Werner Gregoritsch: “We have a lot to make up for”

Austria’s under-21 national football team has a crystal clear goal in mind – the 2025 European Championship finals in Slovakia. The way there is a win over Cyprus, the bottom of qualifying group F today (6 p.m., ORF Sport+) in the Innviertel Arena in Ried will be a guest. The red-white-red head coach Werner Gregoritsch doesn’t expect anything to be a sure-fire success and speaks from painful experience.

The only point that the Mediterranean islanders have gained to date came from the first duel with Austria. It was a 1-1 draw in a match of wasted opportunities, which Gregoritsch had to watch from his hotel room due to illness.

This time the 66-year-old is in top shape and ready for revenge. “We have a lot to make up for. We weren’t cool and we weren’t efficient either,” said the Styrian about the encounter on September 7, 2023.

At that time, Christoph Lang missed a penalty (50th), shortly afterwards Samson Baidoo was ruled out (51st). Today it takes the utmost discipline to temporarily move past the big favorites France, who were defeated 2-0, into second place in the table. “We want to show in our stadium that it was just a slip-up. If we follow through with our plan, then we will win. I am convinced of that,” emphasized defensive man Pascal Estrada.

The 22-year-old from Linz secured the Slovenian championship title with Olimpija Ljubljana in 2022/23, but he has been in a relegation battle since February and the move to SCR Altach.

Fabian Wohlmuth enjoys a real home advantage, the SV Guntamatic Ried full-back is hoping for strong support from the stands. There should be more than 1,050 fans like in the 1-1 draw in the test against the strong Danes on Friday. It’s about something.

It is still unclear which staff will be available to Gregoritsch. Nikolas Sattlberger (SK Rapid) is missing due to a yellow card suspension, otherwise there are a few question marks due to a wave of colds that has spread through the team. There’s no reason to panic: “We will definitely field a strong eleven,” Gregoritsch is convinced.

U21 European Championship qualification, Group F, today, 6 p.m.: Austria – Cyprus (Innviertel Arena Ried). Tabel: 1. Slovenia 12/5, 2. France 9/4, 3. Austria 7/4, 4. Bosnia-Herzegovina 3/5, 5. Cyprus 1/4. Modus: The nine group winners and the best three runners-up qualify directly for EURO 2025 in Slovakia. The remaining six runners-up play in the play-off for three starting places.