“Because of the many ailing players, I have decided to nominate a provisional squad,” said Foda when announcing his selection for the finals. The entry deadline for the final 26-man squad for the tournament, which will be held in several European countries (June 11th to July 11th), is June 1st. Until then, Foda has to remove four actors from his line-up. According to the team boss, this should ideally take place before the training camp that starts on May 27th in Bad Tatzmannsdorf. “But what can be planned nowadays,” said Foda.
The surprisingly called-up debutant Mwene “drew attention to himself in the spring”, said Foda, “he can play left and right and sets offensive accents. He deserves to appear in the extended squad Werder Bremen’s Marco Friedl, Schalke’s Alessandro Schöpf and Lucerne legionnaire Louis Schaub hope for a place in the final EM squad. In addition to Marko Arnautovic, Foda has nominated four other strikers with Sasa Kalajdzic, Adrian Grbic, Michael Gregoritsch and Karim Onisiwo for the time being.
Stankovic is missing from the goalkeeper quartet
With captain Julian Baumgartlinger, Christoph Baumgartner and star striker Arnautovic, all three top performers whose fitness is a question mark are in the provisional 30-man squad. Baumgartlinger is about to make a comeback after a cruciate ligament injury. Hoffenheim youngster Baumgartner is suffering from ankle problems, China legionnaire Arnautovic is struggling with a muscle injury in his thigh. “You have to see how it develops,” says the team boss.
As for the goalkeepers, the team boss relies on Alexander Schlager, Pavao Pervan, Heinz Lindner and Daniel Bachmann at the start of the World Cup qualification in March. There was no place in the squad for storm keeper Jörg Siebenhandl and Salzburg’s Cican Stankovic. The most recently called up LASK actors Gernot Trauner and Reinhold Ranftl as well as the Rapid players Yusuf Demir and Ercan Kara are only on the call-up list. This also applies to Cologne’s Florian Kainz and Belgium legionnaire Raphael Holzhauser.
Dense preparation program
Next week starts for the selection of the countdown towards EM. The ÖFB team trains in Bad Tatzmannsdorf from May 27th to June 1st. After the final squad has been announced, they will head to Middlesbrough, where the friendly against England will take place on June 2nd. After that, Foda, the coaching staff and players will move into their quarters in Vienna, where the EM dress rehearsal against Slovakia will take place on June 6th in the Ernst Happel Stadium.
Two days later, the ÖFB convoy checked into their “base camp” for the European championship in Seefeld. The team flies from Innsbruck to the games of Group C. On June 13th the kick-off against North Macedonia (6:00 p.m.) takes place in Bucharest, on June 17th the hit against co-organizers Netherlands (9:00 p.m.) in Amsterdam, and on June 21st June the last group game against Ukraine will be in Bucharest (6:00 p.m.).
Provisional ÖFB squad for the EM:
Tor: Daniel Bachmann (Watford / ENG), Heinz Lindner (FC Basel / SUI), Pavao Pervan (Wolfsburg / GER), Alexander Schlager (LASK)
Defense: David Alaba (Bayern Munich / GER), Aleksandar Dragovic (Leverkusen / GER), Marco Friedl (Werder Bremen / GER), Martin Hinteregger (Frankfurt / GER), Stefan Lainer (Mönchengladbach / GER), Philipp Lienhart (Freiburg / GER), Phillipp Mwene (Mainz / GER), Stefan Posch (Hoffenheim / GER), Christopher Trimmel (Union Berlin / GER), Andreas Ulmetr (Salzburg)
Midfield: Husein Balic (LASK), Julian Baumgartlinger (Leverkusen / GER), Christoph Baumgartner (Hoffenheim / GER), Florian Grillitsch (Hoffenheim / GER), Stefan Ilsanker (Frankfurt / GER), Konrad Laimer (Leipzig / GER), Valentino Lazaro (Mönchengladbach / GER), Marcel Sabitzer (Leipzig / GER), Louis Schaub (Luzern / SUI), Xaver Schlager (Wolfsburg / GER), Alessandro Schöpf (Schalke / GER)
Sturm: Marko Arnautovic (Shanghai / CHN), Adrian Grbic (Lorient / FRA), Michael Gregoritsch (Augsburg / GER), Sasa Kalajdzic (Stuttgart / GER), Karim Onisiwo (Mainz 05 / GER)
On call: Jörg Siebenhandl (Sturm Graz), Cican Stankovic (Salzburg), Richard Strebinger (Rapid); Gernot Trauner (LASK), Maximilian Ullmann (Rapid), Maximilian Wöber (Salzburg); Yusuf Demir (Rapid), Thomas Goiginger (LASK), Raphael Holzhauser (Beerschot / BEL), Jakob Jantscher (Sturm Graz), Florian Kainz (Cologne / GER), Reinhold Ranftl (LASK), Stefan Schwab (PAOK Saloniki / GRE); Ercan Kara (Rapid)
