friendly games this year but Stickler told uefa.com that this was no cause for alarm, and insisted that Hickersberger still had work to do. "Josef Hickersberger is trying to push young players to the higher level we need," he said. "When there are as many missing players as there are now, of course it is difficult to move positively in this direction but we will get past this stage and we will make recognisable improvements in the coming months.

'A difficult phase'
"We know that we are going through a difficult phase," he added. "We have a lot of injured players. On one hand we have a lot of experience and on the other we have a lot of very talented players. In between, there's a gap of about two generations where we don't have very many good players, so every injury is a problem with our small squad. But it doesn't matter. We have to stick together. We will get through this period and hopefully be a strong team come June 2008."

Rallying cry
Stickler is still "very, very confident" that Austria will be a force to contend with at the finals. He said: "There's really not much more we can do in the short time remaining. We will do our best to ensure performances improve as soon as possible, but one thing is certain – when we play at UEFA EURO 2008™, the crowd will be 100 per cent behind the team and we will feel that 12th man. I am convinced that we will surprise a lot of people at UEFA EURO 2008™."

Organisational success
The organisation of the event, meanwhile, is well under control and it has reached the point where Stickler is more concerned about his team than his nation's ability to co-host the finals. "I am not at all worried about the organisation," he said. "We are right on plan regarding infrastructure. The stadiums will all be ready on time. UEFA President Michel Platini was convinced when he came recently. Everything is ready for a wonderful party next year."