Thanks to Gregoritsch and Sabitzer: Austria wins World Cup qualifying opener
Gregoritsch opened the scoring brilliantly, Sabitzer added a lucky second, and Romania could only pull one back. The Austrian national team celebrated a well-deserved 2-1 home win against Romania at the start of their World Cup qualifiers.
A perfect start for the Austrian national team. GEPA pictures
Austria's national team has made a successful start to its World Cup qualification campaign. The Austrian national team celebrated a 2-1 home victory over Romania on Saturday in a sold-out Vienna Happel Stadium. The home team's goals came from Gregoritsch (42') and Sabitzer (60'). Tanase's goal for the visitors came in the final moments of the game (95'). The next match is on Tuesday with an away match against San Marino .
Team boss Ralf Rangnick included a few surprises in his starting lineup. Maximilian Wöber started in central defense, while Europa League winner Danso was on the bench – as was Posch, who lost out to Wimmer at right back. Gregoritsch was preferred to Arnautovic in attack.
In the opening stages, the 48,500 spectators – about 10,000 of whom were in the away side – witnessed a disjointed match. The Austrians made several unnecessary errors, and second balls too often ended up with the opponent. Sabitzer took the first shot on goal, but Romanian goalkeeper Moldovan was on the spot (10').
Moldovan powerless against Gregoritsch volleyNine minutes later, Wöber missed the target after a pass from Lienhart, and then a Sabitzer shot was too harmless (24'). A header from Gregoritsch flew well over the bar (27'). As the game progressed, the Austrian team increased the pressure, and the Romanians, who had previously been quite aggressive, were increasingly pushed onto the defensive. Moldovan parried a Sabitzer free kick (32') and was also on hand to deny Baumgartner a chance from close range following a cross from Mwene and a header from Gregoritsch (33'). The goalkeeper parried a shot from Sabitzer with his foot (41'), and before that he had defused an attempt from Schmid (40'). Moldovan found the side netting to save a shot from Wimmer (36').
In the 42nd minute, however, the goalkeeper was beaten. A long throw-in from Mwene found its way via a Romanian to Gregoritsch, who volleyed it past the inside of the post. It was the Styrian's 20th international goal and the fifth in his last seven appearances for the national team.
After the break, there was little sign of the momentum they had before the break. The Austrians often got themselves into trouble through a few careless mistakes, but Romania never really threatened – and received the decisive blow in the 60th minute. Sabitzer shot from just outside the box, but his shot took two unstoppable deflections for Moldovan.
Romania scores with the final whistleThe Romanians then fought hard, but unsuccessfully, for a long time to get a goal back, coming closest in the 76th minute. Pentz made a brilliant save to prevent a shot from substitute Adrian Sut that was deflected off Danso. The goalkeeper was powerless to stop Tanase's header, but the whistle was blown immediately after the goal.
This means that EURO 2024 round of 16 contender Romania, considered the Austrian Football Association's fiercest rival after the draw, is already six points behind Austria in terms of lost points. Bosnia-Herzegovina leads the table with a maximum of nine points from three matches, six points ahead of Rangnick's team, who, however, have two games in hand.
| stadium | Ernst Happel Stadium |
On Sunday, the ÖFB players will be regenerating, and the following day they will travel to the away match against San Marino. The next matches will be against Cyprus on September 6 in Linz and three days later in Bosnia .
