Global, World Cup 2010
Magical Brückner works his miracles again with the perennial losers from Austria
Karel Brückner has taken the failing Austrian national side to task - with stunning results. Matthew Day writes in praise of the former Czech Republic coach as Austria toasts a stunning victory over France.
Karel Brückner has turned Austria’s fortunes around since becoming head coach
Karel Brückner, Czech Republic coach up until the end of Euro 2008, had forever been understated and undervalued. His genius mind has neglected to attract the biggest clubs or nations from employing him, and so he found himself ending up with the somewhat onerous task of managing perennial failures Austria.
Having co-hosted the Euros but only picking up a single point, and looking unlikely to ever qualify by their own right for future tournaments, the three-week event in June seemed to be Austria’s highlight. While their football didn’t inspire any writers into penning a new best-selling novel, hosting and participating in such an event earned the nation some valuable footballing experience.
Former coach Josef Hickersberger was deemed to have done a good job during his two years in charge and the general consensus dictated that he should stay on in order to continue rebuilding the Austria side. Yet he quit his post before the Euros had ended and in came Brückner, who had similarly failed with his Czech side. They crashed out at the group stages after a heart-stopping defeat to Turkey, following on from the equivalent failure at the World Cup in 2006.
Brückner, however, dramatically improved the Czech Republic national side after taking over in 2001 and is a pioneer in that aspect. Although runners-up in the 1996 European Championships, they exited in round one four years later and hadn’t qualified for a World Cup under their new name (having gone under Czechoslovakia before), failing in 1998 and 2002, before Brückner took them to the 2006 tournament.
His greatest success, though, came in 2004 when the Czechs stole the show in Portugal and seemed destined to triumph before coming unstuck against eventual champions Greece in the semi-finals, losing in extra time.
When taking up his post with the Wunderteam, Brückner must have entered the fray with a strong dose of skepticism at what this team could achieve – as persistent underachievers. Austria have never qualified for the Euros and not progressed beyond the group stage at the World Cup since 1982. They have qualified for just two of the last six World Cups.
Yet his entrance seems to have sparked a new energy amongst the set-up and his ideas are already beginning to be instilled into how Austria think and play. Fresh confidence and direction has seen a dramatic upturn in fortunes - and Brückner could almost be heralded as one of the most successful Austrian coaches of the last era after just two matches in charge.
Two contests against the nations which fought out the last World Cup final - Italy and France - have yielded a draw and victory, respectively. Brückner’s first game in charge saw Austria go 2-0 ahead against the Italians only to self-destruct and conceded a pair of own-goals. Nevertheless, it was an unexpected result and the even though the manner in which they achieved the draw was ultimately disappointing, Brückner offered encouragement and motivation rather than dwelling on a victory that never was.
He had observed a certain level of talent and ability amongst the squad - and his belief that they could challenge for the top two spots in their World Cup qualifying group transferred itself down to the players.
The big result came against France in the first qualifying match on Saturday evening.
Instead of promoting swash-buckling, easy on the eye football like he often did with the Czech Republic, Brückner got Austria playing with an effective, direct style. A fantastic 3-1 victory in Vienna will startle both France - especially the bumbling Raymond Domenech, who must surely now be heading to the exit door - and the rest of Group 7.
Austria’s diligent triumph came courtesy of three set-plays. They took the lead in the eighth minute when a curling free kick by captain Andreas Ivanschitz caused havoc in the area and Marc Janko netted, and doubled that advantage when another Ivanschitz free kick was met by Rene Aufhauser. The third came from a penalty when Janko duped Philippe Mexès into giving away a soft spot-kick, completing a memorable and emotional night for the disbelieving supporters.
Just before Euro 2008, 10,000 Austrians signed a petition asking for Austria to withdraw from the tournament to spare any embarrassment. That demonstrated their deep - and probably warranted - cynicism towards the national side. A few months on, and the same number may like to add their names to a fresh petition: one asking that Brückner should be duly honoured when Austria head to the World Cup in two years time.
For that is now a realistic possibility, especially with a Czech magician at the helm.
Tags: Austria, Czech Republic, Euro 2008, France, Italy, Josef Hickersberger, Karel Bruckner, Raymond Domenech, World Cup 2010
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I would just like to state that we were not “disbelieving supporters”. We have had very much faith in our team ever since EURO 2008. Yes, the team probably are “perennial losers”, but in recent times, failure was rather due to tiny mistakes and bad luck than actual inability.
People in Austria are crazy about football. We do like to complain, but we also stand behind our team. All the 48,000 of us in the stadium yesterday believed in a victory over France.
Otherwise, good article.