Austria retain squad for Germany, Turkey qualis

Published Aug. 23, 2011 11:48 a.m. ET

foxsports

Austria's squad for 2012 European Championship qualifiers against Germany and Turkey is virtually identical to the group which lost 2-1 to Slovakia in a friendly this month.

Only Sturm Graz forward Roman Kienast, who broke a foot in a domestic league match on Sunday, is missing from the initial 22-man squad announced on Tuesday by coach Dietmar Constantini, who was expected to add two more players after the weekend.

''Roman would have been included for sure,'' Constantini said.

But he again left out Austria's leading goalscorer in qualifying, Marko Arnautovic, and Roland Linz, who scored five times in five league matches for Austria Vienna.

''Roland is best when he plays in the penalty area but I don't expect us to put pressure on Germany,'' Constantini said. ''Scoring for his club against Kapfenberg is a lot easier than scoring for the team against Germany.''

Austria came close to holding Germany to 1-1 in June before Mario Gomez scored a last-minute winner.

''We did well in that match and will try to repeat that performance,'' Constantini said. ''Nobody expects us to get a result there but surprises in football happen now and then.''

Austria has seven points from six matches and is left with only a slim chance of advancing from Group A. Germany leads with the maximum 21 points from seven matches, while Turkey has 10 from six.

Austria plays Germany in Gelsenkirchen on Sept. 2, then Turkey in Vienna four days later.

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Austria:

Goalkeepers: Christian Gratzei (Sturm Graz), Pascal Gruenwald (Austria Vienna), Helge Payer (Rapid Vienna)

Defenders: Christopher Dibon (Admira), Aleksandar Dragovic (FC Basel), Christian Fuchs (Schalke), Manuel Ortlechner (Austria Vienna), Emanuel Pogatetz (Hannover), Thomas Schrammel (Rapid Vienna), Ekrem Dag (Besiktas), Florian Klein (Austria Vienna)

Midfielders: David Alaba (Bayern Munich), Julian Baumgartlinger (Mainz), Paul Scharner (West Bromwich Albion), Jakob Jantscher (Salzburg), Zlatko Junuzovic (Austria Vienna), Stefan Kulovits (Rapid Vienna), Daniel Royer (Ried), Manuel Weber (Sturm Graz)

Forwards: Martin Harnik (Stuttgart), Erwin Hoffer (Eintracht Frankfurt), Marc Janko (FC Twente).