Starlets raise Austria optimism

With less than eleven months to go until the start of UEFA EURO 2008™, Austria coach Josef Hickersberger is optimistic that some of his country's young talents will be able to give the senior national team a welcome lift before the tournament.

Impressed
Speaking in Linz, one of the host venues for the current UEFA European Under-19 Championship, Hickersberger said he had watched the success of the Austrian side that reached the semi-finals in the FIFA U-20 World Cup with interest as well as being impressed with some of the prospects in the U19 team knocked out in the group stage on home soil.

'Great talents'
"The U20 team is excellent but in the U19 team we also have some big talents. In fact, for me we have even greater talent in the U19s than we do in the U20s," he said. "In the U19s we have two players, although I don't want to mention their names, who I feel for sure will play in the national team within the next two years."

Hickersberger cautious
Four players in the U20 squad which have just returned from Canada have already been capped at senior level - Sebastian Prödl, Zlatko Junuzovic, Veli Kavlak and Erwin Hoffer - but Hickersberger remains cautious, saying: "We know we have some players who are able to play next year but you never know with youngsters. Whether they are ambitious enough to make the most of their talents - that is the big question. Some people even think that the U20s should play as our national team next year, but they don't know that there is a big difference between U20 level and senior international football."

'More hope'
Hickersberger is in no doubt, however, that the success of the country's youth sides can give Austrian football a much-needed lift after a run of just two wins in their last 13 matches. "The success of the U20s was excellent for the atmosphere in Austria because we haven't had good results in the national team. We have not won in 2007, so the public were a little bit frustrated and they didn't expect the national team to do well in the European Championship. Now there is more hope for next year in our country."

Strong opposition
Austria have arranged seven friendly matches between now and February, including tough tests against Germany, the Netherlands and the Czech Republic, as they aim to get the squad just right for the big kick-off on 7 June 2008. "We have chosen the strongest teams to play we could get," said Hickersberger. "We have improved our defending in the last few months and have got better as a team. The organisation is better, but in attack we have a lot to do. So we know what we have to improve and I'm quite optimistic that we can achieve it in time."