European Championships Underdogs: Austria

When it comes to supposed underdogs for the European Championships, everyone immediately says Belgium, but with the squad Marc Wilmots has at his disposable, are they really underdogs or a side who should be competing in the final few days of the tournament? The real underdogs for me are, Austria.
An idyllic little country sandwiched between Germany and Italy, Austria is renowned for their winter sport success and prowess and football is seen as somewhat as a side note amongst the general public.
Former-Swiss midfielder Marcel Koller was placed in charge of the national team four years ago now, and has had very little success, but despite being handed a fairly tough qualification group, he’s guided them into the European Championship’s next summer, already winning their group which included Russia and the Under-21 European Champions, Sweden.

Wanted by Borussia Monchengladbach, Austria need Koller to stay

In previous campaigns, Austria have been a very open side and have proven in the past to be an easy side to break down and beat. Koller has built his new look team on defensive stability and it has worked well as they have only conceded three goals in their first eight group games and only dropped two points along the way. This new philosophy will see them compete in just their second European Championships ever.
Obviously the stand out player on paper is David Alaba, who is deployed in central midfield during his time with the national team instead of his natural left-back and it has worked wonders during this qualifying period. Sitting just in front of the back four alongside Julian Baumgartlinger, another established Bundesliga midfielder, the two create an extra layer of protection in defence as well as both being comfortable enough on the ball to play the ball to the two wide players who create the majority of Austria’s chances.
Defensively they ooze experience. Captain Christian Fuchs is often deployed at left back and the new-Leicester man has 69 caps to his name. The defence also includes two more new Premier League players in youngster Kevin Wimmer at Tottenham Hotspur and Sebastian Prodl at Watford. It’s completed with the exciting Aleksandar Dragovic who has impressed in Ukraine and has been linked to moves to bigger European teams and leagues for a few seasons.

The promising young centre-back will be a permanent figure for years to come

They aren’t blessed with huge amounts of attacking talent, David Alaba is their highest goal scorer in the qualifiers, so they play to their strengths by soaking up pressure and hurting teams on the counter attack. Supported out wide by Martin Harnik and Stoke’s Marko Arnautovic they drive at defences with pace and strength. Bright sparks included Valentino Lazaro and Marcel Sabitzer are getting valuable game time in the national side and will be key attacking players for years to come.
So why do I think they are underdogs for the tournament? Well, they obviously won’t go on to win the tournament, but they are the one team that I think will surprise a few people, maybe beat some sides they wouldn’t expect too and over perform. To give a personal opinion, I think they’ll get out of the group stage and the Quarter finals is probably their ceiling.